Confirmed with Link: Nico Sturm traded for Tyson Jost

[ThatGuy22]

assuming no indication of what the cap hit offered was?

My guess it was something along the lines of the Hartman deal

 

[Nino Noderreiter]

I think it's interesting that the Wild never even tried to see how Sturm fit with the Fiala or Kaprizov lines. I'm not sure how it would have worked as I don't think that Sturm has the shot or ability to possess the puck that Hartman/Gaudreau do. However, it would have been interesting to see how say for example Kaprizov/Zuccarello would have utilized Sturm's speed.

His speed could have potentially opened up a lot of room for Kaprizov/Zucc pushing back the weakside D as he drove far post. I would hypothesize there would be a lot of breakaways/partial breakaways and basically using Sturm's stick as backboard around the net too. I'm not upset about it as ultimately I think Gaudreau and Hartman are probably better fits for different reasons--but it's interesting that they never even tried it and then are posturing that will with Jost as soon as he gets up to speed.

 

[ThatGuy22]

I think it's interesting that the Wild never even tried to see how Sturm fit with the Fiala or Kaprizov lines. I'm not sure how it would have worked as I don't think that Sturm has the shot or ability to possess the puck that Hartman/Gaudreau do. However, it would have been interesting to see how say for example Kaprizov/Zuccarello would have utilized Sturm's speed.

His speed could have potentially opened up a lot of room for Kaprizov/Zucc pushing back the weakside D as he drove far post. I would hypothesize there would be a lot of breakaways/partial breakaways and basically using Sturm's stick as backboard around the net too. I'm not upset about it as ultimately I think Gaudreau and Hartman are probably better fits for different reasons--but it's interesting that they never even tried it and then are posturing that will with Jost as soon as he gets up to speed.

You misspelled infuriating.

 

[nstarjim]

BG seems desperate to do something here. older more expensive and worse at faceoffs.

 

[thestonedkoala]

BG seems desperate to do something here. older more expensive and worse at faceoffs.

Also smaller.

 

[AKL]

BG seems desperate to do something here. older more expensive and worse at faceoffs.

Jost is 3 years younger

 

[nstarjim]

Jost is 3 years younger

my mistake.

 

[Nino Noderreiter]

You misspelled infuriating.

LOL

I have been on a train of expressing frustration with the BG regime at a fundamental level, I was trying to be a little bit more positive. Again, it's another scenario of the process behind the usage of the asset. Sturm may not have been great in the role, but we've seen players with similar skill sets (Haula) be able to be an effective player translate production up the depth chart to some extent at least.

Rask, Gaudreau, Hartman, and even Bjugstad have all gotten shots with varying degrees of success. Sturm is the youngest & arguably the most skilled or at least the player in that group who has an NHL level skill as part of his overall skillset that is the "most" elite. Sturm was arguably the best north/south skater on the team and has flashed finishing ability at top speed.

Before giving up on Sturm as an asset for a rehab project, why not explore Sturm with Kaprizov & Zucc? Especially during an extended stretch of Hartman falling back to earth. In a best-case, you potentially find that Kaprizov/Zucc are able to leverage Sturms speed to do a lot of interesting things and it ends up allowing you to slightly upgrade your centers from Hartman/Gaudreau to Sturm/Hartman and move Gaudreau to the 4th line. At worst, it raises Sturm's trade value & allows you to make sure that you aren't rolling the dice on any missed upside.

I can already hear the responses saying "Sturm is a 4th line player, it's not worth calling out BG". For me, it's again the process that is being used. What is the rational behind why we invest the amount of time & effort into trying to reclaim and boost players like Rask & Gaudreau to see if we can capture potential upside, but Sturm is completely out of bounds? I think the argument that many made during his time here was that Sturm was too important to the 4th line and that we needed his speed in that second checking line role to make sure that line could be rolled with the top 3 lines and be effective. I would again say, why are we prioritizing the performance of our 4th line over the performance of our top 2?

