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Sharks’ Logan Couture Announces Retirement Due To Injury

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April 15: As expected, Couture told reporters today that he’s unable to continue his playing career (via Pashelka). He’ll presumably remain on long-term injured reserve (if necessary to keep San Jose cap-compliant) for the remainder of his contract, which carries an $8MM cap hit through 2026-27.

April 14: The San Jose Sharks are planning to hold a joint press conference with team captain Logan Couture on Tuesday where Couture is expected to announce the end of his playing career due to injury, per Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group. The news was originally reported by Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff. Couture has been working to recover from Osteitis Pubis, a condition that causes inflammation of the joints between pubic bones.

Couture made a detailed effort to return to game shape after receiving his diagnosis ahead of the 2023-24 season. He had to miss the first three months of the campaign to rehab, but told NHL.com in December of 2023 that he was optimistic and trending upwards. Couture said at the time:

Finally, knock on wood, everything continues to go well and I’m over that hump and things can continue to trend to me getting back to practicing with the guys.

He would skate in his first game of that season just over one month after delivering that quote – and recorded an assist in his return. But Couture’s comeback was short-lived, and he’d end up back out of the lineup due to his injury after just six games. His final game, on January 31st of 2024, will now stand as the last of Couture’s storied NHL career.

There’s a short list of players whose name is more ubiquitous with Sharks hockey than Couture’s. He spent all 16 seasons of his NHL career with San Jose, after being drafted by the team with the ninth overall selection in the 2007 NHL Draft. Over the years, Couture worked his way up to the fifth-most games (933) and fourth-most points (701) in franchise history. He also ranks third in goals (323) and fifth in assists (378).

Couture played through his NHL rookie season on the 2009-10 Sharks – a legendary squad in franchise history that featured the likes of Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Dany Heatley, Dan Boyle, Ryane Clowe, and Joe Pavelski among many others. Couture only scored nine points in 25 games – the minimum to qualify a rookie season. He found his spot in the NHL lineup before the end of the regular season and went on to support San Jose with four goals in 15 playoff games as the team chased a loss in the Western Conference Finals. Couture would play his first full season in the following year. He scored an impressive 32 goals and 56 points in 79 games during the regular season, and added 14 points split evenly in 18 playoff games to again push the Sharks to a loss in the Western Conference Finals.

With his legs under him, Couture quickly became a locked-in piece of the Sharks’ daily lineup. He held down a set-and-forget role as San Jose’s second-line center throughout the 2010s, serving as the young-and-reliable punch behind Thornton, Marleau, and Pavelski as the trio aged. He routinely rivaled the 30-goal and 60-point mark during the regular season, and consistently found a way to grow to point-per-game scoring in the postseason. That sentiment rang loudest during the 2015-16 campaign, when Couture was forced out of 30 regular season games by a broken fibula – but then returned for a dazzling 10 goals and 30 points in 24 playoff games. He was the beating heart of the Sharks lineup that summer, and pushed the team to their first Stanley Cup Final in franchise history, only to be beaten by the dynasty-era Pittsburgh Penguins.

San Jose’s routine appearance in the postseason would fizzle out just three years after their run to the Cup Finals. Couture scored 20 points in 20 games of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs to push the team to one last run to the Conference Finals, but their walls crumbled soon after. Couture missed 30 games of the 2019-20 season with a fractured ankle. His next full season was in 2020-21, on a Sharks lineup without Thornton and soon to part with Marleau, Brent Burns, and Erik Karlsson. The Sharks continued to tear down through 2023-24 – sending Timo Meier to New Jersey in 2023 and Tomas Hertl to Vegas in 2024. Through all of the change and fluctuation, Couture remained the proud consistent – holding strong to the captaincy and welcoming an increasingly younger roster with open arms.

Couture’s support of the Sharks has stayed consistent even as he’s faced career-ending injury. He’s supported rookie head coach Ryan Warsofsky for much of this season, helping to make lineup decisions and adjust star rookies to the next level. He enters retirement still in firm grip of San Jose’s captaincy – and surely with a coaching or development role soon to come. Stepping onto a pro team’s staff will likely coincide with Couture handing the Sharks’ “C” to one of the team’s future superstars – most likely Macklin Celebrini. That handoff will mark yet another meaningful step in Couture’s journey as a Sharks legend, even if the details surrounding it are unfortunate. Couture’s only hardware during his NHL career was a Gold Medal at the 2017 World Cup – though his presence as a consistent leader, strong two-way forward, and top-echelon franchise scorer will almost certainly earn the Guelph, Ontario native respect from local Hall of Fames over the coming years.

