San Jose Sharks: Logan Couture deserves to be the team’s next captain

Following the departure of San Jose Sharks captain Joe Pavelski in the offseason, center Logan Couture deserves to be the team’s next captain.

The San Jose Sharks lost not only one of their premier talents in the offseason with the departure of longtime top center Joe Pavelski, but they lost their unquestioned leader.

Pavelski has served as the Sharks’ captain since October of 2015 and since then, the man known as “Captain America” has proudly worn the letter “C” on his sweater. But that will, unfortunately, be changing next season.

With the Sharks in a bit of a cap bind, they elected not to re-sign Pavelski as their team captain instead signed on with the Dallas Stars. His departure leaves a huge gap on the roster not only in terms of on-ice production, but in terms of off-ice leadership.

But tangibly speaking, it leaves a vacancy at the captain position.

The Sharks haven’t named Pavelski’s successor just yet but it’s assumed that they will announce him prior to the start of the season. After all, San Jose has indeed had a captain each season since Peter DeBoer took over as the team’s head coach.

Except DeBoer has never assigned a captain not named Joe Pavelski. That will undoubtedly change this season.

The most obvious — and correct — choice to take over where Pavelski left off is fellow longtime center Logan Couture. Couture has been with the Sharks since the 2009-2010 season — nearly a decade spent in teal.

He has slowly developed over time into one of the team’s leaders on and off the ice. From a performance standpoint, few are more accomplished on the team than Couture.

The 30-year-old has 507 career points and has scored 20 or more goals in every healthy season of his career. Couture is fourth all-time in Sharks history in goals and points scored behind legends Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, and Pavelski.

His on-ice pedigree speaks for itself. As does his off-ice demeanor and leadership.

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Unlike the ever-diplomatic Pavelski, Couture has never been one to hide his true feelings. When his team is struggling, he lets everyone know. And that includes his teammates, coaching staff, and even the media.

Couture didn’t sit in silence back in 2015 when the Sharks missed the playoffs for the first time in over a decade. And he wasn’t silent during the team’s late-season struggles this past season.

He’s brash, bold, and brazen.

But that’s what makes him so endearing as a potential captain. Couture won’t back down from controversy and he certainly won’t let his teammates skate free without consequences.

But make no mistake about it, Couture will never just throw his teammates under the bus. Even following the embarrassing 3-0 series collapse against the Los Angeles Kings back in 2014, Couture defended then-captain Joe Thornton.

"“Jumbo takes a lot of heat when the team isn’t successful. It usually falls on his shoulders and obviously I don’t agree with that. We win as a team, we lose as a team. As cliché as that is, one person isn’t going to win a championship.”"

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Couture has enough experience to command the respect of some of the older veterans on the roster but is still young enough to relate with the younger newcomers. He’s a perfect medium between someone like Joe Thornton and someone like Tomas Hertl.

DeBoer and the Sharks will likely announce their next captain in the coming months. But one thing’s for sure, Logan Couture deserves to be the next leader of Team Teal.

Now all he needs is the “C” patch to show it.