 

[ThatGuy22]

LOL

I have been on a train of expressing frustration with the BG regime at a fundamental level, I was trying to be a little bit more positive. Again, it's another scenario of the process behind the usage of the asset. Sturm may not have been great in the role, but we've seen players with similar skill sets (Haula) be able to be an effective player translate production up the depth chart to some extent at least.

Rask, Gaudreau, Hartman, and even Bjugstad have all gotten shots with varying degrees of success. Sturm is the youngest & arguably the most skilled or at least the player in that group who has an NHL level skill as part of his overall skillset that is the "most" elite. Sturm was arguably the best north/south skater on the team and has flashed finishing ability at top speed.

Before giving up on Sturm as an asset for a rehab project, why not explore Sturm with Kaprizov & Zucc? Especially during an extended stretch of Hartman falling back to earth. In a best-case, you potentially find that Kaprizov/Zucc are able to leverage Sturms speed to do a lot of interesting things and it ends up allowing you to slightly upgrade your centers from Hartman/Gaudreau to Sturm/Hartman and move Gaudreau to the 4th line. At worst, it raises Sturm's trade value & allows you to make sure that you aren't rolling the dice on any missed upside.

I can already hear the responses saying "Sturm is a 4th line player, it's not worth calling out BG". For me, it's again the process that is being used. What is the rational behind why we invest the amount of time & effort into trying to reclaim and boost players like Rask & Gaudreau to see if we can capture potential upside, but Sturm is completely out of bounds? I think the argument that many made during his time here was that Sturm was too important to the 4th line and that we needed his speed in that second checking line role to make sure that line could be rolled with the top 3 lines and be effective. I would again say, why are we prioritizing the performance of our 4th line over the performance of our top 2?

And then I would conclude by also asking, why Jost but not Sturm?

I'd imagine you could find a dozen or so posts from me dating back to mid last year about not atleast trying Sturm up the line up. Whether that means trying him as an Ek replacement, and moving Ek up or between Kap and Zuc, or with Fiala.

I'll never understand why he didn't get even a chance with his advanced metrics, and being literally the only player on the team that can win half his faceoffs.

 

[57special]

I'd imagine you could find a dozen or so posts from me dating back to mid last year about not atleast trying Sturm up the line up. Whether that means trying him as an Ek replacement, and moving Ek up or between Kap and Zuc, or with Fiala.

I'll never understand why he didn't get even a chance with his advanced metrics, and being literally the only player on the team that can win half his faceoffs.

It all seems to come down to Evason having coached Gaudreau years ago down in Milwaukee. Gaudreau has been given every chance to succeed, while Sturm was overlooked. Anyway, not a major deal, but I don't like it. I hope Jost can change my mind, but I am not holding my breath.

 

[BagHead]

It all seems to come down to Evason having coached Gaudreau years ago down in Milwaukee. Gaudreau has been given every chance to succeed, while Sturm was overlooked. Anyway, not a major deal, but I don't like it. I hope Jost can change my mind, but I am not holding my breath.

I think a bigger part of it is that Evason trusts Gaudreau defensively, but not Fiala. Another bigger part is his obvious chemistry with Fiala. Gaudreau is on the same page as the rest of that line, and I doubt Sturm would have been, so I don't blame Evason for that. I'd do the same.

If they were to try Sturm anywhere, it probably should have been on the Kaprizov-Zuccarello line when Hartman had gone cold. I think Sturm could have been given a bigger chance here, but I was also never convinced he had more to give than being a fast, big, north-south center. I know you think better of Sturm than I do, though, so I can respect where you're coming from. He may prove me wrong, and I sorta hope he does.

 

[57special]

I think a bigger part of it is that Evason trusts Gaudreau defensively, but not Fiala. Another bigger part is his obvious chemistry with Fiala. Gaudreau is on the same page as the rest of that line, and I doubt Sturm would have been, so I don't blame Evason for that. I'd do the same.

If they were to try Sturm anywhere, it probably should have been on the Kaprizov-Zuccarello line when Hartman had gone cold. I think Sturm could have been given a bigger chance here, but I was also never convinced he had more to give than being a fast, big, north-south center. I know you think better of Sturm than I do, though, so I can respect where you're coming from. He may prove me wrong, and I sorta hope he does.