Sharks Land Top Draft Lottery Odds, Jan Rutta Wants To Re-Sign

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  • The San Jose Sharks have mathematically clinched last spot in the NHL and earned the top odds at the upcoming draft lottery per Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now. The Sharks will hold a 25.5 percent chance at securing first-overall for the second consecutive season, while the Chicago Blackhawks will hold a 13.5 percent chance and the Nashville Predators an 11.5 percent chance. Many have claimed OHL defenseman Matthew Schaefer as the consensus top pick, though he has only played in 17 games this season due to a collarbone fracture. If not Schaefer, the top pick is likely to go to OHL exceptional status forward Michael Misa or Boston College top center James Hagens. The NHL Draft lottery is set to be held on May 7th.
  • Sticking in San Jose, defenseman Jan Rutta expressed his desire to re-sign with the Sharks to Curtis Pashelka of Mercury News on Sunday. Rutta is set to enter unrestricted free agency this summer and told Pashelka that he’s happy to have a chance to slot into San Jose’s lineup routinely. The 34-year-old defenseman has recorded nine points and a minus-three in 53 games this season, while typically filling a third-pair role. His plus-minus is the second-highest among Sharks defenders with at least 20 games played this season, behind only Jake Walman’s minus-one. Walman was traded to the Edmonton Oilers at the Trade Deadline.

Sharks Recall Daniil Gushchin, Luca Cagnoni, Jimmy Schuldt

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Call it even more of a youth movement for the Sharks. They’ve recalled winger Daniil Gushchin and defensemen Luca Cagnoni and Jimmy Schuldt from AHL San Jose ahead of their final two games of the season, per a team announcement.

The promotions for the youngsters and the veteran Schuldt come amid a late-season rash of injuries. They’ll likely be dressing 11 forwards and seven defensemen tonight against the Canucks after recent call-up Thomas Bordeleau sustained an undisclosed injury last night against the Flames, per Max Miller of The Hockey News. The 23-year-old, who was making his season debut, joins a long list of injured Sharks that also includes Klim Kostin, Cameron Lund, and Zack Ostapchuk on offense and Vincent Desharnais, Mario Ferraro, Shakir Mukhamadullin, and Jack Thompson on the back end.

San Jose’s wave of late-season injuries poses a challenge, but the team will find a silver lining in their chance to ice more up-and-coming talents. Gushchin should immediately fill in Bordeleau’s role in the team’s bottom-six, giving the Russian standout a chance to find his first NHL goal of the season. Gushchin made the Sharks roster out of training camp but was quickly assigned to the minors after netting just one assist in 10 games. He quickly returned to the world of top-AHL scoring with the Barracuda, ultimately recording 27 goals and 48 points in 54 games on the season.

Those numbers rank Gushchin second on the team’s offense in goals and points. It’s an ever-so-slight downtick from the 54 points he scored last season, though that total also ranked Gushchin second on the Barracuda’s offense. He’s managed at least 40 points in each of the last three AHL seasons – the first of his pro career – but has struggled to translate that scoring to the top flight. Through 16 career appearances in the NHL, Gushchin has just two goals and five points. This recall will mark a chance for Gushchin to buck his low-scoring trend before the Sharks’ season comes to an end.

Meanwhile, Cagnoni and Schuldt will once again battle for minutes on the Sharks’ blue-line. The pair have both seen routine call-ups this season and offer very different skillsets. Cagnoni led all AHL rookie defensemen in scoring this sesaon with a proud 49 points in 62 games. He’s a dominant puck-mover and playmaker, but only managed one assist in the first five games of his NHL career earlier this season. Schuldt – the captain of the Barracuda – is much more a stay-at-home, physical defenseman. That point is made evident by his 21 points in 62 AHL games, and no points in six NHL games, this season. Schuldt has become a top defensive-defenseman at the minor-league level, and held onto strong lineup roles through stints with five different AHL clubs over the last six seasons. Both Cagnoni and Schuldt are expected to step into the lineup for San Jose’s final games, giving both players a chance to chase the first goal of their NHL careers.

Sharks’ Nikolai Kovalenko Eyeing KHL Return

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It’s looking unlikely that Sharks pending RFA winger Nikolai Kovalenko will sign a new contract with San Jose. The 25-year-old has been unhappy with his deployment after the Sharks acquired him from the Avalanche in December and is considering a return to the Kontinental Hockey League with Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod next season, his father, ex-NHLer Andrei Kovalenko, told Russia Hockey.

“It was understandable when Nikolai played in the third line of Colorado in the first half of the season, after all, this club is a contender for the championship, the competition in the top lines is extremely high,” Kovalenko said (translated from Russian). “In San Jose, with all due respect, the situation is different. It is obvious that there are personal sympathies on the part of the coach – and there is no agreement with the management policy. Watch the Sharks’ games – and you will see who deserves what.”

