There are players on the Rochester Amerks roster who, if all goes according to plan, will find their way to the NHL in the next year or two such as Jiri Kulich, Isak Rosen, Nikita Novikov, and Victor Neuchev, draft picks who the Buffalo Sabres are counting on.

There are other draft picks on the way, some of whom may even join the Amerks if they make it to the Calder Cup playoffs once their junior seasons conclude including first-round picks Matthew Savoie and Noah Ostland.

But as important as all of those players are, coach Seth Appert said last Friday after the Amerks defeated Toronto 5-3 at Blue Cross Arena, “You can easily argue that if you voted for an MVP of our team right now, it’s Mason Jobst. I think it’s an easy argument and what a credit to him.”

Jobst has been a revelation this season for Rochester. He leads the team with 42 points, is tied for the team lead with 18 goals, he plays on the power play, he kills penalties, and just as important as any of that, he is providing a great example for those aforementioned young kids who are trying to figure out how to play professional hockey.

“He’s a 30-year-old that just keeps getting better and instead of staying the same or maybe regressing as he gets older, his career’s still going like this,” Appert said, pointing upward. “That’s the work ethic and daily habits, how he trains, how he attacks the offseason. There’s a reason that we keep bringing him back.”

In the victory over Syracuse, four of the goal scorers were Kulich, Rosen, Neuchev and Novikov, average age 21. Jobst was the outlier as he scored the other goal, the first of the night which tied the game and sent the Amerks on their way.

Jobst laughed when it was brought up that he was the old man on the scoresheet, but he was more excited about the kids because they need to be rolling over this final month of the regular season if the Amerks hope to qualify for the playoffs.

“This is the time of year when we need everyone stepping up – first line, second line, third line, fourth line, D-men,” he said. “It’s critical at this time of year. We’re stringing together some wins here so it’s good. I still think we’ve got a long way to go and we can still get a lot better, but we’re getting better and better and just finding ways to win.”

Jobst joined the Sabres organization in 2021 but was traded to San Jose on March 28, 2022 as he failed to establish himself in the Amerks’ lineup. However, when he became a free agent that summer, he chose to re-sign a contract with Rochester, knowing that his chances of getting to Buffalo would be slim because he wasn’t one of their own prospects.

“Some of the the first year and a half with us maybe it wasn’t shown publicly in terms of games, but we saw it privately,” Appert said of the work Jobst put in and the improvement he made. “What he’s about as a teammate and human, those are the guys who you want in your locker room and you want to mentor your young players.”

He produced 14 goals and 38 points last season, added three goals and 13 points in the postseason, and he was such a key piece at both ends of the ice that he was a priority re-sign for this year and now he’s having the best performance of his five-year AHL career.

“Yeah, obviously it feels feels good to help the team win in any way,” he said. “Just playing with confidence right now and things are going in. I’ve come a long way in the three years I’ve been here from being scratched quite a bit the first year to most improved player as a 30-year-old last year. I’m still learning a ton about the game, I still love trying to get better each and every day and right now it just feels like all the hard work the last few years is starting to pay off.”