SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks hope to soon get a better idea of when Logan Couture might be able to skate again but coach David Quinn said the team will continue to take a cautious approach with their captain, even if it means he’ll miss the season opener next month.
Quinn said Monday the Sharks will see how Couture, who is dealing with an unspecified lower-body injury and is considered week-to-week, feels in a few more days before they entertain the possibility of him skating again.
Couture said last Thursday on the first day of camp that the injury didn’t take place at one particular moment, but rather over time in the offseason as he began to ramp up his skating for the upcoming year. Sharks general manager Mike Grier said at the time that he first learned of Couture’s injury the week before camp began.
Couture said his goal was to be ready to play on Oct. 12 when the Sharks open the regular season at home against the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights. But Quinn said the organization will first do what it can to prevent the injury from recurring down the line.
“I’d love to have him play all 82,” games, Quinn said hours before the Sharks played the Anaheim Ducks at SAP Center in their second preseason game.
“But first and foremost, our priority for him is his health. He’s someone that you’re going to have to maybe talk him off trying to get back in sooner than he probably should. So it’s on us to manage him and put him in the best position, when he comes back, to make sure he’s in for good.
“I’d rather bring him back a week late than a week early.”
Couture played all 82 games last season and was projected to once again projected to be the Sharks’ first- or second-line center this year. Right now, Mikael Granlund, who is expected to make his Sharks preseason debut Tuesday, is taking Couture’s spot in the top-six forward group.
Couture has not had to sit out many Sharks games in recent years, only missing 32 games over the last six regular seasons. Midway through the 2019-2020 season, Couture missed 17 games over seven weeks after he broke his left ankle crashing into the boards in a game against the Blues in St. Louis.
With several new players on this season’s roster, the Sharks are hoping to get off to a better start season than last year when they began 0-5-0 and were 3-9-3 one month into the season. Couture’s injury does not help that cause.
“He’s pissed and frustrated,” Quinn said. “So we’ll see how he feels here in the next few days.”
MUKHAMADULLIN IMPRESSES: Defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin, the centerpiece of last season’s Timo Meier trade from San Jose’s perspective, is off to a solid start in training camp, Quinn said.
Mukhamadullin, 22, has been impressive with his skating and decision-making and has become more assertive as his confidence has increased.
Mukhamadullin, listed at 6-foot-4 and 185 pounds, also played well at the Rookie Faceoff event in Las Vegas earlier this month, flashing the potential the Sharks thought he had when they acquired him from the Devils in February as part of the deal that sent Meier to New Jersey.
“He’s really impressed me,” Quinn said. “He’s rangy, he’s fast, he’s agile, there’s a lot of athleticism there, he passes like an NHLer.
“He wants to be physical but when you’re his size and still haven’t fully grown, you’re probably less apt to be as physical as you want to be because you probably don’t have a lot of confidence that you’re going to win these battles.”
Given that the Sharks already have 10 defensemen who require waivers to be sent down to the AHL, Mukhamadullin, who is waivers-exempt, will likely start the season with the Barracuda. But as it stands, it would be a surprise to not see Mukhamadullin, assuming he stays healthy, in the NHL sometime this season, particularly if the Sharks fall out of the playoff race as expected.
“You can picture this guy in three years, what he’s going to look like,” Quinn said, “and how much more aggressive he’s going to be able to be to win his battles.”
CAMP CUTS: The Sharks cut 10 players from their training camp roster. Sent back to their junior teams were goalie Mason Beaupit and defensemen Luca Cagnoni and Jake Furlong, assigned to the Barracuda were defensemen Ethan Frisch and Roman Kinal and forwards Connor MacEachern, Bradley Marek, and Anthony Vincent and goalie Beck Warm. Forward Felix Gagnon was released from this amateur tryout.
