Quoting: SuckMyAvs
I get where you're coming from, and I know many will disagree with this, but I don't see him depreciating much from where he is now. If anything I can see his value going up (think Burakovsky) if he flashes more of the scoring potential that I think he has.
What I would like to see is a line with him and Nichushkin. Compher could be the third, or maybe Bowers or Kaut down the line. I think those guys could play a lot of minutes and make life really tough on the opposition. They may not score a ton, but I bet they spend a good amount of time in the offensive zone.
I just see too much of a William Karlsson type development arc where a trade can come back and bite the Avs. I could be wrong, but I wouldn't trade him unless it was part of something bigger that would put the team over the top.
Fair points. I could get onboard with that.
Keeping him is far from a bad option, and you are right it would certainly be nice to see him play on a line with Nichuskin. Jost is very good at defending high up the ice, so they could be effective at keeping the puck in the zone as you said.
That said, if we add a forward, then that bumps Donskoi down. And I don't think Jost beats any of Nichuskin/Compher/Donskoi for a role on the 3rd line. He'd effectively be relegated to the 4th line, but then that means that Kaut stays in the AHL. I suppose we could bump Bellemare down, but that's not really ideal either.
The thing is, Jost would actually be a useful player to have in 2021/22 when Bellemare and Calvert hit UFA and when capspace will be at a premium, but for this upcoming season I just don't see a role for him if we want to upgrade at forward. And the fact that he was showcased at the deadline suggests that he's likely going to get traded this offseason, barring a huge performance in the playoffs that would warrant keeping him instead of making an upgrade.