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Wild 2025-26 Report Cards: Nico Sturm

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Mariah E. Stark | Last updated Jul 15, 2026 9:05 AM ET

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Another hot July day in Minnesota, another day with minimal NHL news. The trade rumors continue to spin and will until there’s more news to share. In the meantime, we’ll continue to hand out grade reports for the Minnesota Wild’s past season. We’re still working our way through the forwards, and right now it’s still the fourth line.

Both Michael McCarron and Nick Foligno have received their grades; the Wild’s bottom six rotated quite a bit, and one of their rotated-in linemates was Nico Sturm, who is next on the list. He spent quite a bit of time at the beginning of the season on the injured list, but eventually he found his way onto the roster. In this article, we’ll take a look at his regular-season performance and his postseason to come up with an overall grade for the whole season.

Sturm’s Rough Start

This was Nico Sturm’s second time joining the Wild’s roster, as the first was when he was drafted and spent time on the roster over four seasons before he was traded. He went on to win two Stanley Cups before signing with the Wild last offseason during free agency. He was only in training camp for barely a day before he injured his back, tried to play in the preseason, but missed the first month of the season.

He played his first game of the season near the end of November, and while he went pointless in that game, in his second game back, he scored a goal that ended up being part of a 4-3 overtime win over the Chicago Blackhawks. He played 49 games during the regular season, and in that time he had five goals plus six assists for 11 points, which isn’t much, but he hasn’t been known for a lot of points over his career.

He’s known more for his faceoff skills along with his penalty kill. Despite being hurt at the beginning of the season, he wasn’t afraid to use his body as he threw 55 hits and sacrificed as he blocked 19 shots. Being a fourth liner, he’s expected to throw his weight around, but they could’ve used a little more offense at times and blocked shots. His faceoff percentage was also 55.1 percent out of 372 faceoffs.

After looking at his regular season performance and factoring in his missed time due to injury, he earned a C. He had a mostly average performance; even his physicality was around average for his career so far, if not a little under. His grade wasn’t higher because outside of his faceoff percentage, which was high, the rest of his game was average. His grade wasn’t lower for that exact reason as well; his game was average- it wasn’t terrible, it wasn’t great, it was average.

Sturm’s Physicality Stayed in Postseason

Sturm played in eight of the Wild’s 11 postseason games, and his points per game (P/G) jumped dramatically from the regular season. He scored one goal and assisted on four others for five points and a .63 (P/G) compared to .22 (P/G) during the regular season. Although it didn’t end the way everyone hoped, it was good to see Sturm step up offensively.

While he contributed offensively, he didn’t shy away from the physical side either, as he threw 17 hits. Just like the regular season, his blocked shots were on the low side with four in eight games, and once again, the Wild could’ve used more blocks. If they’d had a few more blocked shots as a team, it’s likely they could’ve kept their series alive against the Colorado Avalanche. His faceoff percentage was a bit lower than the regular season at 50 percent out of 40 faceoffs.

While he earned a C in the regular season, he earned a C+ for the postseason. Most of his stats are average; his .63 (P/G) can’t be ignored. Although he didn’t score any game-winning goals, he contributed a good number of points in the postseason and tried to give his team a chance to win.

Sturm’s Overall Grade

Sturm is a strong fourth-line player who had mostly average stats with a few exceptions. He had strong faceoffs, and he didn’t let his physical side drop off. His regular season grade was a C, while his postseason grade was a C+, and combining the two means his overall grade was a low C+, high C.

Overall, he had an average season, but he did find a way to pick it up some in the postseason. Although he had five points in eight games, his blocked shots could’ve been a lot better. So, even though he had some positives to his game, there were some negatives that almost equaled each other out.

His grade wasn’t higher because his offense wasn’t as high as it could’ve been, and his blocked shots definitely could’ve been better and are an area of improvement for next season. His grade wasn’t lower because he did find a way to step up some in the postseason, and his faceoffs were critical to the team. Hopefully, next season, he can find a way to provide more offense as well as some more blocked shots.

This article first appeared on The Hockey Writers and was syndicated with permission.

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