What should the Sharks expect from Logan Couture in his season debut?

SAN JOSE – Logan Couture’s long-awaited return to the San Jose Sharks’ lineup is over.

Now it’s a matter of what the Sharks’ captain can bring to the table as he plays his first NHL game in over nine months.

Both Couture and Nico Sturm will return from their respective injuries Saturday night when the Sharks host the Anaheim Ducks, looking to hit the refresh button on their season after a disastrous first half.

Couture will be making his season debut as he’s battled a lower-body injury since before the start of training camp. After a pair of setbacks, including one in late October that kept him off the ice for about a month, Couture has been skating regularly since early December and has been a full participant in several recent Sharks practices.

Couture played in all situations and averaged just over 18 minutes of ice time per game throughout the first 14 years of his NHL career. Last season he was over 19 minutes per night as he had 67 points in 82 games.

Couture has 700 points in 927 games, all with the Sharks.

Asked if it’s realistic to log those kinds of minutes in his first game since April 13 of last season, Couture said, “No idea. I’m just going to go out there and play. I’m a competitor. I want to be on the ice every single second of the game. We’ll see how I feel.

“I’m sure (coach David Quinn) will be monitoring that. But if I feel good, I’ll keep playing.”

Quinn said he’ll be “careful with (Couture) for sure” Still, considering fellow center Mikael Granlund is out with an upper-body injury, there will be a temptation for Quinn to substitute one for the other. Granlund is averaging 20:35 in ice time per game.

“You get behind that bench and you want to put Couture out there all the time,” Quinn said, “so you’re going to have to fight that as a coach.”

The Sharks practiced on both Thursday and Friday after they returned from a road trip that saw them win just one of five games and remain in the bottom of the NHL standings with a 10-31-4 record.

Going into Saturday, the Sharks have lost 15 of their last 16 games.

So the addition of Couture and Sturm will help.

“It’s going to be awesome,” Sharks winger Anthony Duclair said when asked about Couture. “As soon as I got traded here, I texted him, saying that I was really excited to play alongside him. Just a difference-maker out there. As a leader, you’ve seen what he’s done in playoffs, scoring big goals and it’s huge for this locker room, having him back.”

Couture skated Friday on a line with Alexander Barabanov and Fabian Zetterlund. With Mikael Granlund out with a shoulder injury, Quinn said after practice that his forward lines and his lineup were still in flux.

Quinn said Granlund, who was injured in Tuesday’s game in Chicago, was feeling better but is still considered week-to-week.

Sturm hasn’t played since  Dec. 12 when he aggravated a wrist injury that required minor surgery. Having both him and Couture back should help, at least in time, a beleaguered Sharks penalty kill that entered Friday ranked 31st in the NHL at 71.4 percent.

Sturm is among the league faceoff leaders at 62.1 percent and was among the Sharks’ leaders in average shorthanded time on ice at 2:03 per game. Couture averaged 2:24 in shorthanded time on ice per game last season.

“That’s going to help our penalty kill, but just overall, too,” Quinn said. “Just your overall play and the mindset of your team. You add two good players to the lineup, your team feels better about themselves, and they play better individually. It’s just a good jolt of energy.”

DUCLAIR TO RETURN?: All signs pointed to Duclair returning to the Sharks’ lineup Saturday as he skated on a line in practice with Ryan Carpenter and Justin Bailey.

Duclair and defenseman Calen Addison were both healthy scratches in the Sharks’ 2-1 shootout loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday.

Duclair, a pending unrestricted free agent, was also scratched for a Dec. 17 game against the Colorado Avalanche. That came after Duclair failed to hustle to get back onside in a Dec. 15 game against the Arizona Coyotes, nullifying what would have been a game-tying goal by Granlund.

Quinn said sitting Duclair, 28, against the Blackhawks wasn’t about any one play, but more about wanting a level of consistency from the veteran forward, who had just one goal and two assists in 10 games before Tuesday, and has 16 points in 40 games this season.

Duclair missed all but 20 regular season games in 2022-23 with the Florida Panthers as he recovered from a torn Achilles, and in his last full season in 2021-2022, had 58 points in 74 games.

“I feel like I can be a better player for this team,” Duclair said. “I don’t think I’ve played my best hockey this season. Even back to last year, even coming back from an Achilles injury, I feel like I was on top of my game and playing some really good hockey, and I’ve just got to get back to that physically, and mentally.”

Duclair said he hasn’t had any talks yet with Sharks general manager Mike Grier about a new contract, but expected that the two would get a chance to sit down at some point.