SAN JOSE – Injured San Jose Sharks center Tomas Hertl could be back before the end of the regular season, coach David Quinn said Tuesday, but the outlook for team captain Logan Couture appears to be more uncertain.
Quinn said that Hertl is “ahead of schedule” as he continues to recover from surgery he had on Feb. 12 to clean out loose cartilage in his left knee, adding that it was possible the Czech-born forward could return before the Sharks’ season ends on April 18.
Couture, per Quinn, has had “good and bad days,” since his last game with the Sharks on Jan. 31. Couture returned to play the Sharks’ last six games in January but had a recurrence of the osteitis pubis condition that caused him to miss all of training camp and the first 45 games of the season.
“Hasn’t yet had that long stretch of ‘OK, I’m feeling better,’” Quinn said of Couture.
Couture is still coming into the Sharks’ practice facility to work out and get treatment, Quinn said, adding that he did not want to speculate on whether Couture would be able to return this season. The Sharks, after their game Tuesday against the Dallas Stars, have 21 games left.
“It’s tough to tell with his situation,” Quinn said.
Couture said last week that he had not considered shutting himself down to get ready for camp in the fall.
“That thought hasn’t crossed my mind,” Couture said Feb. 26.
Osteitis pubis is inflammation in the joint between your left and right pubic bones, and the injury usually requires a great deal of rest and rehabilitation. Couture said last week that he is not considering surgery.
Couture made his season debut on Jan. 20 in a game against the Anaheim Ducks but started to feel some discomfort almost right away. The injury continued to worsen during a stretch in which he and the Sharks played six games in 11 days at the end of January before the NHL All-Star break.
“It’s a tough injury,” Couture said. “It’s the way these things go, unfortunately. Just continue to work and try and get better. It’s so tough because I felt so good going into those games, was skating hard, and felt like myself on the ice. So, it’s tough.”
Couture has 701 points in 933 career NHL games over 15 seasons and still has three more years left on his contract which carries an average annual value of $8 million.
Couture said last week that he wants to remain with the Sharks.
“I love this place. I love this organization. It means a lot to me,” Couture said “I couldn’t see myself playing for another team, but right now, I’m just trying to get back and play hockey.”
Couture, 34, has been open about how at times earlier this season, when he struggled to even get out of bed, he thought he might not be able to play in the NHL again.
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“This bothers him big time, and I think when you get to this point late in your career, you get nervous when you have an injury,” Quinn said. “But we keep talking about living in the moment and getting better and there’s a lot of optimism.
“But it’s easy to be optimistic when you’re not the one having the pain and having to deal with the injury.”