San Jose Sharks' Logan Couture (39) waits for a face-off against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the third period at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks will announce their leadership group before their season opener against the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday, but coach Ryan Warsofsky wouldn’t say if the team would have a captain this year.
“We’re still going through it, and we’ll have some decisions before the first game,” said Warsofsky, adding that an announcement will likely happen on Wednesday.
The captaincy question has been looming for almost six months. What’s left to decide?
“One more conversation,” Warsofsky said.
Logan Couture served as the Sharks’ captain from 2019 to 2025 but announced in April that his playing days were over due to a chronic groin/pelvic area injury, leading to questions about whether the team would have another player wear the ‘C’ this season.
With Couture unavailable to play last season, the Sharks had several alternate captains, including Mario Ferraro, Tyler Toffoli, Luke Kunin, Barclay Goodrow, and Mikael Granlund. After Kunin and Granlund were traded, Alexander Wennberg was named an alternate.
The Sharks have some candidates for the captain role, notably Toffoli and center Macklin Celebrini. Toffoli is entering his 14th NHL season, his second with the Sharks, and is signed through 2027-28. Celebrini, 19, is entering his second NHL season and figures to be a cornerstone of the Sharks franchise for years to come.
“We’ve got a lot of leaders in there, got a lot of veterans that have been around,” Warsofsky said. “I think we’re excited with where we’re going in that area.”
At the start of training camp last month, Sharks general manager Mike Grier said the decision to name a captain was not something he wanted to rush.
“We want to make sure, when we make that decision, to hand off the captaincy to someone else, that it’s something we’re 100% behind,” Grier said, “and it’s hopefully something that lasts a long time.”
The list of Sharks captains includes Doug Wilson (1991-1993), Bob Errey (1993-1995), Jeff Odgers (1995-1996), Todd Gill (1996-1998), Owen Nolan (1998-2003), Vincent Damphousse, Patrick Marleau, Alyn McCauley and Mike Ricci (2003-2004), Marleau (2005 to 2009), Rob Blake (2009-2010), Joe Thornton (2010-2014), Joe Pavelski (2015-2019) and Couture (2019-2025).
The Sharks did not have a captain in 2014-15.
Originally published at Curtis Pashelka