Sturm was never given a chance, while Gaudreau was given every chance. Gaudreau has only started to look good since Boldy has come up...I would argue that he is feasting on the table scraps left over after Boldy and Fiala have eaten, much like Hartman on Kap's line.

 

[AKL]

But Sturm plays more similarly to Eriksson Ek than he does to Hartman or Gaudreau, so it stands to reason that if most of you didn't like Ek in the top six (which, most of you didn't), then there's no good reason to try Sturm there. Because it wasn't that Ek wasn't "good enough", it was that his style didn't mesh well.

 

[ThatGuy22]

Took all of zero games for Sturm to get time up the lineup with Newhook and Compher.

 

[AKL]

Took all of zero games for Sturm to get time up the lineup with Newhook and Compher.

Jost also played with Newhook and Compher. That's their third line.

 

[thestonedkoala]

Avs really like Sturm. Hope Jost shows something more in the next game.

 

[Richard88]

Avs fan here in peace.

Gotta say I loved this trade from a Colorado perspective when it was made, and I love it even more now after watching one game of Sturm with the Avs (against SJ). Sturm played on the Avs 3rd line centering Newhook and Compher, and the difference he made compared to Jost was stark.

Sturm is clearly very good at using his size, speed, and reach to hold onto the puck and ride checks along the boards, which helped his line establish good presence in the OZ. The Avs 3rd line has been a constant problem for the Avs all season, and this was the first time in a long time that that line won their Corsi matchup and were even Colorado's best line with 8 of their 21 shots at 5v5. As an Avs fan accustomed to seeing Jost rubbed off the puck on the boards over and over and over and over again it was extremely refreshing to see how effective Sturm was at winning board battles and creating space for Newhook who registered a team-high 4 shots on goal. Sturm also won 75% of his faceoffs (6/8) which is a welcome sight after enduring Jost's ~35% faceoff rate the last few years.

I can't say that I'm going to miss Jost on the ice at all. A lot of scouts were fooled by the fact that he has great skating technique, clearly thanks to good coaching when he was young, but the raw truth is that despite his technically-sound skating he completely lacks any explosiveness to create separation in the OZ with the puck, and he doesn't have the size to make up for it. It's been a constant frustration for Avs fans to watch him get rubbed off the puck along the boards and basically never be able to get in a position to use some of his offensive skills more often.

For the record this isn't a reactionary post to the trade. I've been including Jost in trade proposals constantly the last couple of years as he was clearly never destined to work in Colorado. It was a big mistake for Sakic to give him a $2m x 2 year contract last offseason when the better move would have been to sell high after he had his best season riding on the coattails of Nichuskin's possession dominance and Donskoi's hot streak. Jost probably could have fetched a 2nd round pick last summer which would have come in handy at this deadline (not to mention the extra $2m in UFA last year); but I am nonetheless pleased with the return he's brought back now in Sturm who I hope the Avs can re-sign to a reasonable deal.

On the positive side Jost does have a very high hockey IQ and can read play off teammates well. In terms of fit I would have thought that he'd be a best fit on a more defensive system like NYI (or the Wild of a couple of years ago) better than the up-tempo style the Wild are trying to play now. He might nonetheless find some success with the Wild if they can put him on a line with one or two bigger wingers who can compensate for his weaknesses in board battles. I don't see him working in a top 6 role due to his limited separation ability, nor do I agree with a couple of Avs posters (and Scott Wheeler) who have said that Jost was never given enough opportunity with the Avs. He was basically spoon-fed a 2nd line role in his first 2 years, and also had ample opportunity in the playoffs the last two years in top 6 spots when injuries happened, but on several occassions he got completely caved in, like when he was promoted to 2C against Vegas last year (the biggest reason why the Avs lost that series imo, though not entirely his fault).

