Joseph Taylor Compher (born April 8, 1995) is an American professional ice hockey player who is a forward for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected in the second round, 35th overall, by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2013 NHL entry draft. Compher won the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 2022.
Born and raised in Northbrook, Illinois, Compher was introduced to ice hockey by a preschool friend and played for a number of teams in the area before joining the USA Hockey National Team Development Program in 2011. He played for two seasons with the program, with appearances in two IIHF World U18 Championships. From there, he played three seasons of college ice hockey for the Michigan Wolverines. As a freshman during the 2013–14 season, Compher led all Big Ten Conference freshmen in scoring with 31 points, and he was named the inaugural Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Freshman of the Year. Two years later, he served both as the Wolverines' captain and as a member of the high-scoring "CCM Line". Made up of Compher, Kyle Connor, and Tyler Motte, the CCM Line combined for 83 goals and 107 assists during the 2015–16 season and helped Michigan to capture their first Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Tournament.
While he was attending college, the Sabres included Compher in a trade package with the Colorado Avalanche, the team he joined after completing his career with Michigan. Compher spent the first part of the season with the San Antonio Rampage, the Avalanche's American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, but finished the 2016–17 season in the NHL as a replacement for the traded Jarome Iginla. After finding success in his first full NHL season during 2017–18, Compher hoped to become Colorado's second-line center in 2018–19, a plan that was delayed when he was sidelined with a concussion. Compher posted consecutive 30-point seasons during the 2018–19 and 2019–20 seasons despite losing time to injury and the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Early life
Compher was born on April 8, 1995, in Northbrook, Illinois, to Bob and Valerie Compher. He lived in Deerfield, Illinois, until about the age of five, at which point his family moved to Northbrook, another suburb of Chicago. After the move, Compher met a classmate in preschool who invited him to go ice skating, and he began playing ice hockey shortly afterwards. As a child, Compher would practice firing slapshots at his younger sister Jesse, who wanted to be a goaltender. His other younger sister Morgan would participate in pickup ice hockey games as well, as would many of their neighbors. He played for a number of youth hockey teams in the Chicago area, including the Northbrook Bluehawks and Team Illinois, and attended Glenbrook North High School. He was invited to join the USA Hockey National Team Development Program for their 2011–12 season. In two seasons with the program, Compher recorded 33 goals and 92 points in 92 games.
Playing career
College
The Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL) selected Compher in the second round with the 35th overall pick of the 2013 NHL entry draft. The Sabres acquired the pick that they used on Compher by trading Andrej Sekera to the Carolina Hurricanes. At the time, Compher had committed to play college ice hockey for the Michigan Wolverines of the Big Ten Conference. He joined the Wolverines for the 2013–14 season, scoring his first collegiate goal on November 15, 2013, in a 3–2 loss to the Omaha Mavericks. In a rematch against Omaha the next day, Compher scored Michigan's first short-handed goal of the season in a game that the Wolverines won 4–3. On December 3, Compher was named the Big Ten Second Star of the Week after recording three goals and an assist in a two-game series against the Ohio State Buckeyes. With two goals and two assists on January 24, Compher gave Michigan their first win against the Michigan State Spartans at the Munn Ice Arena since 2010. It was the first four-point game for a Michigan freshman since Andrew Cogliano in 2005 and the first time that any Michigan player had recorded a four-point game since David Wohlberg in 2011. He was named the Big Ten First Star of the Week for his performance, after which he led all Big Ten freshmen with 1.00 points per game. He finished the season leading both the Wolverines and all Big Ten freshmen with 31 points (11 goals and 20 assists) and took home three team awards at Michigan's end-of-year banquet: the Deker Club Award for Rookie of the Year, the Hazel "Doc" Losh Award for leading scorer, and the Hal Downes Award for the Wolverines' most valuable player. In addition to being named to the All-Big Ten Second Team and Big Ten All-Freshman First Team, Compher finished the college awards season as the inaugural Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Freshman of the Year. Michigan was eliminated in the first round of the 2014 Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Tournament in a double-overtime 2–1 Penn State victory.
