Nico Sturm Is A Small But Meaningful Upgrade Over Freddy Gaudreau

Minnesota Wild fans are waiting to see what Bill Guerin will do with Marco Rossi, but the Wild GM is focusing on the smaller pieces instead. Guerin recently signed old friend Nico Sturm to a 2-year, $4M contract to fill out their bottom 6 forward lineup. While Minnesota must sign players who drive winning, even small improvements on the lower lines can add up and have a significant impact. 

Sturm started his NHL career with the Wild in 2018 and stayed there until 2022, when Minnesota traded him to the Colorado Avalanche. He eventually signed with the San Jose Sharks, who traded him to the Florida Panthers in March 2025. He played in 15 regular-season games and 8 playoff games. Still, he was a healthy scratch for Florida’s entire final series. 

Guerin likely values Sturm’s playoff experience. He also signed 2-time Stanley Cup champion Vladimir Tarasenko this offseason. 

Sturm is a similar player to Freddy Gaudreau, whom the Wild traded to the Seattle Kraken in June for a 2025 4th-round pick. Gaudreau is on a $2.1M AAV contract and had 37 points in 82 games last season, while Sturm had 14 points over 62 games. Sturm has a worse offense, defense, and net rating. At a glance, Minnesota downgraded and saved negligible cap space. 

However, as a 3rd or 4th liner, Sturm’s primary role is to prevent goals rather than score them, and he exceeds Gaudreau in those stats. Although Gaudreau has a better overall defensive rating, Sturm outperformed him in goals against and the penalty kill.

(Source: Hockey Stat Cards)

(Source: Hockey Stat Cards)

The slight adjustment could have a meaningful impact because penalty kill and goals against are two key areas the Wild must improve. At the end of the 2024-25 season, Minnesota ranked 30th in the PK with a 72.4% success rate and 15th in goals against, allowing 236 goals. 

Minnesota also finished the season 7th in shots against, with 2,428, indicating that they have strong goaltending but need to prevent and block more shots on net. Sturm has 3 inches and 25 pounds on Gaudreau, which makes him a little less agile but harder to shoot or skate past.

Sturm is better in the faceoff dot than Gaudreau. Sturm has a 56.5% career average and averaged 62.7% for the Sharks and 51.0% for the Panthers in the 2024-25 season. Gaudreau’s career average is 49.3% and only 48.2% in the 2024-25 season. Even if the Wild lose offensive ability in choosing Sturm over Gaudreau, they still have 2 spots and $10,186,835 in cap space to add scoring.

Despite his stats, Sturm generated offense on the penalty kill last season. Sharks forward Will Eklund managed a breakaway against the Detroit Red Wings during the PK last season. Sturm hustled back as support, picked up the pass, and scored. 

In a recent interview with Wild.com, Sturm described how he developed his penalty-killing skills. He mentioned that his four previous teams had employed different kill strategies. Minnesota used a passive box when he first played here, Colorado had a diamond formation, and San Jose played with top-down pressure. 

Sturm also gained experience with a more aggressive diamond in Florida. Notably, the Panthers ended the playoffs with the best penalty kill at 86.4%. Sturm also said that Florida coach Paul Maurice wanted him specifically for his PK skills.

The Wild have tried to improve their penalty kill without discernible success. However, Sturm’s range of expertise should help them figure out the necessary changes and give them an edge next season. 

Sturm’s history of injuries presents a potential issue for the Wild. While every NHL team must deal with injuries, Minnesota had particularly bad luck with a range of injuries to key players. Most notably, Kirill Kaprizov only dressed for 41 regular-season games.

Last season, Sturm sustained 3 upper-body injuries and 2 lower-body injuries. During his 47 games for the Sharks, Sturm averaged 10:08. He only played slightly more with the Panthers, averaging 11:18 over 15 games. He has a considerable number of injuries considering the amount of playing time, which may make him more susceptible than the average player. 

Teams struggle to keep centers healthy because they are at the highest risk for injury and are 1.4 times more likely to sustain subsequent injuries. While Sturm is only 30, he is more likely to get injured than a younger center. Even though Sturm will likely fit a bottom 6 role and not see extensive ice time, he’s a high risk for injury. 

Signing Sturm feels like a small move when the Wild needs a top-tier forward, but it’s a necessary improvement. While Gaudreau had better offensive statistics, Sturm has the strength and experience on the penalty kill, which is where Minnesota needs to improve. 

However, Sturm’s past injuries make him susceptible to new ones, which could add to the Wild’s ongoing difficulty in keeping the roster healthy. It’s a risk they’re willing to take to fix a penalty kill that’s plagued them for years.