Couture Still a 'Little Sore' After Break, Questionable for Sharks’ Next Game

About the San Jose Sharks getting healthy…

After a nine-day layoff, there was some hope that the Sharks would be fully healthy for the first time this season.

And yesterday, four of the five Sharks on IR, Mario Ferraro, Mikael Granlund, Henry Thrun, and Givani Smith came back to practice. The other Shark on IR, Matt Benning, is out for the season because of hip surgery.

You know what they say about the best-laid plans.

Both Tomas Hertl and Logan Couture have missed San Jose Sharks practices the last two days.

Hertl was dealing with a lower-body injury before the All-Star break, and while he played in the All-Star Game, he wasn’t exactly skating with a lot of fire under his butt. That’s no criticism, he deserved to have that All-Star experience with his family.

So you can chalk Hertl’s absences this week to maintenance.

Couture, however? It’s a little troubling that Couture, who missed the first 45 games of the season with Osteitis pubis, essentially a significant groin and abdomen and hip issue – and who enjoyed a full break – isn’t quite ready to skate after a week and a half off.

San Jose Sharks head coach David Quinn reported that his captain was “a little sore” yesterday.

Quinn didn’t want to guess either way whether Couture will be ready for the Sharks’ first game back on Feb. 14.

“It’s been a long year in a lot of ways [for Couture] and you just want to be cautious,” Quinn said.

Quinn labeled Hertl and Couture as day-to-day. It sounds like a true day-to-day, so hopefully we see them participating in a full practice tomorrow.

It’s worth noting too, today was the first day that the San Jose Sharks practiced with contact since coming back from their break. Yesterday was a no-contact scrimmage.

So tomorrow’s practice might be a better barometer for how everybody is doing, including Ferraro, Granlund, Thrun, and Smith.

For what it’s worth, Smith told San Jose Hockey Now that he projects himself to be ready for Wednesday’s game. Ferraro also expressed similar confidence to SJHN yesterday.

“Let’s see if they’re in full contact jerseys tomorrow,” Quinn said.