Confirmed Trade: [FLA/SJS] Nico Sturm and 2027 7th round pick for 2026 4th round pick

[MMC]

Click to read more...

 

[MMC]

 

[ShootIt]

Would Sturm be insurance for the 4th line center?
Or could he push Nosek for playing time?

 

[Soundgarden]

I thought Sturm was more solid than that?

 

[Patty Ice]

Hmm didn't think a pick would be needed with Sturm to get a 4th round pick.

God speed Sturm and good luck.

 

[Hotpot]

Always wanted Nico Sturm on the Leafs..... gosh, I hate other teams having competent GMs

 

[hamzarocks]

Is sturm realated to that guy who was part of the Joe Thornton to SJS trade back in 06? Marco I think his first name was

His name sounds familiar

 

[sxvnert]

Good trade for the panthers.

 

[violaswallet]

I thought Sturm was more solid than that?

I think his 2M cap hit and lack of retention spots hurt his value...

 

[Dog]

4th liner center for more depth!

 

[GirardSpinorama]

Damn thats good value for florida.

 

[qc14]

Did they really needed the extra twelve hours finish this part of the deal after the Vanecek one?

 

[SEALBound]

Good depth piece for a modest return.

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

Very good add for Florida. Sturm has the highest faceoff percentage in the NHL this year out of guys who have relatively-high usage. The lack of available salary retention slots from San Jose might have lowered the return here for them.

 

[TheBeard]

Meh. I’d have rather kept him. He’s a solid faceoff guy and seems like a good presence.

 

[MeinerEiner]

Is sturm realated to that guy who was part of the Joe Thornton to SJS trade back in 06? Marco I think his first name was

His name sounds familiar

No, he is not.

Marco Sturm is the coach of the Ontario Reign.

 

[KingsHockey24]

Sneaky good pick-up by Florida.

Well done.

 

[Gizmo Tkachuk]

Very nice work Zito.

Approx 4m left in cap space. Might get another small pickup or use this space and retention slots to get some picks back

 

[VivaLasVegas]

Gotta admire a good GM

 

[Patty Ice]

Is sturm realated to that guy who was part of the Joe Thornton to SJS trade back in 06? Marco I think his first name was

His name sounds familiar

Not related, at least in the immediate. Maybe down the line somewhere but I'm not going to do that legwork.

 

[StickShift]

Did Florida need another center?

 

[Just Linda]

Is sturm realated to that guy who was part of the Joe Thornton to SJS trade back in 06? Marco I think his first name was

His name sounds familiar

Marco Sturm, German San Jose draft pick who ended up getting traded to Florida for a mid round pick.

No relation to Nico Sturm surprisingly.

 

[coooldude]

If he plays the same role he did for COL in '22 - depth C who plays only some of the games and only 10 minutes, but very reliable, high effort, and great on faceoffs - then FLA will be very happy.

From Sharks/Grier POV, it's good asset management to get something for a player who might walk, and it's good to do right by players who have been good soldiers. Will be missed in the locker room, but how much does that matter in SJ right now? Probably not enough to outweigh the extra pick.

 

[RogerRogerr]

Did Florida need another center?

People get injured in the playoffs, so having him or Nosek being the next man up is very nice.

 

[Cas]

Nico Sturm has utility, as a faceoff specialist who will not embarrass you too much 5v5 on the fourth line.

However, Sturm is not actually good. He's a barely passable starter on a good playoff team (as in, if he's your twelth-best forward, you're not in bad shape, but ideally he's #13 on the depth chart). He gets hurt a lot, he's capable of taking advantage of chaos around the net but doesn't generate anything himself (so he is utterly reliant on that chaos to produce anything), he's ok defensively but nothing special. He wins faceoffs, which is nice and has utility.

However, he's playing under ten minutes a game on the worst team in the league. He's been passed on the penalty kill depth chart by Barclay Goodrow, Luke Kunin, Ty Dellandrea and Collin Graf. Winning faceoffs is nice, but Sturm is not good at all at maintaining possession (whether personally or as part of a group) once that faceoff has been won. If he's taking faceoffs in the defensive zone, he is reliant on his linemates to do all of the work of getting the puck out of the zone, and if he's taking faceoffs in the offensive zone, all he can do is park himself around the crease and hope that someone else shoots for a fortunate rebound or uses him as a screen. I don't watch Florida so I don't know how good they are at clearing the zone, but Sturm is not going to help with that very much.

Ideally, he's playing only a handful of playoff games.