It caused substantial damage to Couture's teeth, resulting in extensive dental work.
On Wednesday, he joined "NHL Tonight" to describe how the injury has progressed.
"There’s good days and bad days," Couture said, according to Daniel Mano of The Mercury News. "My bottom teeth are still my real teeth. They’ve tried to keep ’em so I don’t lose 'em. I don’t know if I’ll be able to, they’re still pretty sore. My top teeth are all fake now - my front six, I think. So, it’s different. It just feels different in my mouth.
"But everything else with my face and all that’s healed. So I’m lucky that it’s an injury that didn’t affect my training, and hopefully won’t affect me going forward."
Couture reached the 50-point plateau for the fifth time last season, tallying 25 goals and 52 points in 73 games.
The NHL salary cap was implemented ahead of the 2005-06 season, with the aim of creating more parity by preventing the richest franchises in the biggest markets from simply outbidding their competitors for top talent.
But what if that change was undone and teams were no longer restricted by a spending limit?
Here are three ways the NHL landscape would be different - both on and off the ice - if the salary cap once again ceased to exist.
Blackhawks extend Stanley Cup window
(Photo courtesy: Getty Images)
One thing is certain: If there was no salary cap, Stan Bowman's job would be a lot easier.
The Chicago Blackhawks general manager has become a master at keeping his club largely intact while staying under the cap, winning three Stanley Cups with the current core.
That being said, it would be very interesting to watch Bowman wheel and deal without financial restrictions.
Keeping those players may not have guaranteed more Cup wins, but it certainly would have helped. Meanwhile, Blackhawks fans who weren't pleased with the Artemi Panarin trade could have had their cake and eaten it too, as Chicago wouldn't have dealt for Saad if it never had to let him go in the first place.
Less focus on analytics
Whether or not you swear by analytics, they're impossible to ignore in this day and age.
Prior to the eliminating the cap, advanced stats were seldom discussed - at least among casual fans - while teams simply threw money at players who passed the eye test and excelled in traditional ways. However, with front offices now on equal spending budgets, they've been forced to find any advantage they can, looking beyond the traditional box score for hidden gems who thrive in non-traditional ways.
With that in mind, teams are spending more money on the brightest minds in analytics, and are even creating full departments to get ahead in the field. Remember, the salary cap doesn't affect what management can offer to employees off the ice.
Maximizing the value of players and finding bargains has become a priority in the salary cap era, instead of simply overpaying for proven assets.
However, with no salary cap, Toronto likely wouldn't have entered a period of darkness to begin with. The team is one of the revenue juggernauts of the NHL, and has the potential to outspend most suitors - just ask Mike Babcock.
Prior to the lockout - after which the salary cap was implemented - the Maple Leafs had made the playoffs in six straight seasons, from 1999-2004, reaching the Eastern Conference Final twice.
In fact, the 2004 Maple Leafs included Mats Sundin, Alexander Mogilny, Gary Roberts, Joe Nieuwendyk, Brian Leetch, Owen Nolan, Ron Francis, and Ed Belfour, just to name a few. A little on the old side, sure, but impressive nonetheless.
Without a spending limit, Toronto would have been able to keep a roster like that largely intact - adding other veterans along the way - instead of finding itself in a downward spiral from 2006 until last season.
But there's a bright side, which we're seeing now. While the Leafs would have remained competitive with no cap, it's hard to win the Cup without drafting at least one superstar. Instead, the fall to the basement and the subsequent rebuild has Toronto on track with young, exciting home-grown talents.
The Edmonton Oilers just made a large investment in forward Leon Draisaitl. They're now expecting his game to reach new heights, and he is going to have to do so without the game's most electrifying player on his line.
Though Draisaitl is a natural center, he spent the bulk of last season playing right wing alongside Connor McDavid. The two phenoms found instant chemistry. In fact, the club's top line of McDavid, Draisaitl, and Patrick Maroon accounted for 35.4 percent of the Oilers' goals last season.
The eight-year, $68-million contract the Oilers handed Draisaitl signals that his days of playing on McDavid's wing are over. Though McDavid's $12.5-million cap hit doesn't kick in until 2018-19, it simply doesn't make sense moving forward to pay two players a combined $21 million per season, only to have them play on the same line.
Any forward making north of $8 million per season needs to be able to carry his own line in today's salary-cap era, and the Oilers are banking on McDavid and Draisaitl to do just that.
Is Draisaitl capable of anchoring his own line?
A center needs to be able to make players around him better, and though it was from the wing, Draisaitl displayed he can do just that. Last season he had 16 primary assists at 5-on-5, which would have been the 11th-most helpers among centers, and just one fewer than Sidney Crosby. As a center, Draisaitl will have the puck on his stick more, and could conceivably build on that mark.
At just 21 years of age, Draisaitl stands a little over 6-foot-1 and weighs 216 pounds. Though, he plays much bigger. He's strong on the puck and uses a seemingly long reach to his advantage. He may not be a burner, but for a center of his stature, he is an above-average skater.
Draisaitl clearly has both the playmaking and physical abilities to play center full time, and won 49 percent of the draws he had last season. His biggest test, however, will come on the defensive side of the puck.
In order to find an answer for a surging Ryan Getzlaf in Edmonton's second-round playoff series against the Anaheim Ducks, head coach Todd McLellan inserted Draisaitl back to his natural position of center, and lined him up against Getzlaf as often as he could.
