San Jose Sharks captain Logan Couture struggled to hold back tears when speaking about Tomas Hertl.
San Jose Sharks captain Logan Couture struggled to hold back tears when speaking about Tomas Hertl.
"Tommy kind of kept me in the loop a little bit here for the last few days," Couture said. "He kept it pretty secret. I don't think many people knew what was going on. But yeah, still shocked."
When asked about what the loss of Hertl means to him, Couture couldn't help but think about his time with him off the ice.
"Been one of my best friends that I met through the game of hockey," he said. "Someone that I am going to miss. We sat beside each other. We would go out for dinner all the time on the road. We lived near each other. That's kinda where my mind is at."
As for what it might be like to see him in a Golden Knights jersey, Couture just wants his friend to be happy."
"I talked to him through this process and just said make yourself happy. Give yourself a chance to win," Couture said. "Careers are so short in this league. When a player has an opportunity to control what they want to do and give himself an opportunity to win, he deserves that. "I wish it would be here with us, with me. That's the team that it ended up being. I think they have a good team with a chance to win. As much as it sucks that it's our rival and a team we have a history with, at the end of the day, it's another hockey team, and he has a chance to chase a Stanley Cup."
Couture began to break down into tears as he spoke about what Hertl meant to him personally.
"It hurt. There's no other way around it. It's emotional.....yeah. I'm going to miss him," Couture said.
Couture and Hertl played together for 11 seasons.
Couture shed light on his future with the Sharks, including saying he won't play again this season. There have been reports that he might want to do something similar to Hertl and ask GM Mike Grier to trade him to a place with Stanley Cup aspirations. With his injury, Couture kept it honest.
"I'm realistic. Who's gonna trade for a guy who is 35, making $8 million, and plays six games in a season? I mean, you're not going to find any takers out there," he said. "I'm trying to get healthy. I'm trying to live a normal life away from hockey. Once I start to feel better and then try and get back to playing hockey, we'll go from there."
Sharks head coach David Quinn said the room's mood was "somber" when he revealed to the team that the Sharks were trading Tomas Hertl.
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