Logan Couture named Sharks captain

The San Jose Sharks will be going into the season with several holes up front, including a vacancy left by former captain and long-time Shark Joe Pavelski, who signed with the Dallas Stars in free agency.

While his roster spot is still a series of question marks, the Sharks have filled the leadership role he left behind by naming center Logan Couture as the team’s tenth captain in franchise history.

“Since I arrived in San Jose four seasons ago, we have been blessed with a tremendous amount of leadership on our roster,” said Head Coach Pete DeBoer in a press release. “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.”

Couture previously served as an alternate captain from 2015-2019. In 2015, the Sharks released an episode of their video series titled The Deep centered around the leadership group of Pavelski, Couture and Joe Thornton.

DeBoer noted then that Couture “wears his heart on his sleeve and really is one of the future guys of the franchise.”

Keeping in tradition with the “leadership group” style of captaincy the team has adopted in DeBoer’s tenure, the Sharks have also named four alternate captains. For the previous two seasons, they have mostly used a set of alternates for home games and a set for away games.

The alternate captains for 2019-20 will be defensemen Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson and forwards Joe Thornton and Tomas Hertl. Burns and Thornton have previously worn letters in the Sharks organization, while Karlsson previously served as captain of the Ottawa Senators.

“We have a great blend of talent and experience among these four players who will support Logan as alternate captains,” said DeBoer. “Two of these players are previous captains themselves and we feel this group is a reflection of our team’s identity and their leadership will be counted on both on the ice and in the community.”