IIHF – Sturm makes history

European-NHLer now a head coach

 

If it wasn’t special enough for Marco Sturm to be named head coach of the Boston Bruins on 5 June, only the fourth European to lead an NHL team, consider this: He is the first European ever to play in the NHL and then go on to be named head coach.

 

The 46-year-old native of Dingolfing, West Germany, had a sensational, 14-year career in the NHL with six teams, notably with San Jose and Boston. He was also a prominent member of Germany’s national team for the better part of 15 years, starting with the 1995 World Juniors and including three Olympics.

 

Sturm was drafted a lofty 21^st overall by the Sharks in 1996 at the age of 17, thanks in large part to two impressive World Juniors in 1995 and 1996. He remained in Germany one more year before joining the Sharks for the 1997-98 season. In seven and a half seasons, he became a reliable 20-goal scorer and an improving defensive player as well, but early in the 2005-06 season he was traded to the Bruins with Brad Stuart and Wayne Primeau in a deal that brought Joe Thornton to San Jose. In each of his four full seasons with the Bruins, Sturm again hit the 20-goal mark, but the team struggled in the playoffs and Sturm suffered two knee injuries which limited his effectiveness.

 

He finished his career with short stints in Los Angeles, Washington, Vancouver, and Florida, and returned to Germany to play a few games in the DEL before retiring early in the 20-1213 season. It can be said unequivocally that before the arrival of Leon Draisaitl, Sturm was the greatest German-born player in NHL history.

 

Internationally, he played at three World Championships, the 2004 World Cup, and the Olympics in 1998, 2002, and 2010. Along the way, he captained the team three times—the 2004 World Cup, 2008 Worlds, and the 2010 Olympics.

 

Just three years after hanging up his skates, he brought them back down, picked up a whistle, and started coaching the German national team with great success. Germany won the 2015 Deutschland Cup under his guidance, and he then led the team to consecutive quarter-finals appearances at the Worlds in 2016 and ’17. The team also qualified for the 2018 Olympics, where they came within a minute of winning what would have been a monumental gold medal. They settled for an historic silver all the same.

 

Early in the 2018-19 season, Sturm moved back to the NHL, becoming an assistant coach with the…