What’s Couture’s Legacy? What’s Next for Sharks?

“My career of playing hockey has come to an end. I’m not physically able to play anymore.”

That was Logan Couture’s opening statement in his Tuesday press conference, a bittersweet close to one of the great careers in San Jose Sharks’ history.

So what’s next for the 36-year-old? And what’s next for the Sharks?

In the summer of 2023, Couture was felled by Osteitis pubis, a deep groin issue that has sidelined him for almost all of the last two seasons.

Before that, the San Jose Sharks captain since 2019 was one of the premier two-way centers in the sport, and an all-time playoff performer.

From Couture’s first playoff appearance with San Jose in 2010 to his last in 2019, only future first-ballot Hall of Famers Sidney Crosby, Patrick Kane, and Evgeni Malkin have scored more post-season points.

“I just hope that I’m remembered as a player that worked extremely hard and someone that would do anything to win,” Couture said.

And that’s the challenge for the last-place San Jose Sharks, six years and running out of the playoffs: Finding more Coutures, highly-skilled players who want to win more than everybody else.