Tyson Jost missed out on a chance to raise the Stanley Cup by three months earlier this year with the Colorado Avalanche.
He was traded to Minnesota in March and never found a comfort zone with the Wild. The Sabres claimed the 24-year-old center on waivers Sunday and he hopes to revive his sagging career, starting with Tuesday's game in Montreal.
"There's a great young core here and a lot of great up-and-coming talent," Jost said after joining the Sabres for Monday's practice in KeyBank Center. "Watching these guys play, their team is exciting."
"Young player, still skates well, a lot of talent, makes plays at top speed and can kill penalties," assessed General Manager Kevyn Adams. "He's young, but he's also at 350-some games of NHL experience. So he's been through the league, he's been around. I think he's at a great age.
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"From a character standpoint, I had one person get back to me and say 'elite human being'. You don't hear stuff that glowing. I just felt like this was an opportunity to bring talent into our organization. And maybe for him, kind of an opportunity to just free up and play."
Jost, whose NHL career high is 12 goals with Colorado in 2017-18, did not score and had three assists in 12 games for Minnesota this season. He had two goals in 33 games for the Wild after being acquired around the trade deadline last season.
"When we got off to a slow start, there's a lot of people walking on eggshells and whatnot," Jost said of the Wild. "And I can't use it as an excuse, but definitely your confidence kind of lacks a little bit you're not going to be the player that you can be. So I want to get back to the game that I was playing in preseason: I felt really good and I was in a rhythm, wasn't really overthinking things."
Jost is expected to take Riley Sheahan's spot as Buffalo's fourth-line center and help its sagging penalty kill. The Sabres have given up 10 power-play goals in the last eight games and are at an NHL-worst 60% in that stretch. For the season, they're 29th at 70.2%.
"You have to be willing to outwork the PP every single time," Jost said. "There's so many skill players and guys are gonna make plays. But if you're in the right spots, working on your system, it's going to come together if you're willing to sacrifice to block shots.."
The Avalanche drafted Jost 10th overall in the 2016 draft in Buffalo and he admitted the trade was disheartening, especially when Colorado went on to win its first Cup since 2001.
"I couldn't really watch it at all. It was tough," he said. "It was hard. I was with Colorado for six years. So a lot of my good friends on that team and to watch them go on and win it, it's definitely tough. You kind of think, 'I could have been there' but that's the past and you've got to move on from it."
More on the penalty kill
In Saturday's loss in Toronto, the Sabres took two penalties and it took a combined 34 seconds for the Leafs to register a pair of power-play goals. Buffalo has given up at least one goal while short-handed for nine straight games.
It's eight losses in a row for the Blue and Gold after the Toronto Maple Leafs scored three goals in a 5½-minute span of the opening period and never looked back.
"The psyche affects you, absolutely," coach Don Granato said of the unit's struggles.
The Sabres should be able to add return forward Zemgus Girgensons and defenseman Mattias Samuelsson to the penalty-killing units Tuesday from the injury list.
"I did see that we were a little bit hesitant right when we stepped out for the penalty kill," said Girgensons. "So it’s just gaining that confidence back. We know we can be a good penalty kill team. It comes down individually, just blocking more shots, just being harder on pucks."
Injury update
Girgensons, who took a high hit Wednesday in Ottawa and sat out Saturday in Toronto, practiced fully on Monday and should return in Montreal. Alex Tuch missed practice for what the team termed a maintenance day but is also expected to play against the Habs. Kyle Okposo (lower body) skated on his own Monday and is progressing. He could be a few days away from returning.
"Much better than he was a few days ago," Adams said of the captain. "So I think we're trending in the right way there."
