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Sabres Grades: Tyson Jost

Originally posted on Buffalo Hockey Now | By Jason Moser | Last updated 5/14/24

The 2023-2024 season Sabres Grades countdown continues with Tyson Jost at number 23. Jost only played 41 games for the Sabres, after a mid-season stint in AHL Rochester. A former first-round pick, he has molded himself into a bottom-six, workhorse center.

Jost is a good example of how a game-by-game evaluation can help determine what he provides to the team. Summarizing his statistics over a season can be deceiving when his year was a tale of two halves. The boom-bust percentage is a factor in these grades, and Jost only had one post-trade deadline “bust” game.

The Grading System

If you missed the introduction to the grading system, I’ve assigned letter grades to each Buffalo player based on game performance. The letter grades are assigned based on statistical computation, taking into account the following factors:

Production
Quality of offense
Quality of defense
Volume of offense
Volume of defense
Powerplay performance
Penalty kill performance
Penalties drawn and taken
Role
Minutes played

It’s important to understand that these player performance grades are solely based on the algorithm created, with the one exception being a game shortened by injury. A player who missed significant ice time due to injury was not docked for fewer minutes played. This eliminates the confusion of how well a player performs when available.

I went back and graded all 82 games this season for every player. This way, we fully understand the progression of each player’s performance on a game-by-game basis.

Also, a big thanks to Evolving-Hockey for the individual game data. They’re among the best in the business.

Here’s the grading scale in table form, for reference:

Grade	Lower Limit	Upper Limit
A+	92%	100%
A	85%	92%
A-	77%	85%
B+	69%	77%
B	62%	69%
B-	54%	62%
C+	46%	54%
C	38%	46%
C-	31%	38%
D+	23%	31%
D	15%	23%
D-	8%	15%
F	0%	8%

Previous Sabres Grades: Jacob Bryson

Tyson Jost

Season Grade: C-

Average: D+

Consistency: A

Boom %: F [0%]

Bust %: D- [24.39%]

At age 26, Jost is established in his role. The 92% consistency grade is evidence of that. Consistency is great, but you’d prefer to be consistently above average, which Jost was not.

What he brings to the table is a bottom-six ceiling at this point in his career.

The trendline is angled up thanks to better second-half play, but there are still not enough good performances in the mix. In fairness to Jost, his quality of teammates did dip a bit from last season, so the expectations were not very high in the first place.

Grade Distribution

Much like Jacob Bryson was limited in his grades by his third-pairing role, Jost’s minutes played and zone starts were inhibitors to the scoring system. The Sabres also moved away from using Jost on the penalty kill, which reduced his chances of improving his grade.

The slight improvement from a “D+” average to a post-deadline average of “C-” might save Jost’s chances of playing in the NHL next season. He’s a versatile player by position and role, which is valuable as a team’s extra forward.

Player Comps

If you’re unfamiliar with Landon Slaggert and Zach Dean, they are late-season rookie call-ups for their respective clubs. Both players filled fourth-line roles, which mirrors Jost with the Sabres.

The amazing thing about the player comparison module at PuckLuck is that time-on-ice and even-strength roles are not part of the algorithm. It’s based on the categories you see, using rate stats to determine the figures.

So, when you see all bottom-six forwards as comps to Jost, there’s a strong hint that there’s no untapped potential here. Yanni Gourde is the best player on the list, and you can see his playmaking, volume shooting, and play-driving is significantly higher than the Sabres center.

2024-2025 Early Outlook

Jost is an unrestricted free agent come July, and it’s unlikely he’ll continue in his role with the Sabres. The team, when fully healthy, didn’t have room for him. A 25-game stint with the Amerks is evidence of that.

With a slew of first-round prospects knocking at the door at forward, the Sabres might completely overhaul their bottom-six group. This leaves Jost on the outside looking in yet again.

If Buffalo does bring Jost back on a short-term deal, he can fill in as the extra forward. Expecting anything more than that is probably a big mistake.