SAN JOSE — Nico Sturm and Klim Kostin are expected to miss more time with their respective injuries, as San Jose Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said Thursday that both forwards are considered to be more week-to-week before a return than day-to-day.
Kostin has a lower-body injury and has not played since Jan. 10, when the Sharks faced the Utah Hockey Club in Salt Lake City. Sturm, also out with a lower-body injury, was played on injured reserve on Wednesday, the same day the Sharks claimed forward Walker Duehr off of waivers from the Calgary Flames.
Sturm, a pending unrestricted free agent, has 11 points in 41 games this season, centers the Sharks’ fourth line, and is the team’s leader in faceoff percentage (63.2). He’s averaged just under 10 minutes of ice time per game.
Sturm blocked a shot in a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Jan. 2 and missed the next three games. He returned on Jan. 11 and played five games with a goal and an assist before he sat out Tuesday’s game in Nashville, where the Sharks coughed up a four-goal lead in a devastating 7-5 loss.
“It’s frustrating because I think he’s probably been our most consistent forward here as of late,” Warsofsky said of Sturm before the Sharks played the Nashville Predators at SAP Center. “I give him a lot of credit. He’s really improved this game in the last couple of years. He’s playing with the puck more; he’s in the offensive zone more. He’s holding on to pucks down low.
“He’s filling this role. Gives you really good minutes, heavy, physical, good details. We’re going to miss him.”
It was not immediately clear how much time Sturm might have to miss. After Thursday, the Sharks have six more games before the NHL breaks for the 4 Nations Face-Off on Feb. 8, then resume their regular season schedule on Feb. 23 on the road against the Calgary Flames.
Sturm is in the final year of a three-year, $6 million contract he signed with the Sharks in 2022. Speaking with Bay Area News Group late last month, Sturm said without a new contract offer from the Sharks, he expected to be dealt to another team before the NHL trade deadline on March 7,
“Realistically, as long as nothing’s done, I might probably expect to get moved,” Sturm said. “If there’s no contract extension, that’s just the reality of life in the NHL.”
Kostin has been skating recently and was on the ice Thursday morning with fellow winger Collin Graf, who is expected to be a healthy scratch against the Predators.
Kostin, acquired last season from Detroit, is a pending restricted free agent as he is in the final year of a two-year, $4 million deal he signed with the Red Wings in 2023. He has four points in 26 games with the Sharks this season.
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