Sharks’ center had procedure done to fix year-long issue

SAN JOSE – San Jose Sharks center Nico Sturm remains out indefinitely but is slowly starting to make progress from an injury he suffered to his hand/wrist area earlier this month.

Sturm, who hasn’t played since Dec. 12 when he was injured in the third period of San Jose’s game with the Winnipeg Jets, is at least now able to tie his skates and grip his stick as he continues to keep up his conditioning with some on-ice drills after the Sharks finish practice.

Sturm said he had a procedure done on the inside of his hand last Friday to correct a problem that he has had for about a year.

Sturm, one of the NHL’s faceoff leaders, credited Sharks head athletic trainer Ray Tufts for getting him ready to play in the past whenever he’s had issues with his hand. But with his latest injury, Sturm felt something needed to be done to fix the problem for the long-term.

“They do such a good job, but it was just at the point where there was so much inflammation in there,” Sturm told this news organization Thursday before the Sharks faced the Arizona Coyotes. “Realistically, I probably would continue to miss games and then come back with treatment. It’s just at that point where it’s like, let’s just bite the bullet and just get it fixed.”

Sturm is wearing a brace on his right hand and is happy with how his recovery has gone so far,  but wouldn’t hazard a guess as to when he might return. The Sharks, before Thursday, were 0-5-0 this season without Sturm in the lineup.

Before Thursday’s games, Sturm was third in the NHL with a 62.2 faceoff percentage among players who have taken at least 200 draws this year.

“I have to do my faceoffs and everything,” Sturm said. “(If) I can’t do that … I’m not going to play if I’m not 100%. I’m not going to come back and be like, ‘Oh, I’ll play the wing because I can’t play center because I can’t use my hand.’ If it’s 100%, it’s 100%. It’s tough to say when that’s going to be.”

After Thursday, the Sharks travel to Vancouver the play the Canucks on Saturday before their three-day Christmas break begins. San Jose then closes 2023 with three more games and has 14 more games in January before the NHL’s all-star break.

Sturm has been the Sharks’ third-line center when he’s been healthy and has two goals and two assists in 26 games this season, averaging 14:34 in ice time.

NEARLY A SHARK?: Arizona defenseman Matt Dumba said the Sharks were one of the teams he and his agent, Craig Oster, spoke to in the offseason as he weighed where he wanted to play next after 10 seasons with the Minnesota Wild.

Dumba would agree to a one-year, $3.9 million deal with the Coyotes as a free agent on Aug. 6, the same day the Sharks traded Erik Karlsson to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a package that included center Mikael Granlund.

Dumba, 29, said he let Oster handle the business end as he tried to enjoy his summer, but added that it never got to the point where he spoke to Sharks general manager Mike Grier.

“We had a handful (of teams) that we’re trying to just sort out,” Dumba said. “Ended up having a house in Arizona already and was getting pretty close before the start of the season.”

Dumba has several friends on the Sharks roster, including former Wild teammates Granlund, Sturm, Luke Kunin, Calen Addison, and Kaapo Kahkonen, and fellow Hockey Diversity Alliance co-founder Anthony Duclair.

“Made some really cool connections. Some friends who will be lifelong friends, for sure,” Dumba said. “I don’t live too far from (Kunin) in the summer, me and (Granlund) will be boys for life, Addison stays in Minnesota in the summer. Cool to see how (the Sharks) have kind of collected a crew of my friends.”

Dumba, before Thursday, was averaging 20:01 in ice time per game for the Coyotes, as he had two goals and five points in 30 games.

The Coyotes came into Thursday holding the Western Conference’s second and final wild-card spot with a 16-13-2 record.

Arizona has made the playoffs just once since the 2011-2012 season, and that was in the bubble in Edmonton when it beat Nashville in the qualifying round and lost to Colorado in what was technically the first round.

“I think we’ve surprised some people but at the same time, I think we’re still under our own expectations and where we figure this team being,” Dumba said. “So it’s a work in progress, which is a really fun part of it too.”