All that said, off the ice Jost is clearly a great character guy with impeccable work ethic, and I'd imagine that that's a huge part of the reason why Guerin acquired him. Having fully committed to overhauling the lockerroom culture by trading Staal and buying out Parise and Suter, this seems like another move in the direction of creating a good culture, which Jost should help with. I hope it works out well for him in the rest of his NHL career.

Jost also played with Newhook and Compher. That's their third line.

Those three never really played on the same line together. As shown below they were only on the ice at 5v5 for 17:39mins this season (and did quite poorly too).

The Avs most common 3rd line's have been O'Connor-Newhook plus one of Compher/Jost. As shown below the results with Compher on the 3rd line have been significantly better with Compher than with Jost.

The sample size is admittedly very small, and the game was also against SJ who aren't a deep team, but Sturm's first game centering Newhook and Compher is very promising as they had a team high 62.5 chance for/against ratio, tallying 8 of the Avs 21 shots at 5v5, which is a significant improvement on any 3rd line combination the Avs have had this season.

 

[MK9]

Avs really like Sturm. Hope Jost shows something more in the next game.

Each player has 1-2 games with their new team. It's neat people on either side like or dislike what they've seen so far, but how anyone is making any sort of real judgement on either of them this soon, really doesn't make sense. Lot of these 'change of scenery' trades go to a new team, look good for a few, then just fall back into the same player they were with their prior team. You see it with a lot rookies in a similar manner. They come up, look like worldbeaters for their first 5-6 games, plateau and then...that's it. I didn't expect much of anything out of Jost. And so far that's about what I've seen. Hasn't been 'bad' so to speak, but he hasn't done anything at all to stand out. 5-10 games into him being here is where the team will get a sense of what he brings, if anything.

 

[BagHead]

Those three never really played on the same line together. As shown below they were only on the ice at 5v5 for 17:39mins this season (and did quite poorly too).

View attachment 518723


The Avs most common 3rd line's have been O'Connor-Newhook plus one of Compher/Jost. As shown below the results with Compher on the 3rd line have been significantly better with Compher than with Jost.

View attachment 518728


The sample size is admittedly very small, and the game was also against SJ who aren't a deep team, but Sturm's first game centering Newhook and Compher is very promising as they had a team high 62.5 chance for/against ratio, tallying 8 of the Avs 21 shots at 5v5, which is a significant improvement on any 3rd line combination the Avs have had this season.

View attachment 518725

I believe Sturm is a very good player when played in his role: a north-south, responsible, draw-winning center who can win his puck battles and has decent speed and size. He won't wow you with his shot, puck handling, or playmaking, but does have a good enough head on his shoulders to chip in a little bit offensively. He's like an Eriksson-Ek light, in terms of play style. Overall, I think the Wild could have at least tried elevating him in the lineup, but I wasn't heartbroken that they didn't. I didn't really believe there was a fit between his play style and those of Boldy and Fiala, but it also would have been nice to be proven wrong.

I really hope he works out well for you guys, and I say that as someone who only has lower regard for the Blackhawks than the Avs. I'm glad he's getting his chance.

 

[Sota Popinski]

what I posted above was the full context of what Russo wrote. I can't imagine it was close to 2m/yr but I'm just assuming Sturm was expecting a lot more than what was offered and I assume he's not thrilled with being scratched and no chance to move up in the lineup.

It was over $2M. I'm pretty Russo said we will be paying Jost less than Sturm rejected.

 

[57special]

I always thought that we were going to let Sturm go if he wanted more than 1.5M, and didn't have a problem with it. This Jost trade makes me sad, because it is the final nail in the coffin to a Fiala re-signing.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

I always thought that we were going to let Sturm go if he wanted more than 1.5M, and didn't have a problem with it. This Jost trade makes me sad, because it is the final nail in the coffin to a Fiala re-signing.

There might still be a sliver of hope, if they can get creative with the goalies.

 

[Alienblood]

Avs fan here in peace. Can we have this trade back ?

 

[P10p]

Avs fan here in peace. Can we have this trade back ?

What happened?

 

[Minnewildsota]

Avs fan here in peace. Can we have this trade back ?

...Why?