Wild’s Nico Sturm leaves game with lower-body injury

The Minnesota Wild announced on social media that forward Nico Sturm left Monday’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights with a lower-body injury and would not return.

Sturm suffered the injury late in the first period after he took a point shot to the head in front of the Golden Knights’ net. He stayed down and a trainer helped him off the ice.

He finished the night with 3:20 of ice time. Through three games, he has two shots on net.

Now in his ninth NHL season, Sturm has 51 goals and 52 assists for 103 points in 383 career regular-season contests with the Wild, Florida Panthers, San Jose Sharks and Colorado Avalanche. He hit career highs in 2022-23 as a member of the Sharks, where he scored 14 goals and added 12 assists for 26 points in 74 games.

He started his professional career with the Wild, then re-joined the club ahead of the 2025-26 season when he signed a two-year, $4-million contract with a cap hit of $2 million.

A native of Augsburg, Germany, Sturm has also played in 38 Stanley Cup Playoff games. He’s scored three goals and added seven assists for 10 points. He won his first Stanley Cup championship in 2022 with the Avalanche and another with the Panthers in 2025.

Going into Monday night, the Wild were 3-1-1 with seven points through five games, tied for second in the Central Division. Kirill Kaprizov leads the team with six goals and eight points in his first five contests.