With Logan Couture injured, Sharks have decisions to make
SAN JOSE >> The Sharks will be without injured captain Logan Couture for several weeks, delivering a potentially crippling blow to the team’s already fading playoff hopes for this season.
Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic tweeted Wednesday afternoon that Couture may have a fractured left ankle, and that he could be out “at least six weeks.” Sharks general manager Doug Wilson could not immediately be
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reached for comment, and the team may not provide an official medical update on Couture until Thursday morning.
Couture was injured in the second period of the Sharks’ 3-2 loss to St. Louis on Tuesday after an awkward collision on the end boards with Blues defenseman Vince Dunn. Couture left the game immediately and was in a walking boot after the game, according to interim coach Bob Boughner.
Couture flew back to San Jose with the Sharks late Tuesday evening.
The Sharks (19-22-4) host the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight, their first game back after they went 2-2-1 on a five-game trip.
The Sharks entered Wednesday in sixth place in the Pacific Division and 13th place in the Western Conference with 42 points. Both the Winnipeg Jets and Vancouver Canucks came into Wednesday tied for the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot with 50 points.
A six-to-eight week absence means that Couture would likely not return to play until late February or early March. The Sharks have seven games remaining this month and play 13 games in February.
The Sharks have made the playoffs in 14 of the last 15 seasons, missing the postseason only in 2015 in that time.
With the Sharks so deep in a hole, it seems unlikely that Wilson would expend draft picks or prospects for a short-term upgrade to the roster with no guarantee it would lead to playoff spot.
With a handful of soon-tobe unrestricted free agents in their lineup, the Sharks are much more likely to be sellers by the Feb. 24 NHL trade deadline than buyers.
Couture, 30, has 548 points in 708 career NHL regular-season games and leads the Sharks this season with 36 points in 45 games. Last week, he was selected to be a part of the Pacific Division team for the NHL All-Star Game later this month in St. Louis.
The Sharks’ next-leading scorer this season is center Tomas Hertl with 33 points, followed by Evander Kane and Erik Karlsson with 32 points each. The Sharks rank 27th in the NHL with an average of 2.64 goals per game.
Besides his offense, Couture is the Sharks’ top twoway forward, regularly matching up against the opposition’s top line. He plays top power play minutes, is their most seasoned penalty killer, leads by example and has the respect of everyone in the organization.
With or without Couture, the math for making the postseason doesn’t change. The Sharks need to play at about a .700 points percentage clip from here on just to reach 92 points on the season and give themselves a reasonable chance of reaching the playoffs.
“Sometimes the team comes together missing one of our top players. We just come together, we just work hard and we will get some wins,” Hertl said after Tuesday’s game. “We’ll see what happens.”
The Sharks gave a glimpse Tuesday of how they’ll adjust if Couture has to miss time.
The first obvious move was to place Hertl at center on the top line with Patrick Marleau on one wing and Kane on the other. Stefan Noesen moved up from the fourth line to the second line with Barclay Goodrow and Timo Meier, and the third line of Joe Thornton, Marcus Sorensen and Kevin Labanc more or less stayed intact.
Going forward, one would expect Antti Suomela to play regularly as long as Couture is out. Suomela had a good game Dec. 31 in the Sharks’ 2-0 loss to the Detroit Red Wings, and would likely slide back onto the fourth line with Melker Karlsson and Joel Kellman.
It’s also possible the Sharks revisit using 11 forwards and seven defensemen at some point.
Starting with Thursday’s home game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Sharks play five times in 10 days, but have no back-to-backs and have a bye week starting Jan. 19. That perhaps lessens the concern about wear and tear on the remaining top forwards.
The Sharks had one power play opportunity Tuesday and made it count with Meier scoring his 15th of the season. The second power play unit has been the most effective for the Sharks of late with those three players, Kane and Thornton.
Where Couture’s absence will be felt the most, though, will likely come on the defensive end at even strength. Couture is the Sharks’ most consistent forward at both ends of the ice, and it’s going to be asking a lot of Hertl’s line to try and outplay the opposition’s top line on a nightly basis.