Colorado Avalanche: Tyson Jost Scores, JT Compher Close

Colorado Avalanche center Tyson Jost has got his second goal on the season, and linemate J.T. Compher is close to scoring.

Colorado Avalanche center Tyson Jost is back to playing his game, and it has paid dividends for him. Jost scored a goal in the Avs loss to the Washington Capitals. It’s his second goal of the season and third point.

Jost hasn’t had the rookie campaign he might want. He suffered a small injury in the preseason and missed a couple of the preseason games. He then got injured on a dangerous hit by Adam McQuaid. He missed a full month of hockey then got sent down to the San Antonio Rampage for a five-game conditioning stint.

I observed in a previous post that I had once called Jost a “bulldog on the forecheck” but that I hadn’t been noticing that kind of play from him recently.

Well, it was in evidence last night. Not only was Jost back to playing the forecheck with ferocity, he seemed to be seeing the puck well. And it led to a goal:

This isn’t a forecheck since Mikko Rantanen carries the puck in, but it’s a great example of Jost keeping his focus on the play and capitalizing. That’s also a nifty little back hand. (And it also appears that Rantanen is back to sprawling across the ice regularly.)

Unfortunately, the goal didn’t mean much since the Avs were down 4-1 with 1:04 left in the game. Still, I’m happy for Tyson Jost.

Some people have said they think Jost should be send down to the Rampage again or to the World Junior competition to develop more and gain some confidence. Concerning the latter, according to an article by Mike Chambers, it’s off the table.

I still maintain Jost doesn’t need hockey development. I think he needs mentorship. When a team suits up four to six rookies a game and has a couple more on the roster, there’s not enough mentorship to go around. I’d like to see one of the older players take Jost under his wing more.

That said, it appears as if his buddy and roommate, J.T. Compher, has at least somewhat taken on those duties. The two seem to arrive to the arena together a lot, and it’s true that Compher is older (22 to Jost’s 19) and has more NHL experience (45 games to Jost’s 20), I don’t know that he can help Jost learn how to be a teenager in the NHL.

Ideally, I said in the previous post that I’d like to see Nail Yakupov take on the task. However, Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon, and Erik Johnson can all speak to what it’s like to be a teen in the NHL.

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Anyway, back to Compher. He’s not putting up big numbers yet this season. However, he’s getting some excellent scoring chances. He has a breakaway pretty much every game. Now, if he could just find a way to finish, I think he’d show some explosive scoring.

Side note, I don’t think the All-Rookie line is working out. It’s been in effect for six games until tonight, which Alexander Kerfoot missed with a foot contusion. (He’s day-to-day.)

According to Natural Stat Trick the three together have a CorsiFor of 40.54%, a Shots on Goal Percentage of 31.58% and a Scoring Chances For Percentage of 40%. When you take one of the players out of the mix, the line is almost always better.

The best was Jost and Compher without Kerfoot, which yielded a CorsiFor of 49.32, a SF% of 61.11% and a SCF% of 54.29. That’s not to say Kerfoot is dragging them down, but rather that he plays better with other players — the best numbers with him in the lineup are without Jost or Compher. And he is, after all, third on the entire team for points. (He’s played really well with Colin Wilson.)

Next: JT Compher Ready to Contribute

Anyway, it’d be great to see these rookies start scoring more for the Colorado Avalanche.

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