Sharks’ Couture attacks injury with rehab options: ‘Maybe something will click’

SAN JOSE – San Jose Sharks captain Logan Couture said he and his medical team have been exploring various methods of treatment for a bothersome groin injury that not only kept him out of action nearly all of last season but could also prevent him from starting this season on time.

Couture missed 76 of 82 games in 2023-24 with a potentially debilitating condition called osteitis pubis, or inflammation in the joint between the left and right pubic bones. After missing all of training camp and the Sharks’ first 45 games, Couture returned and played in six straight games from Jan. 20-31 before being shelved again.

Couture would sit out the rest of the season and said in April that he hoped to resume skating sometime in July. But general manager Mike Grier said late last month that Couture had yet to get on the ice, casting more doubt as to whether the career Shark would be ready for the start of training camp this week or be able to play in the team’s season-opener on Oct. 10.

“It’s difficult. I mean, I want to be playing hockey,” Couture said in an interview with Sharks Audio Network’s Dan Rusanowsky on Wednesday. “It’s what I’ve done for almost all my life, so not being able to the last 15 months has been difficult. But, I mean, the human body can only do so much at some point.

“We’re trying to attack this thing with different types of rehab, and maybe something will click here.”

Couture, 35, is entering his 16th NHL season and sixth as the team’s captain. He is fifth on the Sharks’ all-time list with 933 career games and is fourth all-time with 701 points.

Couture has three years left on his eight-year contract that carries an $8 million cap hit.

Although the Sharks are in a major transition period, Grier said in June that he’s not interested in trading Couture, who he felt would be a major part of the team’s rebuild as it enters its next critical phase. The Sharks have traded veterans Brent Burns, Timo Meier, Erik Karlsson, and Tomas Hertl in the last two-plus years.

“(If) stuff’s out there that I’m looking at trading Logan Couture or anything like that, that is absolutely false,” Grier said at the end of Ryan Warsofsky’s introductory press conference. “If you look at us bringing in young players here and having a young team, he is exactly the type of person you want to have around the young players.

“He’s our captain, he’s our leader, he had a tough year. But we love him as a person, most importantly. He’s still a heck of a hockey player, so you guys can put any of those thoughts about me looking to trade our captain, you can put to bed.”

The Sharks could have two rookies on their roster at the start of the season: forward Will Smith and No. 1 overall draft pick Macklin Celebrini. Having Couture, who was drafted by the Sharks in 2007, around to be an example for those first-year pros is vital in Grier’s eyes.

The Sharks begin training camp Thursday and play their first preseason game on Sunday at home against the Vegas Golden Knights.