Not yet 16, Ferreira has for stretches been Blazers’ best defenceman, says Clouston

Ferreira, who turns 16 next month, leads the Blazers in scoring with four points, including one goal, after three games.

He notched the winning marker in a 2-1 victory over the Tri-City Americans on Friday (Sept. 25) in Kennewick, Wash., opening his WHL account on the power play.

“I feel like I’ve been playing my game, been pretty comfortable and it’s nice to have the coaches trusting me,” Ferreira said. “It’s a lot faster than what I’m used to, but I feel like I’m doing a good job of adjusting to it and, hopefully, just have to keep that going.”

The left-shot rearguard from Winnipeg stood 5-foot-4 and weighed 140 pounds at age 14.

“It was always something people critiqued about me, just my height and how small I was, but I tried to not let that bother me,” Ferreira said. “My parents are both pretty tall, so I knew at some point it was, hopefully, going to come and it finally did.”

Ferreira has grown to six feet and weighs about 180 pounds, the spurt in concert with on-ice improvement since Kamloops nabbed him 11th overall in the 2025 WHL Prospects Draft.

“Development camp and then main camp, and then development camp and main camp – you just see him getting better all the time,” Clouston said. “He’s definitely a more-modern-era player. He has offensive instincts like (Olen) Zellweger. Zelly always pushed north. He didn’t get the puck and slow things down. But, we saw Zelly at 19. They are different, but offensively, the instincts and the ability to push the play north are really similar.”

Ferreira has been playing on the right side of the Blazers’ top defensive pairing, along with 19-year-old Isa Guram, a fellow left shot.

“He shows me the ways,” Ferreira said. “He’s a very good leader. It’s nice to know I can trust him with the puck and he can trust me.”

Kamloops (1-2-0-0) will square off against Kelowna (1-1-1-0) on Friday (Oct. 2) in the Little Apple, with game time slated for 7:05 p.m. at Prospera Place.

The Blazers will host the rematch on Saturday, a 6:00 p.m. start at Sandman Centre.

“The main goal is the NHL, but somewhere pro,” Ferreira said. “My dad’s from Portugal, so anywhere in Europe would be pretty cool, pretty close to home for my family. But yeah, obviously the NHL is the end goal.”

by Marty Hastings

Not yet 16, Ferreira has for stretches been Blazers’ best defenceman, says Clouston

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