Sharks' Couture: '[Thornton] takes a lot of heat ... I don't agree with that'
The 2013-14 San Jose Sharks may never forget their epic collapse at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but Logan Couture doesn't agree with all the hot takes pinning the team's failures on captain Joe Thornton.
In fact, Couture told Sportsnet 590 on Tuesday morning he's motivated to win because of the presence of Thornton on the squad, and he hopes blowing a 3-0 series lead is an experience the Sharks can move on from in positive ways.
Yeah, I know it motivates myself. Jumbo takes a lot of heat when the team isn't successful. It usually falls on his shoulders. Obviously I don't agree with that. We win as a team, we lose as a team, as cliche as that is. One person isn't going to win a championship. Jumbo, I've seen first-hand how good of a player he is and he's been so good over the playoffs the last couple of years where he doesn't deserve the heat that he's taken.
Obviously it was tough the way we finished last year, but I'm really hoping that this summer guys build off of it and we come back a lot stronger, a lot hungrier from what happened to us.
Despite the positive attitude, Couture admits the loss still stings.
It's probably the toughest loss that I've been through. Before that, it was our loss in the Conference Finals against Vancouver. It's just pretty devastating. It's really stuck with me the whole summer. It's been a tough summer for me personally.
I'm still recovering from hand and wrist surgery [read more here], so I've had a lot of time to sit around and think about it. I'm going to try and use it as motivation, as tough as it is. But yeah, thinking back to where we were and what happened in the next couple of months, it's devastating.
[H/T Nichols On Hockey]