Evening Notes: Couture, Pesce, Kings, Johnsson

Originally, Sharks captain Logan Couture wasn’t supposed to miss much time due to his lower-body injury.  However, he still has yet to play this season with Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News relaying that the middleman hasn’t just suffered one setback in his recovery but rather two separate ones last month.  GM Mike Grier added that they’re not in a position at this point to say if he’ll be back in a month or two, only that it’s something he’s not able to play through.  San Jose could certainly use Couture’s offensive skills – he’s coming off a 67-point showing last season – but clearly, he won’t be making his season debut anytime soon.

Elsewhere around the NHL:

• The Hurricanes welcomed back Brett Pesce to the lineup tonight against Florida. He had missed eight straight games due to a lower-body injury, hardly an ideal start to a contract year.  Pesce had been in trade speculation dating back to the summer but that cooled off with the injury.  Tony DeAngelo was a healthy scratch as a result of Pesce’s return.  Carolina never put Pesce on the injured list despite him missing three weeks so no corresponding roster move needs to be made.
• The near-daily roster shuffling in Los Angeles continues as the Kings announced (Twitter link) that they’ve assigned defenseman Jordan Spence and center Jaret Anderson-Dolan to AHL Ontario. The moves get them out of LTIR for a day, allowing them to bank a tiny amount of cap space which will be useful when Viktor Arvidsson is cleared to return.  Los Angeles is back in action Saturday against Philadelphia and both players will almost certainly be back on the roster at that time.
• As expected, veteran winger Andreas Johnsson has indeed signed with SHL Skelleftea, per a team release. The 28-year-old signed with Pittsburgh in the summer but cleared waivers in training camp and didn’t report to the minors.  The Penguins granted him his release earlier this week, paving the way for him to sign back home and play with his older brother.  It’s a four-year deal for Johnsson which means his days of playing in North America may very well be over.