SAN JOSE – San Jose Sharks captain Logan Couture, recovering from a recurrence of a groin injury that’s kept him out almost all year, said Friday he will not play again this season and remains uncertain if he’ll be healthy enough to return this fall.
“I hope (I can play next season). Nothing’s ever guaranteed, obviously,” Couture said Friday, just hours after Tomas Hertl was traded by the Sharks to the Vegas Golden Knights.
“This injury has lingered for a long, long time already. So I’m going to try and be ready. I mean, I couldn’t imagine not playing hockey. So, we’ll see.”
Couture missed all of training camp and the first 45 games of the regular season with an often painful and debilitating condition called osteitis pubis, described as inflammation in the joint between a person’s left and right pubic bones.
After some setbacks earlier in the season, Couture began working with a San Francisco-based physiotherapist in December and started to see some improvement. He rejoined the Sharks’ lineup on Jan. 20, but his symptoms soon returned, and he was able to play just six games before he was shelved again in February.
Couture, who has three years to go after this season on an eight-year, $64 million contract, said he just wants to feel normal again and isn’t thinking about his long-term future with the rebuilding Sharks.
“I’m realistic. I’m not sure who’s going to trade for a guy who’s 35, makes $8 million, and plays six games in a season,” Couture said. “You’re not going to find any takers out there.
“I’m trying to get healthy, I’m trying to live a normal life away from hockey and then once I start to feel better and get back to playing the game of hockey, we’ll go from there.”
Just six weeks remain in the NHL regular season and the Sharks (15-40-7) only have 20 games left.
“The timeline isn’t going to match up with how many games are left and I haven’t been skating,” said Couture, who turns 35 later this month. “At this point, it doesn’t make any sense for me to push it.”
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Couture, who had one assist in those six games as he averaged 18:45 in ice time per game, said surgery is not necessarily an option for him with this kind of injury.
“It’s an injury that can linger,” Couture said. “I think older athletes it maybe takes a little bit longer for a recovery. What I’ve done got me onto the path to returning and playing some games and I hope to do that again.”