“I know that Nikolai’s agent is in contact with Torpedo’s management, and various options are possible,” Kovalenko continued. Nizhny Novgorod still holds Kovalenko’s KHL signing rights after he left the club last year to report to the Avalanche.

A sixth-round pick by Colorado back in 2018, Kovalenko arrived in Denver last spring to much fanfare. He’d been one of the KHL’s top scorers over the 2022-23 and 2023-24 campaigns, scoring 32-57–89 in 98 games with Torpedo after they acquired him from Ak Bars Kazan. He made his NHL debut for the Avs in the 2024 playoffs after a brief AHL stint and, unsurprisingly, made Colorado’s opening night roster.

But even amid a plethora of injuries for the Avs out of the gate, Kovalenko never commanded anything more than a third-line role. After averaging 12 minutes per game through his first 28 appearances, posting four goals and eight points, Colorado dealt him to San Jose in the trade that saw Mackenzie Blackwood head to Denver.

As the elder Kovalenko alluded to, Nikolai’s ice time has barely changed in San Jose. In and out of the lineup due to injury, he’s averaged 12:24 per game. Despite that, his offensive production has increased, totaling 3-9–12 through 26 games post-trade. He’s also seen increased usage in the past three games, averaging north of 15 minutes per night during that stretch, and has a three-game point streak as a result.

He’s shown the ability to be a dependable top-nine presence with even some upward second-line mobility, boasting acceptable possession impacts while playing a physical game. He’s recorded 24 blocks and 79 hits in 54 total appearances and would be on pace for 30 points over an 82-game schedule. Nonetheless, he believes he’s capable of more and won’t achieve that development with the Sharks.

Even if Kovalenko opts to return to Russia, the Sharks can retain his signing rights until 2027 by giving him a qualifying offer. If he desires an NHL return before then, he’ll either need to sign with San Jose or get them to trade his rights for an asset.

Sharks Recall Thomas Bordeleau

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This hasn’t been the type of season that Sharks forward Thomas Bordeleau had hoped for.  Instead of landing a full-time spot in San Jose, he has played exclusively with the AHL’s Barracuda thus far.  However, it appears as if he’ll gets at least one chance with the big club as the team announced (Twitter link) that Bordeleau has been recalled.

The 23-year-old played in 27 games with the Sharks last season, notching six goals and five assists in a little over 15 minutes a night, appearing to give himself a realistic shot at securing a regular role in the lineup.  He accepted his qualifying offer in late July but after spending the first two weeks of the season on injured reserve, Bordeleau was sent down and until today, hadn’t been recalled.

Bordeleau has had a decent season with the Barracuda.  Through 59 games, he has 14 goals and 24 assists, putting him three points shy of his personal best set back in 2021-22, his first full professional campaign.  However, his assist total is a new career-high.  He’ll once again be a restricted free agent this summer and should sign for close to his new qualifying offer of $917.8K.

Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News notes (Twitter link) that the Sharks have already used their four post-deadline regular recalls, meaning that this is an emergency recall.  It’s unclear which forward’s availability for Sunday’s game against Calgary is in question at this time but head coach David Warsofsky noted earlier this week that Alexander Wennberg has been playing through an injury for a while now.

Mario Ferraro Out For Season, Sharks Activate Jan Rutta

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The San Jose Sharks will swap out a pair of injured defensemen through the end of the season. Top defender Mario Ferraro has been ruled out for the remainder of the season, while depth option Jan Rutta will be activated from injured reserve for Friday night’s game, per Jason Gregor of Sports-1440. Ferraro suffered a lower-body injury in Wednesday’s overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild. Rutta was also facing a lower-body injury, and has missed San Jose’s last 27 games.

Ferraro’s season will come to a close on the heels of a streak of heavy utilization. He’s appeared in at least 24 minutes of play in six of his last 10 games. That mark raised his season-long average to 21:24 through 78 games. Ferraro recorded five goals, 17 points, and a minus-25 with those minutes. He also led the Sharks defense with 125 blocked shots and 150 hits on the year. His minus-25 was also Ferraro’s highest plus-minus since the 2021-22 seaosn. He had another year of a hard-fought role, and the defense will feel the weight of his absence through their final four games.

Rutta has handled far less of a role through his healthy games this season. He’s recorded eight points, a minus-six, and 28 penalty minutes in 51 games while rotating through a role on San Jose’s bottom pair. His average of 16:57 in ice time is the fewest of any Sharks defender with more than 30 games played. Nonetheless, Rutta will slot back into a role on the Sharks’ bottom two pairings with Ferraro out.

