Sharks' Couture Joins Team Canada for World Cup

Logan Couture will join teammates Joe Thornton, Brent Burns and Marc-Edouard Vlasic as part of Team Canada for the upcoming World Cup of Hockey in Toronto next month, the NHL announced on Tuesday.

Couture replaces Dallas' Jamie Benn, who had core muscle surgery in July.

The 27-year-old Couture had 36 points (15g, 21a) in 52 regular season games in 2015-16, before playing perhaps the best hockey of his career in the postseason as the Sharks advanced to their first-ever Stanley Cup Final. Couture led the NHL with 30 points (10g, 20a) in 24 playoff games.

Couture dealt with a pair of significant injuries in the first half of the season, missing 30 of the first 35 games with a fractured ankle and internal bleeding. When he dressed, the Sharks posted a 32-15-5 mark in the regular season.

An Ontario native, Couture was a bit of a surprise omission for Team Canada in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. In seven NHL seasons, all with the Sharks, he has 324 points (154g, 170a) in 431 games.

Other non-Canadian Sharks set to participate in the World Cup include Tomas Hertl (Czech Republic), Joe Pavelski (USA), Joonas Donskoi (Finland) and Mikkel Boedker (Team Europe), bringing the Sharks' total to eight players in the tournament.

Team Canada begins skating on Sep. 5 in Ottawa.

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