Panthers’ Nico Sturm day-to-day with undisclosed injury

Injury challenges continue to stack up for the Florida Panthers as center Nico Sturm will be out of the lineup day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, Panthers head coach Paul Maurice confirmed Wednesday per TSN’s Mark Masters.

Acquired from the San Jose Sharks ahead of this year’s trade deadline, Sturm has since made 11 appearances with the Panthers in which he has recorded one assist and two penalty minutes while averaging just shy of 10 minutes of ice time per game. Combined with his time with the Sharks this season, Sturm has totaled seven goals and seven assists for 14 points coupled with 14 penalty minutes and a minus-four mark through 58 games.

Through 327 career contests counting stops with the Minnesota Wild, Colorado Avalanche, Sharks, and Panthers, Sturm has notched 46 goals and 46 assists for 92 points. With the Sharks in 2022-23, Sturm set a career-high 26 points counting 14 goals and 12 assists coming in 74 contests. The prior season, as part of the Avalanche, Sturm helped the club hoist the Stanley Cup after putting up two points through 13 postseason appearances. In all, through 22 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Sturm has registered two goals and three assists for five points.

Per PuckPedia, the 29-year-old German-born forward is in the final year of a three-year pact that carries a $2-million annual average value and is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent this coming offseason.

A graduate of the NCAA’s Clarkson Golden Knights, Sturm originally signed with the Wild in 2019 as an undrafted free agent.

For the Panthers, on the season the defending Stanley Cup champions sit third place in the Atlantic Division with a 44-26-4 record, two points back of the first place Toronto Maple Leafs. The Panthers and Maple Leafs face off Wednesday in Toronto.