The San Jose Sharks are set to be sellers this season, and trade talk surrounding them is starting to pick up in early December. Defenseman Mario Ferraro is one of their top trade candidates, and teams around the league are taking notice. According to The Fourth Period, the Carolina Hurricanes, Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, and Dallas Stars are a few teams with interest in Ferraro.
Why These Teams Want Ferraro
The Hurricanes’ interest was known before this report from The Fourth Period. NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported on his recent 32 Thoughts podcast episode that the Hurricanes “took a big run at him.” While Carolina has plenty of depth on defense, adding a young and steady defenseman with some term like Ferraro would be worthwhile.
The Maple Leafs certainly need to improve their defense. They are dealing with several injuries, as John Klingberg, Timothy Liljegren, and Mark Giordano are all out. While William Lagesson and Simon Benoit have been serviceable replacements, bringing a top-four defenseman like Ferraro would be massive for Toronto.
The Oilers absolutely could use some help on their blue line as well. With that, he would give the Oilers a traditional defensive defenseman, which is something that they need.
While the Flames being a suitor may surprise some, it is understandable. They just traded Nikita Zadorov. Fellow defenseman and pending unrestricted free agents (UFA) Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin should be next. Thus, bringing in a young defenseman under contract until 2025-26 would be big for Calgary.
The Stars are having a good start to the season, but they are also shaky defensively. Because of this, they have been in the market for a defenseman. Ferraro would be an answer for their left side.
We will now need to wait and see if any of these five clubs acquire Ferraro this season. It is clear that the sweepstakes are heating up.
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