Jost dessert

Friday, Minnesota placed forward Tyson Jost on waivers for the purposes of being sent to the AHL Iowa Wild. He was in Jordan Greenway's absence to injury afforded an opportunity to slot up the lineup - but it didn't go to plan.

After starting his NHL time in Colorado to have that organization feel a change of scenery for player and team was in the best interest of both - the "fresh start" for Jost hasn't jump started it as Minnesota or Jost had hoped.

Does he clear waivers, at 2M against the cap salary, he probably does, because of his inability to be a consistently impactful top9 player, and Jost hardly has the attributes to be playing fourth line in the NHL. 

Remember there was a time in Colorado where the theory was. "if only" Jost was playing with the top6 players narrative. Thing is, it seems as his time in Minnesota confirms, regardless of whom Jost is playing with, slotted alongside - he doesn't seem to add value to the players around him. By comparison at 750K; Brandon Duhaime would be a player that does. 

At 24, Jost likely gets a similar salary next year and maybe should look at teams like Chicago and Arizona in rebuild to have less competition for a playing spot and more opportunity to find what it is that can make him be an NHL everyday player as he hits his prime career age years.

More thoughts on Minnesota, with goalie Marc Andre Fleury out, are they going to be able to get the goaltending needed to win games.

What does Vancouver want in trade return for C Bo Horvat, an UFA at the end of the year? Could Minnesota make that deal because Horvat to me would look good in a Wild uniform and the team needs some top6 scoring punch and if Minnesota did add a F - the hope would be at center that would slot Fredrick Gaudreau back onto the third line, not the top line but at worse if you wanted to keep that together, it would likely mean the GRIEF line as the 2nd line with Horvat and Matt Boldy getting really good match ups as the 3rd line.

Weren't things "nationally" heating up on Arizona D cornerstone but yet to play this year Jacob Chychrun? Locally - it wasn't. This has to be a case of player agent driven try to force a trade into fruition. Who wants Chych - it's easier to name the teams that wouldn't at a bargain price that has yet to ever be offered and it's why Arizona GM Bill Armstong still has the d-man and his team friendly AAV contract waiting for a value return. It's the right play.

More likely moveable d-man than SJ's Erik Karlsson because of his contract; is Ana 1-year deal puck mover (former Dallas Star) John Klingberg. Anaheim is a draft lottery team clearly and they have cap space to retain salary. If Anaheim retained half - I think of Nashville as a team that could use a top4, 2nd pair puck mover to play with the defensively sound Mattias Ekholm. 

Winnipeg lost top9 F value playing up the line-up Mason Appleton. With Nic Ehlers still out seemingly to the unknown and 3rd line value Morgan Barron also out - Wpg is thin in the middle of their line-up. It could catch up with them. If NJ keeps winning, Wpg getting RHD Damon Severson less likely - I may have to identify a new stay at home top4 value, not overpriced target, for the Jets. It's like a case of having long-covid to describe Wpg GM Kevin Chevel-all-dayoff not addressing Dustin Byfuglien's retirement need.

Speaking of unlikely home returns but how good would Wpg rookie Cole Perfetti's development be if Chicago's Jonathan Toews were mentoring him. Same could be said of Colorado's Alex Newhook or Nashville's Phillip Tomasino, never mind, on that last one because the Preds put him in the minors rather than break up the overhyped 3rd line - and that's really working out all sarcasm included.

I said last podcast I don't think Mark Jankowski is an upgrade on Colton Sissons at 3C in Nashville. It did have me think of the type of coach John Hynes player I would like to see between the never going to be separated Tanner Jeannot and under-appreciated Yakov Trenin would be Chicago 3rd line former Dallas Star Jason Dickinson. Dickinson is playing too good on a trying to tank team, he could be obtained right.

Did Rocco Grimaldi retire and if so, when is Rocco Grimaldi night in Nashville. I guess that is a post John Hynes discussion.

Dallas and Winnipeg's starts are tied to stellar goaltending. Dal back up goalie Scott Wedgewood had to leave Dal's 6-4 win in Florida. The good news is he is listed as day-to-day after having to be stretched off the ice. Nashville's recent win streak includes great goaltending by Jusse Saros, same could be said of St. Louis with Jordan Binnington. 

If you look at why Chicago and Arizona are now the last 2 teams, part of it is inadequate to average at best goaltending and Minnesota without it's very capable starter faces the same challenge if you want to follow trends on team fortunes, where the puck stops is the starting point. Take Colorado's recent 3-2 OTW over Carolina. A 46save performance by Pavel Francouz. Colorado had 15 shots on goal. No team should be getting 2 points with that type of metric disparity, especially on the road. 

I will leave you with this, take the starting goalies GAA in the division, and you have Wpg's Connor Hellebuyck; Dal's Jake Oettinger; Col's Alexander Georgiev; Minn's Marc Andre Fleury; Stl's Jordan Binnington; Nash's Jusse Saros and lastly, Ari's Karel Vejmelka. The teams by PT% would be near that same order. Only Minn's loss without Fleury in net is a variation to it. My last pod Minn were 4th, Nash and Stl just moved ahead with wins and Minn's loss. 

Chi is the other outlier. That's explainable too. Injured Alex Stalock 6GS GAA would actually slot just ahead of Binner and Chi's early record was better. Yet; top prospect Arvid Soderblom 5GS would slot below Binner, and the other goalie near to as many GP for the Blackhawks is Petr Mrazek 5GS and he slots GAA exactly PT% wise where Chi is below Nash but ahead of Ari. Essentially, Chi doesn't have a clear starting goalie to participate in demonstrating the precise correlation every team that does in how closely each teams PT% is tied to their starter's GAA.