Nico Sturm thinks he’s a part of the ambitions that the San Jose Sharks have. If not, though, that’s alright with him.
Regarding general manager Mike Grier, Sturm said San Jose Hockey Now, “I had a really good conversation with Griersy a couple weeks before the Trade Deadline last year.” “A few weeks ago, we had the same conversation as this year.”
At 59.5 Faceoff Winning %, Sturm, a 6-foot-3 center, is seventh in the NHL. He is 28 years old. Along with being the best penalty taker for the San Jose Sharks up front, he also won a Stanley Cup in 2022 with the Colorado Avalanche and is now only making $2 million AAV with one year remaining on his deal.
He is aware that he is among the league’s best fourth-line centers.
It’s a brief and rather honest talk. I am aware of my professional situation. Sturm remarked, “I know what I bring, they know what I bring.” “I understand what I am and will no longer be as a player in my career, but I also believe that as the kind of player I am and the role I play both on and off the ice, I’m among the best in fulfilling that role.”
However, Sturm’s contract has no trade protections.
He stated, “I understand how this industry operates, so if an opportunity arises where he believes he can improve the company over the long term, he needs to take it. However, every indicator I’ve received has been that I’m valuable. I sense that I’m part of the plans.
And despite San Jose’s decline in the standings—from one of the worst teams in the league the previous season to one of the worst teams in the cap era this year—Sturm, who inked a three-year deal with the Sharks in the summer of 2022, wants to stay here.
Sturm declared, “I signed for three years, and when I sign anywhere for three years, I am committing.” “I told him that I still have complete faith in our direction.”
Compared to Sturm’s 2022 Trade Deadline experience, when he was in the last year of his contract with the Minnesota Wild, this one is very different.
He remarked, “I’m not worried at all.” “I believe I’ve learned that after going through what happened with my Minnesota deal. It’s entirely out of your control since the team will try to cut you if you have a poor season. A successful season may bring in a lot of money for the squad.
Laughing, Sturm said, “It really doesn’t matter.”
Above all, Sturm attributes his ability to remain true to himself to his religion.
During his professional career, he said, “I found my way back with some Bible groups that we had in Iowa, Minnesota.” When I was a tiny child, I was baptized and attended to church with my mother.
“I just didn’t have any connection to my faith or the church in general for ten years of my life.”
Sturm, though, is now able to surrender to a greater force.
He stated, “Just realizing that, in a way, some things are beyond your control and that, really, I’m in a much better place where I know that no matter what happens, I’m on the path that I’m meant to be.” “I also believe that I contributed something of worth to this organization.
“It does seem to have some significance, and with my background, my beliefs, and my current professional status, it just brings me peace.”
What calms Sturm down, too?
Before being traded to the Colorado Avalanche for Tyson Jost at the 2022 Trade Deadline, he claimed to have had Twitter, Snapchat, and everything else.
“You read it and you think you don’t care what a stranger writes about you, but you read through a few things, it will be in the back of your mind,” he said, before acknowledging that there is absolutely nothing positive that can come from reading things online. “You’re scrolling, you’re looking for positive things that have been written about you, and inevitably, you’ll stumble across the negativity,” he said. Yes, it is the nature of humans.
Sturm primarily uses Instagram and WhatsApp for family these days.
“I’m not that way; there are guys who get all the Snapchats and Twitters and can read all the good and bad stuff, but it doesn’t affect them at all, great,” he said. “I’m aware that it impacts me.”
Sturm is a great illustration of how having confidence in oneself can be powerful: “It’s better to stay off it and it’s been fantastic.”
