- Editor's note: Sheng Peng is a regular contributor to NBC Sports California’s Sharks coverage. You can read more of his coverage on San Jose Hockey Now, listen to him on the San Jose Hockey Now Podcast, and follow him on Twitter at @Sheng_Peng.
“My career of playing hockey has come to an end. I'm not physically able to play anymore.”
That was Logan Couture’s opening statement of Tuesday's press conference, a bittersweet close to one of the great careers in San Jose Sharks’ history.
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So, what’s next for the 36-year-old? And what’s next for the Sharks?
In the summer of 2023, Couture was felled by Osteitis pubis, a deep groin issue that has sidelined him for almost all of the last two seasons.
Before that, the Sharks' captain since 2019 was one of the NHL's premier two-way centers and an all-time playoff performer.
From Couture’s first playoff appearance with San Jose in 2010 to his last in 2019, only future first-ballot Hall of Famers Sidney Crosby, Patrick Kane and Evgeni Malkin have scored more postseason points.
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“I just hope that I'm remembered as a player that worked extremely hard and someone that would do anything to win,” Couture said.
And that’s the challenge for the last-place Sharks, six years and running out of the playoffs: Finding more Coutures, highly-skilled players who want to win more than everybody else.
Of course, the Sharks’ rebuild has promising pieces, from Macklin Celebrini to Will Smith to William Eklund to Shakir Mukhamadullin to Yaroslav Askarov.
Couture’s legacy, though, is about more than the points, and that’s what the Sharks are chasing, as they try to build their first-ever Stanley Cup winner.
“The player I most was excited to work with you,” an emotional Mike Grier said to Couture, about taking the Sharks' general manager job in the summer of 2022. “The 200-foot game, the quiet intensity and competitiveness, and, of course, the clutch performances. When I was probably 10 or 11, my dad told me the best players play the best in the biggest games.”
You can win a championship with 12 Logan Coutures up front, and it’s a shame that Couture won’t be around to shepherd the next generation of Sharks.
Couture’s last game was Jan. 31, 2024, at the Anaheim Ducks, which he played through a lot of pain, admitting that he took a moment after that game to reflect on whether that was going to be his last NHL game.
This was his last post-game interview, when only he knew what kind of danger his career was in.
“I focused on training and rehab and working as hard as I possibly could, but I just could never get close to putting a couple good days together,” Couture said of his rehab efforts this past summer. “[I'd have] two good days, and then be sore, have to stop for a few days. I never got close to getting back on the ice since that last game in January of last year.”
Conspicuously, Couture and Grier never mentioned the word “retirement” during the press conference, and for good reason. If Couture officially retires, he would be walking away from $13 million of actual money over the next two years, which no one in their right mind should expect him to do.
Instead, his $8 million AAV contract, an eight-year, $72 million deal signed in July 2018, simply will remain on the Sharks’ salary cap for the next two seasons.
But it probably won't be an obstacle to improving the team.
San Jose likely won't be competing for the Stanley Cup in the next two seasons, so Couture’s contract likely won't be an issue. The salary cap is also going from an upper limit of $88 million this season to $95.5 million next year to a projected $104 million in 2026-27.
If the Sharks do run into some unlikely cap trouble, they’ll either be able to put Couture on Long-Term Injury Reserve (LTIR) or trade the contract, both of which would open up avenues to improve the team.
As for Couture, he’s just going to enjoy life right now with wife Brielle and children Kaden and Kaia. Will he return to the sport that he has been playing since he was three, perhaps in coaching or management?
“If I had to guess, I’d say yes. I love hockey. It’s all I’ve ever done. Never really worked a real job,” Couture said with a trademark droll humor. “I feel like I know the game well, think the game well. I do see a future, but not any time too soon. Take some time for the kids.”
Grier says there’s a job for Couture any time with the Sharks.
As for the Sharks, now without a captain?
Grier deferred questions about the Sharks until Thursday, the team’s exit interview day after their last regular-season game on Wednesday, saying today was about Couture.
Best guess, Tyler Toffoli, Barclay Goodrow or Mario Ferraro would be the early favorites to be the Sharks’ next captain.
“I'm always going to be a Sharks fan,” Couture said. “I want the Sharks to win so badly. I hope it's soon, because all you people here deserve to win. This franchise deserves it, and fans deserve it as well.”