German-born forward Nico Sturm has a new deal with the San Jose Sharks. Strum signed a two-year deal worth $4 million. The deal carries an average cap hit of $2 million per season and runs through the 2023-24 season.
Nico Sturm, three years x $2M AAV in San Jose https://t.co/8EtOrUcHP1
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) July 13, 2022
Nico Sturm Gets Deal
Sturm had nine goals and 11 assists for 20 points in 74 games. He has a CorsiFor of 44.5 and a relative Corsi of -7.6. The Augsburg, Germany native has 20 goals and 19 assists for 39 points in 132 career games.
The former Clarkson University standout has played for the Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche over his four-year NHL career. Sturm was signed out of college as an undrafted free agent by the Wild. He was part of the trade that sent Tyson Jost to Minnesota. The German didn’t score a goal with Colorado but handed out three assists with the team in 21 games since the trade deadline.
Sturm has the ECAC Best Defensive Forward in 2018 and 2019 for Clarkson. The forward also made the conference’s All-Rookie team in 2016-17. He’s also represented his native Germany on the international level and 2015 IIHF World Juniors.
What it Means
The 27-year-old has been a solid defensive forward for both the Wild and the Avalanche. He may not score a lot of goals, but Sturm is a solid player to have on the bottom six. Strum plays more like a longtime veteran than a four-year player. He’s not flashy, but he’s very effective in his own end of the ice. Sturm is the type of player that can be solid on defence and give the occasional offensive contribution.
It was a risk for Colorado to trade someone established like Jost. However, Sturm proved himself on a contender and going to be a quality depth option. He didn’t look out of place with veterans Darren Helm and Andrew Cogliano on the fourth line during the post-season.
Das Tor zum 2:2 der Colorado @Avalanche geht zwar an Andrew Cogliano, doch Nico Sturm holt seinen ersten Assist in den #StanleyCup-Finals und darf sich zurecht feiern lassen! 😍 #GoAvsGo | #Sturm pic.twitter.com/FzU1hCUGjO
— NHL Deutsch (@NHLde) June 23, 2022
Additional Depth
The Sharks added additional depth with defencemen Matthew Benning and Markus Nutivaara. Both are candidates to be bottom-pairing defenders, though also could end up in the press box or AHL depending on how the rest of the off-season goes for the Sharks. Financial terms of the deals have not yet been disclosed.
