The San Jose Sharks have shown some promise this season. A lot of their successes in 2025-26 have come on the back of Macklin Celebrini. Celebrini is one of the best players in the NHL at this time. He represented Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics. And he is fifth in the NHL with 83 points.
Unfortunately, San Jose has not been able to put things together on a consistent basis. It certainly doesn't help that Celebrini is doing the bulk of the heavy lifting. The next highest point scorer on the Sharks — Will Smith — has 42 fewer points than Celebrini. The 2024 first overall pick accounts for nearly 20% of San Jose's points all on his own.
The Sharks need to do more to surround Celebrini with talent. Some of this will come through internal improvement. If Smith can continue playing at a near point-per-game pace, for instance, that would be massive. At the same time, they need to clear some roster spaces to make other moves to improve the team.
Some of this work could begin at the 2026 NHL Trade Deadline. The Sharks are in contention for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, due to how wide open the Western Conference is. However, they could still sell if they are realistic about their ability to win in the postseason. With this in mind, here is one player the Sharks must trade at this year's deadline.
Sharks' Mario Ferraro is no stranger to trade rumors
The Sharks have discussed potential trades involving Mario Ferraro over the last few seasons. Ferraro has been seen as an intriguing player for some time. His analytics have suffered from playing on some bad Sharks teams. However, he has the tools to blossom in the right situation.
San Jose has elected not to trade the 27-year-old rearguard to this point, though. And at the time, it did make sense. Ferraro had multiple seasons left on his deal. If general manager Mike Grier didn't find a deal he liked, he had the ability to wait other teams out.
Unfortunately, this ability is no more. Ferraro is going to be a free agent at the end of this season. In fact, he is one of four defensemen on the Sharks roster who are pending unrestricted free agents.
There are arguments for trading any of those players, to be fair. John Klingberg brings a ton of experience. Timothy Liljegren is the youngest of the options. And Vincent Desharnais has a track record of strong defensive play, especially in the postseason. Teams could essentially pick their poison here.
However, Ferraro is the best defenseman of the players named. As a result, he is also the most valuable defenseman of the bunch. He may also be the most difficult defender to retain. There is a high likelihood that Ferraro gets a healthy raise on his current $3.25 million cap hit. The Sharks could certainly match it, but the question is whether or not they want to invest that sort of money into Ferraro.
San Jose could make a few different moves around the 2026 NHL Trade Deadline. They could split the difference, so to speak, and elect to both add and subtract to their roster. No matter what, though, Ferraro has to be on his way out of town once the 2026 NHL Trade Deadline comes around.
