San Jose >> San Jose Sharks captain Logan Couture officially ended his NHL playing career on Tuesday, unable to get over a groin-area injury that robbed him of a chance to leave the sport he’s loved since he was a young boy on his own terms.

Couture and general manager Mike Grier held an afternoon news conference on Tuesday at SAP Center to make the announcement.

“My career of playing hockey has come to an end,” an emotional Couture said. “I’m not physically able to play anymore. It’s tough. It sucks, but it is what it is. I loved and cherished every single moment that I got to play in this league.

“The NHL is everything that I thought it would be when I was a kid.”

Dealing with an often debilitating condition called osteitis pubis, Couture, 36, missed all but six games since the start of the 2023-24 season. Couture’s last NHL game came on Jan. 31, 2024, when the Sharks played the Anaheim Ducks at the Honda Center.

Couture, who is not officially retiring, is at the end of the sixth year of an eight-year, $64 million contract he signed with the Sharks in July 2018. He is still owed $13 million in salary over the next two seasons.

By not retiring, Couture’s $8 million salary cap hit will remain on the Sharks’ books in each of the next two years. The team also avoids a costly cap recapture penalty from the NHL. The Sharks will likely list Couture as being on long-term injured reserve for the next two seasons.

Couture was drafted ninth overall by the Sharks in 2007, started his NHL career in 2009, and has played in 933 games in the NHL, all with San Jose. On the Sharks’ all-time list, Couture is fifth in games played, fourth in points (701), third in goals (323), and fifth in assists (378).