Tyson Jost comes back on minimum offer

Well, so much for that two-year deal we thought Tyson Jost might be signing, based on Joe Sakic’s words on the matter last weekend. Today, Jost elected to just sign his one-year qualifying offer of $874,125, a drop from his previous salary of $885,833 – according to PuckPedia. According to the same site, though, Jost’s actual AAV for last season was $1,673,333 – because of performance bonuses.

Bottom line: Jost is coming back on a short-money, short-term deal. Sakic said he was working on a two-year deal for No. 17, but maybe the offer on that wasn’t to Jost’s satisfaction, so he signed a one-year deal where he bets on himself and gets a much better deal next off-season.

The only player on the “regular” roster left to sign for the Avs now is recently-acquired defenseman Devon Toews. PuckPedia now says the Avs have $5,923,609 of cap space. I would expect Toews to take a minimum of $2.5 million moving forward, which gives the Avs some room for emergencies.

Jost posted 23 points (eight goals) in 67 games for the Avs, with one point (a goal) in 12 postseason games. After next season, Jost will have arbitration rights.

Right now, I think he would start training camp just fighting for a spot among the top 12, probably with Logan O’Connor for a spot on the fourth line.

Also signing a new two-year deal today was minor-league goalie Hunter Miska. Miska did spend some time with the Avs in the bubble in Edmonton, serving as the backup to Michael Hutchinson in the final three games of the Dallas series.