In his return to Minnesota, Nico Sturm has yet to play a game. But the Wild already miss him.

Sidelined by an upper body injury that limited him in training camp, and apparently got worse days before the season started, Sturm was acquired for his winning experience — he won Stanley Cups in Colorado and Florida — and his expertise on faceoffs.

After two games, the Wild’s is 44.8%, 24th in the 32-team league. And before you say it’s only two games, consider that you have to go back to 2017-18 to find a season in which Minnesota didn’t finish in the NHL’s bottom 10 in faceoff percentage.

Sturm has been a 50%-plus faceoff man in all eight of his full NHL seasons, and has a 58.8 career success rate. But he’s not expected back anytime soon. In his stead, Ryan Hartman is hitting a blistering 6

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