The Winnipeg Jets are retooling after a rough 2025-26 season, and their latest move targets the blue line. On Thursday, the team signed former San Jose Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro to a three-year contract worth $12 million, with an annual cap hit of $4 million. NHL insider Chris Johnston broke the news on X, and the Jets made it official shortly after.
Ferraro, 27, is a veteran of 490 NHL games — all with the Sharks. He’s not a flashy scorer (24 goals, 90 assists over his career) but he brings steady, physical defense and penalty-kill experience. That’s exactly what Winnipeg needs after losing veteran forward Jonathan Toews and goalie Eric Comrie in free agency.
This isn’t the Jets’ first defensive pickup of the week. They also traded forward David Gustafsson to Pittsburgh for defenseman Jack St. Ivany. So the front office is clearly prioritizing the back end after missing the playoffs last season just one year after winning the Presidents’ Trophy as the NHL’s best regular-season team.
Who is Mario Ferraro?
He grew up in King City, Ontario, and put himself on the NHL radar during a standout 2016-17 season in the USHL with the Des Moines Buccaneers. Ferraro scored 41 points in 60 games that year, tying for the league lead among defensemen in goals and finishing second in assists and total points. He made the USHL First All-Star Team and All-Rookie Team.
San Jose took him in the second round (49th overall) of the 2017 NHL Draft. He then played two seasons at UMass Amherst, where he set the school’s freshman scoring record for a defenseman with 23 points in 39 games. After his sophomore year (14 points in 41 games), he signed his first NHL contract with the Sharks in 2019 and never played anywhere else — until now.
Ferraro’s game isn’t about highlight-reel goals. He blocks shots, he hits, and he’s generally reliable positionally. The Jets are hoping he can eat minutes and stabilize a defensive group that struggled at times last season. The Sharks, meanwhile, are in a full rebuild, so letting Ferraro walk makes sense for them.
For Winnipeg, the bet is simple: add a durable, mid-pair defenseman who can help get the team back into playoff contention. Whether that works depends on how Ferraro adjusts to a new system and whether the Jets can fill other holes before the season starts. But the move itself is a straightforward, low-risk addition for a team that knows it has to be better.
Leave a Comment