'Itching to get back out there': Logan Couture of London, Ont. working his way back from injury

Logan Couture can’t wait to put his hockey gear back on again.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been on the ice, so I’m itching to get back out there,” said Couture.

The San Jose Sharks captain has not played a single game after suffering a lower-body injury before training camp.

He has started skating on his own, but there is no timetable for his return to game action.

“It's been tough. I mean, especially the injury,” he added.

He told NHL.com this week he feared his career was over earlier this year.

“I can honestly say two months ago, I would wake up and didn’t know if I was ever going to play in the NHL again,” the London, Ont. native said. “It’s something that I thought of many, many days.”

Logan Couture signed an autograph for a fan during Kraft Hockeyville celebrations in 2018. (Marek Sutherland/CTV News London)

He’s been resting since the beginning of the regular season and hopes to resume his career soon.

It’s a career that began with half-ice play with North London Minor Hockey, before his family moved to Birr, Ont., just north of the city.

That’s when he made the transition to Lucan Minor Hockey.

“At a very early age, I could just tell that he was almost like a natural skater,” said Chet Couture, Logan’s dad. “By the age of four, he was able to put the puck up off the crossbar and I mean a real puck not a plastic one. Obviously, you can tell he had some pretty natural ability there and it just developed.”

Logan has fond memories of his time in Lucan, and that showed when he returned in 2018 to help them win Kraft Hockeyville.

“We won a silver stick, and we went into a few tournaments,” said Logan. “We were a ‘DD’ centre, and I don't know if they still are but back in the day we played against some ‘A’ centres and we were able to beat a few of those bigger city teams. For us small town kids, we were pretty proud of that.”

His father remembers Logan as a team-leader during his time in minor hockey, so he’s not surprised he’s an NHL captain.

Logan Couture excelled as a minor hockey player in Lucan, Ont. helping his team win the Silver Stick Tournament. (Source: Lucan Minor Hockey)

“At a young age, he was counted on heavily and he seemed to just thrive in that role,” said Chet. “He was a quiet leader and he just tried to lead by example on the ice. He would take his teammates aside and try to give them advice, even at a young age and on and just trying to support them.”

After stints with the Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs and London Jr. Knights, Couture moved onto Jr. B hockey with the St. Thomas Stars.

He was chosen by Ottawa in the OHL Priority Selection and then was drafted by the San Jose Sharks.

Fourteen years later, he’s the leader of a Sharks team which has gone from perennial contenders to a rebuild.

“I'll sit here at the end of my career and think fondly of the guys that helped me and guided me along my first couple years. Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Joe Pavelski, Brent Burns, Ryan Clowe, Dan Boyle, and the list goes on,” said Couture.

“For these young players, I want to be one of those names where they think of teammates that they had fondly and help them out and guide them along,” he said.

He’ll continue to do that, as soon as he can get back on the ice with them.