Sharks Assign Igor Chernyshov To AHL

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The San Jose Sharks have assigned top wing prospect Igor Chernyshov to the AHL following the end of his season with the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit. Chernyshov signed his entry-level contract on August 1st, just over one month after the Sharks drafted him with the 33rd-overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft.

Chernyshov underwent surgery to address a shoulder injury soon after signing his entry-level contract. The procedure forced him to sit out until January 30th. In that time, Chernyshov moved from Russia’s Dynamo Moskva to the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit – where he quickly made up for lost time. He scored two goals in his OHL debut, then followed it up with a jaw-dropping 19 points in his first six games in the league. Chernyshov was a scoring machine on the OHL’s second-highest-scoring offense, and posted seven different games of at least four points versus just five games with no scoring. His OHL season ended with an incredible 19 goals and 55 points in 23 games – or an average of 2.39 points-per-game. That scoring pace was the highest in the CHL this season, and ranks as the fourth-highest in the OHL since 2000, just behind Chicago Blackhawks legend Patrick Kane.

Chernyshov’s scoring output ranks him among some of the best scorers in OHL history – but his game is far less flashy than many of his contemporaries. He’s instead an aggressive and cerebral forechecker who earned his points on the back of tireless pressure and smart positioning. Chernyshov didn’t shy away from contact after undergoing surgery either – and his muscular six-foot-three, 205-pound frame clearly stood out in the junior league. He seemed poised for immediate pro games after splitting last season between 34 games in the KHL and 22 games in the MHL. An OHL stint helped cushion him after an injury emerged, and Chernyshov took full advantage. He’ll enter North American pros with plenty of momentum behind him, and look to use his feisty style and cerebral scoring to support the San Jose Barracuda to a deep playoff run.

San Jose Sharks Reassign Collin Graf

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According to a team announcement, the San Jose Sharks have reassigned forward Collin Graf to their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda. Graf is not expected to play in the NHL again this season.

Graf had a quality longer-term stay with the Sharks this season. He scored five goals and 11 points in 33 games with a -4 rating, a nine-point improvement from his 2023-24 output in 26 additional games. He saw notable improvement in his possession and defensive metrics, but that’s understandable given his increased usage.

The Lincoln, MA native didn’t excel in any one area of his game this season. Still, he appeared to find some chemistry alongside center Alexander Wennberg this season. Graf spent much of his time in the NHL alongside Wennberg, with Tyler Toffoli or William Eklund operating on the opposite wing. Those line combinations were above average, producing a 62.2% xGoals% and a 52.5% xGoals%, respectively.

Still, although he played well, it can’t be overlooked that Graf didn’t offer much in point totals alongside some of the Sharks’ best offensive weapons. The obvious counterargument is that despite having some prominent forwards, San Jose’s offense is one of the worst in the league, so any of Graf’s output, or lack thereof, should be taken with a grain of salt.

If he becomes the player he is in the AHL, the Sharks will have a quality secondary scorer in their midst. Graf has scored eight goals and 32 points in 35 games for AHL San Jose this season, which is good for seventh on the team in scoring. Now that the Barracuda appear headed for a First Round appearance in the 2025 Calder Cup playoffs, Graf will assist their efforts the rest of the way.

Toffoli Out With Lower-Body Injury

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  • Sharks winger Tyler Toffoli won’t play tonight against Calgary due to a lower-body injury, relays Max Miller of The Hockey News (Twitter link). He’s listed as out day-to-day.  Toffoli has had a strong first year in San Jose, tallying 28 goals and 22 assists, good for third on the team in points while leading the way in goals.  He’s expected to accompany the club on their upcoming four-game road trip so unlike his teammate Shakir Mukhamadullin whose season is over, Toffoli should be back before the campaign comes to an end next week.

Sharks Reassign Jimmy Schuldt In Possible Paper Move

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  • The San Jose Sharks have reassigned defenseman Jimmy Schuldt. Schuldt appeared in 10 minutes worth of San Jose’s March 29th loss to the New York Rangers. It was just his sixth NHL game this season and he once again failed to manage any scoring or penalties. Schuldt has also served as the captain of the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda this season, netting six goals and 20 points in 59 games with the club. It’s not yet clear if this move is simply a paper transaction. The Sharks learned on Monday that depth defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin will miss the remainder of the season with an upper-body injury. That could push the Sharks to shore up their AHL blue-line as the Barracuda push for a playoff spot, or it could reaffirm Schuldt’s spot as San Jose’s de facto depth defender through the end of the season. News over the next few days will make that distinction, and lock Schuldt into a hard-fought lineup role one way or another.

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