In the 2015-2016 season, the San Jose Sharks have been surging early on – and although Logan Couture hasn’t been the team’s most offensively prolific players to start out the year, he’s still an integral piece of the Pacific Division club’s lineup.
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Adding to that, the Mercury News’ Curtis Pashelka noted that Couture “left the Prudential Center on crutches wearing a protective boot on his right foot and ankle”. “I’ll let the doctors do their work and they’ll do a proper evaluation”.
During a five-on-five drill Couture went down in the corner and looked to be in significant pain.
Couture was named as one of San Jose’s two alternate captains this season, and the 26-year-old has posted one assist through the first three games with a plus-one rating while averaging 17:52 of ice time per game skating alongside Marleau and Joel Ward. After taking several moments to sit up, he was helped off of the ice by Brent Burns and Brenden Dillon, and was putting no weight whatsoever on his right leg which was being elevated by a team trainer.
As the San Jose Sharks thrive thus far under Peter DeBoer, his former employer has yet to reap any rewards from its offseason coaching change.
The Sharks play the New Jersey Devils on Friday.
Drafted ninth overall by the Sharks at the 2007 National Hockey League Entry Draft, Couture has only hit the 30 goal mark twice in his career – but has still contributed with twenty or more goals in every season since.
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The Sharks were carrying only 22 players to start the road trip. Raffi Torres is serving a 41-game suspension and is not eligible to return to the National Hockey League until mid-January. New Jersey failed to make the playoffs last season and had very little success scoring at a consistent base yet Schneider put up a few pretty remarkable numbers and kept them in games but unfortunately it wasn’t almost enough and I feel like we are in for something similar this season. Center Ben Smith has been a healthy scratch for the Sharks’ first three games but nearly certainly will play against the Devils.
