San Jose Sharks captain Logan Couture is continuing to do some light skating but there remains no timetable for him to rejoin the team for practice, let alone play in a game.
Couture, 34, missed all of training camp and has yet to play this season with an unspecified lower-body injury. He had another setback in his recovery in late October and took multiple weeks off before he resumed skating earlier this month.
The Sharks, mindful of recent setbacks, are taking a cautious approach with Couture’s recovery and timeline, with coach David Quinn only saying Sunday that the team is optimistic that the centerman will be able to return before April.
“He’s making progress, daily he’s getting better,” Quinn said of Couture. “I don’t want to jump the gun there. Just taking it day by day with him and as long as he continues to trend in this direction, we feel good about him joining us at some point in time this season.”
The most games Couture has missed in any season since he became a full-time NHL player in 2010 was 30 in 2015-16. In Oct. 2015, Couture suffered a fractured fibula at the ankle and needed surgery before he was able to return roughly two months later.
The Sharks will be playing their 28th game Sunday when they finish a six-game road trip at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas against the Golden Knights (18-5-5), who are leading the NHL with 41 points. The Sharks, despite their improved play of late, are last in the league’s overall standings with 18 points.
Couture’s injury will prevent him from playing in his 1,000th NHL game this season. He has played 927 games, all with the Sharks, and is fifth on the team’s all-time games played list behind Patrick Marleau (1,607), Marc-Edouard Vlasic (1,255), Joe Thornton (1,104) and Joe Pavelski (963).
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Couture is in the fifth year of an eight-year, $64 million deal he signed with the Sharks on July 1, 2018, a full year before he was set to become an unrestricted free agent.
Couture is fourth on the Sharks’ all-time scoring list with 700 points, which also ranks fifth among players drafted in 2007. San Jose traded up that year to select Couture ninth overall.
The Sharks are 5-2-1 since Thanksgiving, partially because of the production they’ve enjoyed from their top two centermen. Healthy again, Mikael Granlund had three goals and nine assists in that eight-game span, and was named the NHLPA’s Player of the Week on Friday, and Tomas Hertl had five goals and six assists.
