EDMONTON, Alberta — The cliché machine will get cranked into high gear this week if the Sharks lose Logan Couture to a significant injury.
The Sharks will belt out the usual chorus lines like carolers singing on a street corner: next man up, it’s an opportunity for someone else, everyone needs to give a little more.
In reality, though, Couture is the one player on the Sharks roster who’s irreplaceable.
The optimism of the Sharks (17-10-4) performance over their first two months of the season turned sour after Couture left the ice at 5:12 of the third period in Vancouver on Friday.
Couture went down after taking a shoulder to the jaw area from Vancouver Canucks forward Alexander Burmistrov. When he got back onto his feet, he looked woozy, skating lightly toward the Sharks bench.
Although head coach Pete DeBoer declined to provide any information about the injury in his postgame media session, all of the above suggests that Couture suffered a concussion on the play.
The Sharks had a day off Saturday and were unavailable to provide an update on Couture’s status.
If this is true, it could put the Sharks season in peril as DeBoer acknowledged last month that head injuries are “you never know” situations. In other words, Couture could be skating at practice in Edmonton Sunday afternoon or he could be sidelined for months. Concussions are inherently unpredictable injuries.
If the injury winds up being serious, and Couture misses a significant chunk of time, the Sharks playoff hopes will be on the ropes.
The Sharks went 14-15-1 without Couture in 2015-16 after the alternate captain suffered a pair of serious leg injuries. After he returned to the lineup on Dec. 30, 2016, the Sharks launched their run to the Stanley Cup Final, and along the way, Couture became just the fourth player in 20 years to record 30 or more points in one playoff season.
Last year, the Sharks got eliminated in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs as Couture struggled to play through a mouth injury that made it painful just to breathe, eat and talk.
The 28-year-old center is even more vital to the Sharks success this season as the team is struggling to generate offense in the wake of Marleau’s departure to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Couture is putting together a career year, leading the Sharks in goals (15) and points (25) while taking on a defensive-minded role, matching up against the top scoring lines in the league on a nightly basis.
When Couture suffered his leg injuries 2015-16, Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski were still leading the team’s offensive charge and DeBoer was able to plug the hole in the middle of the second line by sliding Marleau into the center position.
Now, if Couture misses games, DeBoer will be forced to engage one of two unappetizing options: he can move Tomas Hertl back to center or play Chris Tierney out of position on one of the team’s top two lines.
Both choices would produce ripple effects throughout the Sharks tenuous forward lineup.
Sliding Hertl over to center would take even more sting out of his line as he would need to be replaced by an unproven left winger, such as Kevin Labanc, Timo Meier or Mikkel Boedker. Tierney, meanwhile, is just starting to come into his own as a third line center; it isn’t clear that he’s ready to handle the responsibility of nightly matchups against the likes of Connor McDavid, Anze Kopitar and Ryan Getzlaf in the Pacific Division.
This option would also force DeBoer to skate another center, such as rookie Danny O’Regan or Barclay Goodrow, in a new role on the third line, which is less than ideal.
In short, a Couture injury would give the Sharks a harsh reminder of just how much they miss Marleau’s versatility.
More important than wins and losses, though, is the threat that a concussion could pose to Couture’s long-term health. Couture suffered two concussions during his junior hockey career with the Ottawa 67’s roughly 10 years ago, which could impact the severity of his symptoms.
Couture is also a hard player to keep off the ice. He became the poster child of hockey toughness last spring when he played six playoff games while his mouth was being held together by wiring and plastic.
Fortunately, Couture knows the long-term health risks of playing with concussions. Over the summer, Couture hosted his first annual All-In For Brain Research charity event in his hometown of London, Ontario, and in training camp, he told the Mercury News that he’d never even consider trying to play through a concussion.
“I know the consequences down the line,” Couture told the Mercury News. “It’s up to the player, as well, to realize that you’ve only got one brain and that injury is very, very serious.”
Suffice it to say, there isn’t a cliché that can capture just how serious a head injury could be for both Couture and the Sharks.
