Colorado Avalanche Need Tyson Jost to Turn Pro

The Colorado Avalanche chose center Tyson Jost 10th-overall at last season’s draft. The team needs him to turn professional.

The Colorado Avalanche need last year’s 10th-overall draft pick, Tyson Jost, to turn pro.

Colorado has scoring woes. Their depth is so very thin. This year has been a nightmare with the core forwards not getting anywhere near the support they need so they can score.

That’s where Jost can come in, eventually.

Year of Jost

Last year when the Avalanche drafted Tyson Jost , the understanding was that he had already committed to playing for the University of North Dakota where his idol, Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews, attended.

He’s done that, and with good results. At the time of writing, Jost had played in 28 games and accrued 29 points (14 goals, 15 assists), which is good for second on the team. The only player ahead of him is a sophomore — Jost, of course, is a freshman.

What’s more, Jost has been killing it in international competitions. At the World Junior Championships that took place from December 26, 2016, to January 5, 2017, Jost earned a goal and three assists in seven games.

Here’s his goal:

Very impressive!

Last year he played in the World Junior U-18. In seven games he got six goals and nine assists.

Well, Jost and his North Dakota Fighting Hawks are about to enter the NCHC Quarterfinals running from March 10-12. It’s a best-of-three tournament that’s pitting the Fighting Hawks against the St. Cloud State Huskies. If the Fighting Hawks advance, they go to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff tournament followed by the NCAA Regionals and, finally, the NCAA Frozen Four.

So, Tyson Jost’s collegiate hockey season could be over as soon as this Sunday (March 12) or extend all the way to April 8. In case you’re wondering, the Colorado Avalanche season ends on April 9, but the San Antonio Rampage play all the way until April 15.

Regardless of when this year’s Fighting Hawks season ends, Jost is going to have a big decision in front of him.

More About Tyson Jost:

• Getting to Know Tyson Jost
• Jost is the Real Deal
• Jost’s World Junior Showcase

Tyson Jost’s Decision

Hockey players, just like anyone else in life, have their own decisions to make about their career. For instance, Eric Lindros famously refused to play for the Quebec Nordiques, and the resulting trade essentially set up the franchise for excellence for a decade.

Jost isn’t anywhere in that kind of realm. However, players have a lot of reasons for playing college hockey, including actually getting an education.

Now, as of last summer when Tyson was drafted, that wasn’t necessarily his focus. He said of his decision to play for 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, because they put players in the NHL and that’s my goal.”

Indeed, in that same interview with the Denver Post Jost remarked that he expected to spend one or two years playing college hockey. His stated goals was to work on his game and get bigger and stronger.

That last is certainly a factor. He’s not strictly diminutive, but he does come in at a size that’s in-ideal for an NHL player — 5-foot-11, 190 pounds. After a year in college, he seems to have picked up five pounds, all muscle I’m sure.

Here are a couple ways that Jost has been working on bulking up:

To be honest, Tyson looks like an oversized toddler when he’s carrying that weighted ball, but it’s all very impressive just the same.

More from Mile High Sticking

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• Colorado Avalanche make sneaky signing with Tatar
• Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog could return in 2023-24 playoffs
• Colorado Avalanche rookie face-off tournament roster

While some players might think through the decision of when to go pro all on their own, presumably Jost is listening to the Colorado Avalanche. At the time of drafting him, GM Joe Sakic remarked that UND was going to help develop Jost. “He’s there for at least one year and we’ll see after that.”

Well, “after that” Jost’s draft team is dead last in the NHL by a wide margin and needing a lot of help in the depth department. Avalanche execs, as well as Jared Bednar, have been attending some of Tyson’s games. No question they’ll be watching his tournament play closely.

And no doubt they’ll want him to turn pro, at least this summer if not as soon as his college season ends. College hockey isn’t nearly as rigorous as even the AHL, and Colorado will want Jost to start getting used to that pace.

As Jost observed during the draft, “nothing is handed to you in life.” Well, having an NHL team blowing up your phone to sign an entry-level contract is at least a culmination of all the hard work and effort Tyson and his entire family put into his development.

Remember, Jost was raised by a single mom. His grandparents uprooted themselves so they could provide a home for him in Kelowna, British Columbia, so he could attend the hockey-centric Pursuit of Excellence school.

Let’s also just remember his grandfather’s reaction to Jost getting drafted by an NHL team:

This all points to Tyson Jost turning pro before next season.

MORE FROM MILE HIGH STICKING: 4 Collegiate Free Agents for Colorado to Consider

Now, as I observed in a previous post, Jost isn’t the savior of the Colorado Avalanche. He’s not a franchise-making player like Auston Matthews or Connor McDavid. He is, however, a very solid hockey player.

And his team needs him. So, while he’ll certainly spend some time developing with the San Antonio Rampage, Colorado needs him to provide depth in the lineup. And that needs to start next season.