The San Jose Sharks are on pace to have their best regular season since 2008-09, but if they want to keep up that pace, they’re going to have to do it without their best player. Pierre LeBrun of ESPN is reporting that Logan Couture will undergo surgery on his injured hand and will miss three to four weeks as a result.
Couture was going through a severe goal-scoring drought prior to last week. He went 11-straight games without scoring a goal before doing it in four-straight games against the Ducks, Oilers and Avalanche. He didn’t score in the Sharks’ shootout win over the Blackhawks last night, but he did notch an assist.
The Sharks recalled Freddie Hamilton from Worcester today, but even with the move, the team was relatively quiet about Couture’s status. He was on the ice practicing by himself this morning, but departed when the rest of the team came out. Now, the Hamilton move makes sense.
Of course, the implications of this injury are twofold. Announcements for Team Canada’s hockey team are tomorrow morning, and Couture is expected to be one of the left wingers selected to play for his country. Both LeBrun and Bob McKenzie of TSN are saying that Couture will be back in time to play in the Olympics, but of course that doesn’t help the Sharks while they try to continue keeping pace with an absolutely fierce Western Conference. San Jose is already without Tommy Wingels, Raffi Torres, Martin Havlat, and Adam Burish … Tomas Hertl and Tyler Kennedy (Thanks Jason!).
