Year over year, forward Nico Sturm continues to prove that he is worth far more to the San Jose Sharks than his $2 million per season contract. Even missing 19 games this season due to injury did not diminish Sturm’s worth as the 29-year-old offered a defensive reliability and faceoff prowess that the Sharks desperately needed.
Sturm’s 2023-24 production
This was a down year offensively for the forward. Sturm’s stats declined from his 2022-23 season with the Sharks when he scored 23 points, including 14 goals.
| Games Played | G | A | Pts | +/- | TOI/G |
| 63 | 5 | 8 | 13 | -25 | 14:39 |
This season, he was only able to muster 13 points and five goals for the Sharks.
Sturm did have surgery mid-season for an injury that he said had plagued him for almost a year. That kept him out of the lineup for 19 games.
The injury might have played a part in Sturm’s down season. He wasn’t generating the same number of chances this year as last. In 2022-23, Sturm had 119 shots on goal. This season, he had just 69, just over one per game.
What’s more, his shooting percentage declined as well. Sturm’s shooting percentage in 22-23 was 11.8% compared to his 7.2% this season. Not only was Sturm failing to put shots on net this season, but he was also failing to convert on those shots.
Consistency in linemates could be a factor
Some of this may have to do with the consistency of linemates. Last season, Sturm could build chemistry with the players he lined up with. In 2022-23, there were four different lines that he played at least 60 minutes or more with at five-on-five.
| 2022-23 Linemates | Games Played | Total 5v5 Ice Time |
| Evgeny Svechnikov – Nico Sturm – Noah Gregor | 25 | 91.4 |
| Luke Kunin – Nick Bonino – Nico Sturm | 14 | 77.7 |
| Evgeny Svechnikov – Nick Bonino – Nico Sturm | 24 | 63.9 |
| Nick Bonino – Nico Sturm – Noah Gregor | 18 | 63.6 |
Now compare that to this season, when Strum only had one line with which he played for more than 50 minutes of even-strength time.
| 2023-24 Linemates | Games Played | Total 5v5 Ice Time |
| Justin Bailey – Nico Sturm – Thomas Bordeleau | 13 | 53.9 |
| Luke Kunin – Nico Sturm – William Eklund | 29 | 45.2 |
| Filip Zadina – Nico Sturm – Mike Hoffman | 21 | 43 |
| Filip Zadina – Kevin Labanc – Nico Sturm | 20 | 32.9 |
First and foremost, the simple fact that Sturm lacked consistency in linemates stands out, but you should also consider the linemates that he played with. It was clear for most of the season that Mike Hoffman was going through the motions. There were games where he was very good at driving the play; however, there were far more where he disappeared completely.
Kevin Labanc was another player that seemed to disappear on the ice. The fact that some of Sturm’s more frequent linemates included Hoffman and Labanc did not serve him well as a forward.
Sturm’s reliability on the penalty kill
What Sturm lacked in offensive skill, he more than made up for defensively. According to Natural Stat Trick, Sturm made the most defensive zone starts of any of the Sharks forwards in the 2023-24 season. He was leaned on heavily by the Sharks coaching staff to take the faceoffs on the defensive zone and was often the first player over the boards when the penalty kill unit was called into action.
Sturm played 127:13 on the penalty kill for the Sharks this season. He averaged more than two minutes on the penalty kill per game.
He was also a responsible player for the Sharks this past season, taking just five penalties, while drawing ten according to Natural Stat Trick.
Quick on the draw
One of the biggest attributes Strum brought to the Sharks was his prowess in the faceoff circle. While he was not facing the most difficult competition in the league on a nightly basis, Sturm was still one of the best in the league on the draw. In fact, he helped comprise one of the best teams in the league in faceoffs.
According to Evolving-Hockey, Strum was in the top 50 this season in number of faceoffs won, coming in at 46th overall. Tomas Hertl was right above him at 45th, and Mikael Granlund was right below him at 47th.
What’s more, when you look at the faceoff differential of faceoffs won versus faceoffs lost, Sturm was 10th in the NHL, winning 165 more faceoffs than he lost.
Sturm ended the season at 60.1% in the faceoff circle, better than Sidney Crosby, John Tavares and Vincent Trocheck.
Sturm’s future with the Sharks
Sturm has one more season left on a contract that pays him $2 million per season. That means it’s just about time for the Sharks to make a decision. Since it’s likely that San Jose will not make the playoffs in 2024-25, there’s no real need to keep Sturm past the trade deadline unless General Manager Mike Grier believes he will be a key piece of the rebuild.
At 29, Sturm may be just outside the age range the Sharks are looking for in this rebuild. However, plenty of teams will come calling for an affordable forward who knows how to kill penalties, is excellent in the faceoff circle and has a high hockey IQ. He’ll be in high demand at the trade deadline and Grier should be able to net a high return.
He’s the kind of piece that helps teams win Stanley Cup Championships. Just as the Colorado Avalanche.
Editor’s Note: Over the next few weeks, we will be rolling out the player reviews for the San Jose Sharks. We realize there were a lot of guys rotating into and out of the lineup and some of the key depth players were traded. As a result, Fear the Fin plans to focus on the players who are 1) still with the Sharks and 2) played 20 or more games for San Jose this season.
