Colorado Avalanche: Goodbye, Tyson Jost

The Colorado Avalanche have finally traded Tyson Jost, and this fan, at least, is still sad. A farewell to a very well-liked player.

The Colorado Avalanche traded forward Tyson Jost to the Minnesota Wild for forward Nico Sturm.

This trade is not news. It happened five days ago. Indeed, Jost has already played two games with his new team. Sturm has, too, I guess.

This post, then, is obviously not a news post. It’s saying goodbye to my favorite player. Because not only did Colorado trade away Tyson Jost, but they did so to the ONE team I can in no way support or even wish well.

Trades in sports are a business deal from the team’s perspective. They go shopping. They look at players they think can improve their team and then decide what they can pay for him. They then haggle like they’re buying souvenirs at a Moroccan bazaar. At the end of the trade, they go on their way with no invested emotions.

Many fans see trades that way, too, or they try to anyway. They look at the fact that a trade like this seems to have made the team better. The Colorado Avalanche got a bigger player with a better faceoff percentage and… I don’t know. Maybe a bit more physicality.

Some sports fans, like it or not, are like me, though. We’re people people. We like people. For us, we like to get to know the players, even if it’s just vicariously. We like when a player is a good guy. We love when he’s got a fun personality. And, sure, we want him to be able to help our team win. Because no one is yelling louder then we are for team victories.

I’m pretty sure I lost a decibel or two during that Game 82 victory the Avalanche enjoyed a few years ago over the St. Louis Blues. I was in the stands, so I definitely lost a decibel or two of hearing.

But I’m sad. I’m not sad for the player.  According to Avs insider Adrian Dater, the player himself asked for a trade two years ago. He knew he wasn’t getting the shakes he needed in Colorado. I doubt he wanted to go to the (hated) Minnesota Wild, but maybe there is a team where he can get the shakes he needs. Good on him.

I’m not sad for him. I’m sad for myself. Because Minnesota really is the one team I absolutely cannot get behind, even for Jost’s sake. Too well I remember the impotent rage as I’d see Colorado fall again and again to that most despised of teams. It all started with that ping heard round Avs Nation. (Nino Niederreiter’s Game 7 OT winner.) But, let’s be honest, it even started with Patrick Roy‘s last-ever game as a Colorado Avalanche goalie — in 2003 in the playoffs against the Wild.

Nope, I can’t wish well for the Wild. So I lament the loss of Tyson Jost. I remember watching him get drafted. I remember seeing him at the Avs’ prospect camp that summer and accidentally creeping him out because I was trying to get a picture of him.

I remember following his freshman year with NoDak and being so sure he’d sign after because the Avalanche had just had that DISMAL 48-point season and I knew the talented kid in NoDak would come to help his NHL team.

I remember meeting the kid a handful of times — and his being sweet when I greeted him awkwardly the first time. I remember all the incredible content he provided for the Avs social media team. I remember the ways he’d let us know he has a goofy personality.

I remember seeing him work harder than anyone else. I remember his hat trick. And I remember that other impotent rage — watching Jared Bednar push him back again and again.

I knew this day would come. The writing has been on the wall for two years that the Colorado Avalanche would trade Tyson Jost. And I could kid myself that if they had only traded him to any other team, or especially one I’m already fond of, then I could still follow him.

But the truth is, as much as I’m a people person, as much as I like the kid Tyson Jost, I bleed burgundy and blue. I may hate players — and coaches — on my team, but I’m only ever an Avs fan.

So, goodbye, Josty. Thank you for the memories.