He moved up to the Landshut senior team for the 1995-96 season, scoring 12 goals and 32 points in 47 games. At age 19, Sturm was still eligible as a junior and again competed in both the European Juniors, leading all players in scoring with 11 points in 5 games as the team captain, and the World Juniors, scoring 4 goals and 10 points in 6 games for Germany.
Later that year, Sturm was selected by the San Jose Sharks 21st overall in the first round of the 1996 NHL Entry Draft, one of only two players selected in the first round to go on to be an NHL All-Star.
The 1996-97 season was Sturm's second with the Landshut senior team, this time scoring 16 goals and 43 points in 46 games. Following the DEL season, Sturm made his senior international debut at the 1997 World Championships, scoring a goal and 2 points for the Germans.
Sturm then signed with the Sharks and made the team out of training camp, scoring a goal in his first NHL game on October 4, 1997. He would finish the season with 10 goals and 30 points in 74 games, fifth among rookies and quickly established himself as an NHL regular. He would also make his Olympic debut during that season when he competed in two games for Germany at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
He would play the next six seasons with the Sharks, scoring 38, 27 and 32 points from 1998-99 to 2000-01, with a high of 16 goals in 1998-99. That same season he would be named to the World All-Star Team for the NHL All-Star Game. Following the 2000-01 season, Sturm would return to the World Championships for the first time since 1997, scoring 4 goals and 5 points in 7 games.
His first of six consecutive 20 goal season would arrive in 2001-02 with 21 goals on his way to 4 points. Sturm would also return to the Olympics for the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City.
He would set new personal bests with 28 goals and 48 points in 2002-03 and achieve another 20 goal, 40 point season in 2003-04. Later that fall, Sturm was a member of the German National Team at the 2004 World Cup of Hockey where he contributed 2 goals in 4 games.
Following the World Cup, the owners locked out the players in a bitter labor dispute, which resulted in the entire 2004-05 NHL season being cancelled. As many NHL players did, Sturm returned to his home country and played with ERC Ingolstadt while hoping the NHL season would resume at any time. Eventually, he played 45 games, scoring 22 goals and 38 points for Ingolstadt as well as playing in the DEL All-Star Game.
Sturm returned to the Sharks for the start of the 2005-06 NHL season, but after 23 games, he was part of a blockbuster trade, which sent him, Brad Stuart and Wayne Primeau to the Boston Bruins for their captain Joe Thornton. When Strum left the Sharks, he was ranked sixth in franchise scoring.
After scoring 6 goals and 16 points for San Jose, Sturm would settle right in with the Bruins and add another 23 goals and 43 points in 51 games in Boston, all of which added up to career highs with 29 goals and 59 points. During the season, Sturm was named as the captain for Germany for the 2006 Olympics in Torino, Italy, but was unable to compete due to an injury he suffered in early February.
He was healthy enough to return to the Bruins and, following the regular season, played for Germany at the 2006 Division I Group A World Championships, where he scored 4 goals and 7 points in 5 games as Germany earned the promotion back to the top level of the IIHF World Championships for 2007 with a perfect 5-0 record, as Germany dominated with 34 goals scored while only allowing 4 as they shut out Japan, Great Britain and France.
Sturm had another fine season with the Bruins, where his speed served him well, scoring 27 goals and 44 points, while his defensive play made him a tough opponent to compete against. He matched his 27 goals again in 2007-08, but recorded 29 assists for 56 points, the second highest of his career. Following the Bruins exit from the playoffs, Sturm played in his fourth and final World Championships with 2 goals and 3 points in 6 games while serving as the team captain.
He missed the majority of the 2008-09 season due to a knee injury, which limited him to 19 games. Sturm rebounded with a 22 goal, 37 point season, seeing action in 76 games of the 2009-10 season, proving he was fully recovered from his knee problems. Additionally, Sturm was again named the captain of the German Olympic Team for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, where he played in his third Olympic Games.
Unfortunately, Sturm was hurt 21 seconds into the Bruins second round playoff series against the Philadelphia Flyers, which resulted in a tear to his ACL and MCL which caused him to miss nearly half of the following 2010-11 season.
With his recovery nearly complete, Sturm was traded by Boston to the Los Angeles Kings. Ten days later he was activated from injured reserve. He scored 5 goals and 9 points in 17 games for the Kings, but was placed on waivers in late February. The following day he was claimed by the Washington Capitals, scoring a goal and 7 points in 18 regular season games before adding a goal and 3 points in 9 playoff games.
Now a free agent, Sturm signed with the Vancouver Canucks, hoping they would return to the Stanley Cup Finals, but after just six games and no points, he was traded to the Florida Panthers, with whom he played in the final 42 games of his NHL career.
For the 2012-13 season, Sturm returned to Germany to play for the Cologne Sharks in February in time to play 5 regular season games and 12 playoff games, during which he scored 6 goals and 9 points in what would be he his final games before his retirement as a player.
In 2015, Sturm was named the Head Coach and General Manager of the Germany National Team, which recently won their Final Olympic Qualifying Tournament to return to the Olympics in 2018 after missing out on the Game in 2014.
Sturm's final NHL totals were 938 games played with 242 goals and 245 assists for 487 points. He also scored 22 points in 68 NHL playoff games. Internationally, he played for Germany at the European Juniors twice, the World Juniors twice, the World Championships four times, the World Cup once and the Olympics three times.
Today's featured jersey is a 2008 Germany National Team Marco Sturm jersey. The IIHF celebrated it's 100th anniversary in 2008 and for that year's World Championships, all teams wore a throwback jersey for one game. For Germany, their design was based on their sweaters from 1932 and was worn during a 5-1 loss to Finland on May 3, 2008.
Bonus jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 2004 Germany National Team Marco Sturm jersey. Germany first wore this style in 2001 and continued to wear it through the 2004 World Cup before it was replaced by a new style for the 2005 World Championships.
Extra bonus jersey: Today's extra bonus jersey is a 1999-00 San Jose Sharks Marco Sturm jersey. After the Sharks introduced the color teal to the NHL in 1991, they debuted a new, bold template with with arched striping as their alternate jersey first introduced in 1997-98.
The following season that third jersey became their new primary road jersey which prompted the need for a white home version. This paring was used through the 2006-07 season when it was retired with the debut of the new Reebok Edge jerseys for the 2007-08 season.
Today's video section begins with Sturm scoring the Game 6 overtime goal against the Montreal Canadiens in the 2008 playoffs.
If that wasn't enough, here are all 29 of Sturm's goals from the 2005-06 season in chronological order.
One more Sturm goal, this his overtime game winner in the 2010 NHL Winter Classic.
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