Logan Couture still is playing with Joe Thornton.
It has been three seasons since they last shared the ice together as San Jose teammates, but they’re still in the same Sharks locker room fantasy football league.
“He's still interested. When you see him around here, he’ll talk fantasy with us,” the current captain said of the franchise icon who now spends most of his time with Sharks management in an unofficial capacity. “He's the guy that will chirp in the group chat.”
Couture said that the Sharks' locker room fantasy football league has been around since “2015 or 2016.” Besides Couture (team name: “Bills Mafia”) and Thornton (“Jumbotrons”), the 12-team league includes Erik Karlsson (“Don Pablo”), Tomas Hertl (“Minions 48”), Luke Kunin/Matt Benning (“Team Luke”), Aaron Dell, Adin Hill, Barclay Goodrow (“Charles Barclays”), Brenden Dillon, Chris Tierney (“Striking Cobras”), Joel Ward, and Giuseppe from team favorite restaurant Aldo’s Café.
Couture’s team name is self-explanatory -- he’s a diehard Buffalo Bills fan. Karlsson, when asked, said his team name was “classified information.” Hertl said he didn’t have a team name in mind when asked to join the league four years ago, so he just picked a movie that he liked.
As for Kunin and Benning’s “very original,” in Couture’s words, team name, Benning swears that they had a different team name, but it involved “a player that we had, but then we got rid of that player.”
Benning doesn’t remember the name, but it was Chuba Hubbard-centric. Benning pushed to draft the Carolina Panthers running back -- and his fellow Edmonton native -- in the late rounds.
“Now, people don't think I'm on his fantasy team,” Benning smiled of default name “Team Luke.”
The buy-in for the Sharks' league is $900.
“I had to text a few weeks ago to collect a few entry fees,” commissioner Couture complained. “Some guys wait until Week 12 to pay their entry fees.”
He didn’t rat anybody out … this season.
Unfortunately, there’s no league championship trophy, it’s just cash. Last year, Dell won $6,500. There are weekly cash prizes for most points, too.
Eight teams make the playoffs.
This year, Couture, Karlsson, Ward, and Dell missed the cut.
Couture said that he dealt with injuries, including to his first-round pick, Cincinnati Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase.
Karlsson also dealt with injuries, including to 49ers star Deebo Samuel. He said he has never won the championship but has been runner-up three times. There also were ugly locker room accusations that once Karlsson found himself out of the playoff picture this season, he was taking bribes for his best players, like quarterback Josh Allen. We’ll get to that controversy shortly.
Ward also had a 49ers star, Christian McCaffrey.
As for Dell, Couture -- who, in Bills-like fashion, has never won the league championship -- offered acidly: “I'm happy that he missed the playoffs. Donated the money back.”
So it’s Hertl, Kunin/Benning, Hill, Thornton, Goodrow, Dillon, Tierney, Ward, and Giuseppe in the playoffs.
Couture is picking regular-season king Hill for the championship; Hill features waiver wire star Justin Fields.
Couture also noted that Dillon is a regular title contender. The fan-favorite defenseman has won the championship two or three times, which he was happy to brag about when he was still with the Sharks.
Hertl said his stars are Las Vegas Raiders running back Josh Jacobs and Miami Dolphins wideout Tyreek Hill.
“I like my team,” Hertl said innocently when asked for his championship pick. “But if I'm not the guy, I'm cheering for [Giuseppe] because he's so dialed in. Every time we go for lunch, he's just talking about it.”
But it’s not all fun and games in this fantasy football league.
“Erik was trying to give away his guys for free, basically. Because he's out of the playoffs,” commissioner Couture shared. “He was trying to give away Josh Allen for someone not good. He was trying to trade with [Kunin/Benning], and Kunie was trying to make the playoffs. They were trying to cheat. They were trying to slide a little cash under the table too. So, I had to put my foot down on that one.”
Karlsson didn’t incriminate himself, choosing his words carefully when asked about the accusation: “No, I never got paid.”
Benning had his own accusation for why the commissioner nixed the Allen deal: “I think it was because he was in the [playoff] hunt with us.”
He added, smiling, without specifics: “I thought [the trade] was somewhat fair, it wasn't completely out to lunch. We were going to give up some good players.”
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For what it’s worth, even Karlsson didn’t dare to question the integrity of the commissioner’s office.
“We have a straight commissioner. I'll say that much,” Karlsson acknowledged, a few dollars poorer. “It was fair. He's a fair guy.”
Hertl defended his locker-room neighbor: “I think he's honest.”
A commissioner’s job is never done! Couture already has thought of a fix for Karlsson’s firesale shenanigans.
“I got to change the trade deadline to, like, Week 9 or something, so they can’t do that,” the commissioner said of the league’s current Week 12 deadline. “Guys are pretty serious - other than when guys get out of the playoffs, they screw around.”
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