The Colorado Avalanche have made another trade. They’ve moved Tyson Jost to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Nico Sturm. Jost has recorded 14 points (6-8-14) in 59 games this season with the Avalanche. He’s also a $2 million cap hit for the Wild versus Sturm who makes $725K this season.
Sturm is a pending UFA who likely won’t cost the Avs much to retain, if they want to bring him back at all. This could simply be a move to clear space. The Avs save $1.275M in annual cap hit this year and have moved Jost’s $2 million salary next year. Meanwhile, Sturm does have nine goals and 17 points in 53 games. His production is actually superior to Jost’s this season and he’s put up very solid results in quite sheltered fourth-line minutes.
Signed by the Wild as a free agent on April 1, 2019, Sturm has scored 36 points (20 goals, 16 assists) in 111 regular-season games and three points (two goals, one assist) in nine playoff games.
Essentially, Sturm is a bigger body and better on faceoffs, plus he has more points and is a UFA. Jost has worse numbers this season, makes more but is an RFA so he’s still under team control. Jost still has a lot of potential and if he can realize it with the Wild, this could be a good pick-up for them.
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