Logan Couture has had a setback.
It was just three weeks ago that the San Jose Sharks captain made a triumphant return to the ice after missing the first 45 games of the season. Couture had been battling Osteitis pubis, essentially a significant groin and abdomen and hip issue, since the summer.
Last Saturday though, coming out of the Sharks’ nine-day All-Star and bye breaks, Couture did not practice. The rest of the Sharks, save Tomas Hertl, participated. Same yesterday and today.
Bad news came in twos today for the Sharks. Besides Couture’s setback, Hertl will be out for “several weeks” because of a surgical clean-up procedure in his left knee.
Meanwhile, San Jose Sharks head coach David Quinn said Couture woke up “a little sore” on Saturday and called his injury day-to-day.
Couture’s injury is now week-to-week.
“A little bit of a setback,” Quinn said today. “We’re very cautious with him.”
Couture will not travel with the San Jose Sharks on their upcoming trip to Winnipeg and Calgary on Feb. 14 and 15.
At this point, Quinn says there hasn’t been talk of surgery or shutting down Couture for the rest of the season. But reading the tea leaves, those have to be possibilities moving forward.
Quinn described Couture, who has just one assist in six games, as “frustrated.”
“They’re both kind of throwbacks in a lot of ways. They don’t want to miss a game and they take an awful lot of responsibility on their shoulders,” Quinn said of Couture and Hertl. “So these guys are not only hurting physically, but hurting mentally because of the fact that they’re not gonna be able to play.”
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