Logan Couture is the New Captain of the San Jose Sharks

The San Jose Sharks have named Logan Couture as the team’s captain for the 2019-20 season.

The wait is over the San Jose Sharks have finally settled on their leadership group heading into the 2019 – 2020 campaign.

A day before training camp begins, the Sharks announced Logan Couture will become the 10th captain in Sharks franchise history, following former captain Joe Pavelski, who signed with the Dallas Stars in free agency this off-season.

Couture earned the right to dawn the “C” after scoring 27 goals and posting a career-high 70 points in 81 games last season. During the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Couture turned his game up to the next level, racking up a team-best 14 goals and 20 points.

The choice of captain was clearly an easy decision for coach Pete DeBoer and the rest of the coaching staff. The Sharks bench boss obviously feels like Couture is the perfect fit for the role stating in the press release posted by the team…

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“Since I arrived in San Jose four seasons ago, we have been blessed with a tremendous amount of leadership on our roster,” DeBoer claims. “Logan has grown up within that environment and evolved into someone who not only plays his best hockey when it matters the most, but who also leads by example off the ice. He knows what it takes to win and his performance in our recent playoff runs reflects that. Most importantly, Logan has the respect of his teammates and we’re extremely proud to name him as the tenth captain of the San Jose Sharks.”

The captaincy title is well-deserved for No. 39 after his impressive and clutch playoff campaign. After Pavelski went down in Game 7 of Round 1 against the Vegas Golden Knights, Couture rallied his teammates to score four goals in five minutes to give the Sharks momentum to take down their arch-rivals with Barclay Goodrow‘s eventual overtime winner.

Couture is a vocal leader on and off the ice, carrying a “never-quit” mentality, and those qualities rightfully grant him the 10th captain title in franchise history, succeeding the likes of Pavelski, Thornton, Rob Blake, Patrick Marleau, and Owen Nolan.

The 30-year-old center has spent his entire career with the Sharks since being selected ninth overall by San Jose in the 2007 NHL Draft. Couture signed an eight-year, $64 million contract extension with the team last July, which officially kicks in for the 2019-2020 campaign.

In addition, the Sharks announced four alternate captains on Thursday in Joe Thornton, Brent Burns, Tomas Hertl and Erik Karlsson – each carrying a vital role from last year’s campaign.

Thornton and Burns retain their alternate captain status after continuing to guide the younger Sharks prospects as well as provide a critical impact to the team’s offensive and defensive chemistry.

Erik Karlsson receives an “A” for his second season in teal. Holding a leadership role in the past with the Ottawa Senators, the two-time Norris Trophy winner will be able to mentor the rising defensemen in San Jose’s system, such as Ryan Merkley and Mario Ferraro, during this week’s training camp.

Karlsson has had a slow, injury-plagued start with the Sharks, tallying three goals and 45 points in 53 regular season games last year, but expect those numbers to take a dramatic leap forward after successful summer surgery and a delightful eight-year contract extension to boot.

Hertl rounds out the alternates after turning in a breakout season during his sixth NHL campaign. The 25-year-old center is an important piece of the Sharks core, so the “A” is a title that Hertl has definitely earned throughout his Sharks tenure.

With the leadership roles finally set in stone the Sharks can focus on the big picture and gear up for their quest for the Cup in what is their 29th season in the NHL.