Tyson Jost will be one and done at North Dakota.
The Avalanche on Wednesday night signed Jost, its 2016 first-round draft choice, to a three-year entry level contract, and he is expected to join the NHL team Thursday and possibly play as soon as Friday against the St. Louis Blues at the Pepsi Center.
Colorado will have six games remaining at that point and because the 5-foot-11, 190-pound center will play fewer than 10 games, Jost’s ELC will slide to next season and still run through 2019-20.
Jost’s freshman season ended Friday, when North Dakota fell 4-3 to Boston University in double overtime in the first round of the NCAA West Regional.
Jost, 19, had 16 goals and 19 assists in 33 games for the Fighting Hawks this season, and his spectacular score against Omaha in February was voted the National Collegiate Hockey Conference’s goal of the year. That was a significant accomplishment in a season in which University of Denver freshman Henrik Borgstrom — Florida’s first-round choice last year — scored a handful of highlight-reel goals.
Jost also played for Canada in the World Junior Championships in Toronto and Montreal in January. The United States, with DU’s Troy Terry starring in shootouts, won the gold medals, Jost and the Canadians the silvers.
Colorado selected Jost with the 10th overall pick of the draft last June in Buffalo. He was coming off two full seasons with the Penticton Vees of the Junior-A British Columbia Hockey League. Jost had 65 goals and 84 assists in 97 games for Penticton and won the Vern Dye Memorial Trophy as the BCHL’s most valuable player in 2015-16.
Shortly before the Avalanche faced the Washington Capitals Wednesday, general manager Joe Sakic said in the team release that announced Jost’s signing: “We are excited to announce that Tyson has signed his entry-level contract and will be joining us for the rest of this season. Tyson is an all-around player. He competes, plays the game hard and is reliable at both ends of the ice. He just finished a strong year at North Dakota and we’re looking forward to seeing him in an Avalanche sweater.”
Sakic was not at the Avalanche’s game against Washington, but at one point as the trading deadline approached he essentially said his team had only three untouchables — Nathan MacKinnon, the NHL’s top overall draft choice in 2013; rookie Mikko Rantanen, drafted 10th overall in 2015; and Jost, at the time coming down the stretch of his freshman season in Grand Forks. That was an indication of Sakic’s regard and hopes for Jost as part of his much-touted attempt to retool the roster, making it younger and faster.
The night the Avalanche drafted him, Jost said, “Right now I see myself playing one or two years at North Dakota. My ultimate goal, the reason I went to school was to develop as a player and ultimately get to the NHL and win a Stanley Cup. That’s the main reason I chose North Dakota is because they put players in the NHL and that’s my goal. If I work on a few details in my game and get bigger and stronger, I figure one or two years.”
Jost attended the Avalanche development camp last summer, allowable for NCAA players if they pay their own way.
Earlier, the Everett Silvertips made him the No. 7 overall choice in the 2013 Western Hockey League bantam draft, and if he had joined that major-junior team, he would have been ineligible to play NCAA hockey. Junior-A is the route that preserves NCAA eligibility. He also considered DU before deciding to attend North Dakota.
“These two years at Penticton were unbelievable for my development,” he said. “I learned so much as a captain in my second year there and I think I established myself as a leader.”
That night, Sakic said of Jost: “We’re willing to wait. … We really love his character, we love his compete, he plays a full 200-foot game. He’s a great leader. As a hockey player, he does everything really well. He can skate, he’s got great vision, he can score. He’s an all-around complete hockey player. He’s a really great leader, great in the dressing room and off the ice as a person.”
According to the Grand Forks Herald, Jost becomes the first North Dakota player to sign an NHL contract after his freshman season since goaltender Ed Belfour in 1987.
Jost was raised in the Edmonton suburb of St. Albert. His mother, Laura, is a senior manager for Bell Canada and she was Tyson’s hockey coach when he was young. He has a younger sister, Kacey. When Tyson was 13, his grandparents moved to Kelowna, British Columbia, so he could attend and play hockey at the Pursuit of Excellence school there.
At the draft, Tyson’s grandfather, Jim Jost, was shown on the broadcast in tears.
“I thought it was special,” Tyson said of his grandfather during a post-draft visit to Denver. “Everybody could see his true colors and how much pride he has in the game of hockey and how much he did for me and my family. He was a little bit embarrassed once we were telling him, ‘Hey, you’re pretty famous on Twitter right now.’ He’s embarrassed, but I’m proud of him. I’m proud of the person he is.”
Jost said that after the draft, his mother texted him when she arrived back at her desk at Bell Canada in Edmonton, saying, “I guess I’m back to reality now. The movie’s done, the dream’s over.” Tyson added that he responded, “Aw, it’s not over yet, Mom, we’ll keep working and make another one.”
At the NCHC’s recent Frozen Faceoff tournament, the Post’s Mike Chambers asked Jost about the Avalanche’s dreadful season.
“It’s surprising,” Jost said. “I mean, I think they’re better than a lot of people look at them. They have a lot of skill up front. I don’t know if I can really comment because I’m not around the team or anything like that. I try to watch them whenever I get a chance, and obviously it’s unfortunate they’re not doing the best. But I have a lot of faith in the organization, just after meeting with the management at the beginning of the year. I’m still really proud and honored to be part of that organization, and whenever my time is to go with them I’ll be excited to go up with them for sure.”
That’ll happen Thursday. The hope is that Jost arrives in time to be able to go though a physical and be on the ice for at least part of the scheduled practice. If all are comfortable at that point that he’s ready to go, and there are no work visa complications, he will play against the Blues.
And next season? Is Sakic remains on the job, and it wouldn’t be surprising if Jost and his camp received an assurance that they were dealing with the man who still will be running the Avalanche next season, the GM’s revamp will get into high gear. Part of the plan was to tie up the six-man “core” — Semyon Varlamov, Erik Johnson, Tyson Barrie, MacKinnon, Matt Duchene and Gabe Landeskog — to long-term contracts and continue to fill in around them, increasingly with young prospects as time passed. Varlamov, who underwent season-ending hip surgery in February, remains both a questionmark and untradable, but the others — yes, even MacKinnon — aren’t immune to being traded for the right offer as Sakic attempts to make this horrible season a memory, not a trend.
As it stands now, minus trades or significant free agent signings, Colorado’s top six forwards figure to come from among MacKinnon, Rantanen, Landeskog, Duchene, Jost, J.T. Compher, most likely Sven Andrighetto (a pending restricted free agent), and current San Antonio Rampage winger A.J. Greer.
The Avalanche also has two past draft choices — DU senior defenseman Will Butcher (fifth round in 2013) and Notre Dame left wing Cam Morrison (second round, 2016) — playing in the upcoming Frozen Four in Chicago. Butcher is 22, Morrison still only 18.
The Pioneers and Fighting Irish will meet in one semifinal on April 6. The Avalanche regular season ends with a game at St. Louis on April 9, the day after the championship game. Especially because of Morrison’s age, it seems likely the Avalanche will be fine with him remaining at Notre Dame at least one more season. Butcher could become a free agent if he hasn’t signed with Colorado by mid-August.