It was an awfully small sample size, but Getzlaf only recorded two points in the final three games of the series, compared to the eight points he racked up in the first four games of the series when not matched up against Draisaitl.
It's still unclear how he will handle the defensive responsibility that comes with being a center on a full-time basis, especially considering he might be Edmonton's center most capable of playing a shutdown role - but all signs indicate Draisaitl has what it takes.
Will this affect McDavid's offensive output?
Draisaitl's move to center leaves a gaping hole on McDavid's right wing. There are plenty of options to fill the void, but all come with question marks.
The newly acquired Ryan Strome is the most obvious candidate. He set a career high with 50 points back in 2014-15, but the 24-year-old has largely been considered a disappointment since then, even though he spent ample time alongside John Tavares with the Islanders. Nevertheless, the former fifth overall pick still has plenty of potential, and could fulfill it alongside McDavid.
Jesse Puljujarvi - the club's fourth overall pick from 2016 - could conceivably make the jump to McDavid's line, but that might be a lot to ask considering he spent most of 2016-17 in the AHL.
Otherwise, a veteran, such as Mark Letestu or Jussi Jokinen may be asked to fill the void. Obviously, both of these players have a limited ceiling.
McDavid is still undoubtedly the most electric player in the game, but barring one of the aforementioned players stepping up in a big way, he could be hard-pressed to reach the 100-point mark for a second consecutive season.
Lineup balance
If McDavid and Draisaitl are able to carry their own lines and be as productive apart from each other as they were together, Edmonton has a great chance at winning the Stanley Cup.
The Oilers' depth down the middle would arguably be the best in the NHL, especially considering Pittsburgh's centers after Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are simply unknown at this point.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the forgotten man in the mix, will likely end up centering the Oilers' third line.
Third-line duty doesn't sound promising, but with McDavid drawing the attention of top checking lines, and Draisaitl matching up against top scoring lines, this could open the door for the former first overall pick to exploit weaker opponents. This could lead to a strong offensive campaign for the 24-year-old, just one year after his worst season in the show.
If the Oilers wind up having three centers firing on all cylinders, they will be the toughest team in the Western Conference to match up against - and that simply isn't possible with McDavid and Draisaitl teaming up on the first line.
"A player like that's going to have several teams in that same category (of pursuit), but (he's) a Hobey Baker (Award) winner and a good young player," Rutherford said. "We will be in that mix with other teams."
The 22-year-old won the Hobey Baker Award as the top U.S. collegiate hockey player after helping the University of Denver win the national championship this past spring.
Pittsburgh signed Hobey Baker finalist Zach Aston-Reese, the NCAA's top scorer this past season, to a two-year, entry-level deal in March.
"For me, there's really no rush," Tavares told Newsday's Arthur Staple on Wednesday. "I'm trying to determine things, let the process run its course, keep the lines of communication open, keep it all internal and it's been good so far."
The Islanders captain said back in April that he'd like to get a new deal done "as soon as possible," and while he is under contract with the Islanders for one more season, he's been eligible for an extension since July 1.
Tavares told Staple he's waiting to see how the club's potential bid for a new arena in New York's Belmont Park plays out. The state issued a request for proposals for development of the area on July 30, and while the Islanders are expected to propose building a new facility there, the bids aren't due until late September.
Newsday reported back in the spring that the club was likely to offer the star forward an eight-year extension worth upward of $10 million per season, and Tavares essentially confirmed Wednesday that an offer of that length is on the table.
"The possibility with Belmont and that RFP coming out, there's great potential there," he said. "We'll see where it goes. A lot of those things are out of my hands. Some things I don’t try to worry about them too, too much. I'm just a hockey player. I try to be as best prepared as I can be. It's a big decision obviously because it's eight years of my career, really entering into my prime years and a great opportunity for myself to achieve what I set out to achieve when I was a kid, making it to the NHL, wanting to win a Stanley Cup and wanting to do that with the Islanders."
Tavares will become an unrestricted free agent if he's not signed to an extension by next July 1.
Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, and Sidney Crosby are the faces of the NHL. They also happen to be the front-runners to capture the 2017-18 league MVP award - if you ask Las Vegas oddsmakers, anyway.
All three players had exceptional years last season, earning the right to be called Hart Trophy favorites.
Crosby is coming off his third Stanley Cup win in nine years, Matthews buried 40 in his rookie campaign, and McDavid led the league in scoring with 100 points. And the list is stilplenty impressive below the trio, with more than a few others considered legitimate contenders for league's most prestigious award.
Here's how the odds shake down for the 2017-18 Hart winner:
There's obvious value in laying wagers on guys like Benn, Malkin, and Tarasenko. But, if you ask us, no player outside the top five has a real shot at bringing home the award in 2017-18.
The 40-year-old opted to against chasing a third straight Stanley Cup with the Penguins, and Cullen admitted Wednesday it was difficult to call Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford with the news because he owes him a lot, according to Michael Russo of the Star Tribune.
In the end Cullen insists it was a family decision, but it was still diffcult.
"It was not an easy decision. Minnesota is home and a special place for me," Cullen said. "It's not easy to say goodbye."
Cullen said it wasn't easy calling Sidney Crosby and Mike Sullivan
