Nico Sturm Left Game With Upper Body Injury

There were some Monday blues in Minnesota on the injury front.

Nico Sturm, announced by the Wild, has an upper-body injury that he sustained in their 4-2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights. While up 3-0, late in the first period, Jared Spurgeon had the puck off a Minnesota face-off win and fired it on Vegas’s net, where the shot made contact with the right side of the forward Sturm’s head. Sturm ended the game having played 3:20 in ice time.

John Hynes’ postgame confirmed that Sturm was taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure to assess the damage, per Michael Russo.

Minnesota has yet to update on a timeframe regarding Sturm’s recovery.

A two-time Stanley Cup champion (2022, 2025) with the Avalanche and the Panthers, the 31-year-old is an intagral part of the Wild’s bottom six. After starting his NHL career in Minnesota, Sturm returned to the Wild in the summer of 2025 having spent multiple years away. Now back on the second season of a two-year, $4MM deal, Sturm has excelled in faceoff and defensive specialization first and foremost. He started this campaign with an 88.2 face-off win%, highlighting his dominance at the dot.

Even then, he’s still put up respectable point totals, averaging 11 goals and 23 points per 82 games over his seven-year NHL career. After scoring 11 points in 49 regular-season games, Sturm stepped up last postseason, posting five points in eight playoff contests for Minnesota. His presence down the middle doesn’t go unnoticed when he’s on the ice.

All in all, an unfortunate circumstance for Sturm, who experienced a very similar instance to that of teammate Brock Faber.

During a preseason contest against the Dallas Stars, a shot by Miro Heiskanen appeared to hit Faber in the ear when meeting with Stars forward Sam Steel to defend him near the left side face-off dot. Faber got up shortly after staying down and skated off. He skated a total of 14:27 in time on ice, the lowest by a Minnesota defender.

The 24-year-old defenseman is entering the second season of an eight-year deal signed back in 2024 for an $8.5MM AAV, the highest paying of any defender on the Wild blue line that will last until 2033. His deal is the largest extension and the highest cap hit for a defenseman in franchise history. Faber finished last season playing 80 games and posted career-highs with 15 goals for 51 points, playing a key role in Minnesota’s run to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Minnesota, while saying Faber remains in good spirits and hoping their star defender heals in good time, has yet to provide a timeline on his recovery. In losing Sturm indefinitely, adding Faber’s injury, the Foligno brothers plus Filip Gustavsson’s hip, which is week-to-week, the Wild aren’t getting it easy from the hockey gods at the moment. Minnesota is currently a little over the cap, but has a current space of $2.3MM due to injuries.

Both these occurrences involving Faber and Sturm have certainly sparked a debate around the idea of potentially mandating ear guards as a requirement for NHL players. Michael McCarron was asked about why they aren’t worn often in last night’s post-game.

“I don’t know. I actually haven’t thought about it, to be honest with you,” he said (via Michael Russo). “I cut my ear a long time ago, and I had to wear an ear guard for quite a while and I hated it. That’s going back 10 years maybe. But I don’t know. Maybe another rule’s going to come to play here in the NHL. But yeah, it’s scary.”

In the U.S.’ State of Hockey, that will certainly become a hot topic for a community that cherishes the sport, at any level, dearly.