Nico Sturm suffered a back injury early in training camp, and the Wild center landed on injured reserve on Tuesday. After being noncommittal about his return timeline, head coach John Hynes said today that Sturm is expected to miss the first six to eight weeks of the season and will likely need surgery in the coming days (per Michael Russo of The Athletic). Sturm remains on IR but is now eligible for a shift to long-term injured reserve if Minnesota needs additional cap relief, although that’s unlikely with $3.58MM in existing space, per PuckPedia.
It looked like Sturm’s absence may not be too lengthy at first. He actually returned to practice last week and even played in last Friday’s preseason finale against the Blackhawks, but he either aggravated his injury or wasn’t as healthy as he and the team’s medical staff thought.
The injury means a delayed start to Sturm’s second stint with the Wild. He broke into the league with Minnesota back in 2019 as an undrafted free agent signing out of Clarkson. He spent most of his first pro year developing in the minors before landing a full-time role with Minnesota for the 2020-21 season. After being traded to the Avalanche at the 2022 deadline, he’s made stops in San Jose and Florida before rejoining Minnesota in free agency this past offseason on a two-year, $4MM contract.
The past two years haven’t been all that kind offensively to the faceoff specialist. After peaking with a career-high 14 goals and 26 points in 74 games for the Sharks in 2022-23, he’s posted 12 goals and 27 points in 125 combined appearances since 2023-24. He saw his ice time with San Jose slashed by over four minutes per game year-over-year before being sent to the Panthers at the deadline, where he served as an injury fill-in down the stretch and a frequent scratch in the playoffs, although he did make eight appearances en route to the second Stanley Cup of his career (he also won with Colorado in 2022).
Sturm produced at a 27-point pace per 82 games in his first stint with the Wild. Asking for that much offense this time around may have been a stretch, but he’s remained one of the league’s best in the dot, going 56.5% for his career and 58.1% over the past two seasons. He provides legitimate defensive value, too, consistently posting favorable possession metrics for his defensively oriented usage.
As a result, 2022 second-rounder Hunter Haight will be making his NHL debut in Minnesota’s first game of the season tonight in the fourth-line center spot that Sturm was expected to hold, Hynes said (via Sarah McLellan of The Minnesota Star Tribune). He was a late inclusion on the Wild’s opening night roster and the corresponding recall for Sturm’s IR placement earlier in the week.