Going into the 2014–15 season, Compher was named an alternate captain for the Wolverines alongside Zach Hyman, with Andrew Copp serving as captain. His first collegiate hat-trick came on February 28, 2015, when Compher scored two goals against Wisconsin Badgers goaltender Joel Rumpel before finishing the game with an empty net goal to seal the 5–2 victory for Michigan. Compher's second hat-trick came on March 8, when he scored every goal for the Wolverines in their 4–3 loss to Penn State. He finished the regular season with 12 goals and 24 points in 34 games, including eight goals and two assists in his last eight games. After defeating Wisconsin 5–1 in the opening round of the 2015 Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, the Wolverines won 4–1 against Michigan State in the semifinals, with Compher scoring what was ultimately the game-winning goal in the second period. Michigan lost to the Minnesota Golden Gophers 4–2 in the Big Ten tournament finals. That June, the Sabres traded Compher's prospect rights to the Colorado Avalanche as part of a larger package that sent Jamie McGinn and Ryan O'Reilly to Buffalo in exchange for Compher, Nikita Zadorov, Mikhail Grigorenko, and a second-round pick in the 2015 NHL entry draft.
Professional
After attending the Avalanche's 2016 training camp, Compher was assigned to the San Antonio Rampage of the American Hockey League (AHL) to begin the 2016–17 season. He spent his time in San Antonio working on becoming a two-way player while leading the team in scoring with 13 goals and 30 points in 41 games. After Jarome Iginla was traded to the Los Angeles Kings on March 1, 2017, Compher was called up to the Avalanche as his replacement, part of general manager Joe Sakic's plan to give the team a younger core. Compher made his NHL debut on March 2, centering the third line with Matt Nieto and Blake Comeau on the wings. Compher scored his first NHL goal two weeks later to put the Avalanche up 2–1 in what was ultimately a 3–1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on March 15. His first assist came on April 2, when Compher helped Gabriel Landeskog score against the Minnesota Wild. He played 21 games during his rookie season with the Avalanche, recording three goals and five points in the process while leading the team with a +1 rating.
Compher was one of three rookie forwards to make the Avalanche's opening night roster for the 2017–18 season, joining Tyson Jost and Alexander Kerfoot. On October 19, in the eighth game of the season, Compher fractured his thumb while blocking a shot during Colorado's game against the St. Louis Blues. At the time of the injury, he had one goal and four points. He missed six games before returning on November 5 but was injured again on December 29. Compher sustained an upper body injury while playing against the Toronto Maple Leafs and stayed in the game to score an overtime goal for the Avalanche, but he did not play two days later against the New York Islanders. One of several young players to be injured around the midway point of the season, Compher returned on January 17 for a game against the San Jose Sharks. Compher's first NHL multi-goal game on March 14 moved the Avalanche up from the second to the first wild card position in the Western Conference, giving them a stronger opportunity to reach the postseason. He finished his first full season with 13 goals and 23 points in 69 games and was the first Avalanche rookie in franchise history to score two overtime game-winning goals in a season. The Avalanche, meanwhile, clinched a berth in the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs, allowing Compher to make his NHL postseason debut in their first-round series against the Nashville Predators. He appeared in all six playoff games before the Predators eliminated the Avalanche, assisting on three goals in the process.
Five games into the 2018–19 season, Compher sustained a concussion during the Avalanche's game against the Calgary Flames. At the time, he had hoped to become Colorado's second-line center, and he found both the timing of the injury and the unclear recovery timeline a frustrating setback in that push. He missed six weeks with the injury, returning on November 23 to score two short-handed goals in a 5–1 victory over the Arizona Coyotes. While playing his hometown Chicago Blackhawks on February 22, Compher recorded his first professional three-point game, registering two goals and an assist, including the game-winning goal, in Colorado's 5–3 win. His second goal of the game was also his 14th of the season, surpassing his previous season total. He finished the season with 16 goals and 32 points, including three short-handed goals, while the Avalanche faced the Flames in the first round of 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs. While facing elimination in Game 6 of their second-round series against the San Jose Sharks, Compher scored two goals and an assist in a game that the Avalanche won in overtime to force a winner-take-all Game 7. Colorado was eliminated in the next game, losing 3–2 to the Sharks, and Compher finished the playoffs with four goals and six points in 12 games.
International play
Compher first represented the United States in international competition at the 2012 World U-17 Hockey Challenge. He had a team-leading four goals and seven assists in six games, including a goal in Team USA's gold-medal loss to Russia, and was named to the Tournament All-Star Team. That same year, Compher won a gold medal with Team USA at the 2012 IIHF World U18 Championships, recording two goals and five points in six games. He returned the following year as captain for Team USA at the 2013 IIHF World U18 Championships. Compher registered three goals and seven points in seven games, while the United States won the silver medal, falling 3–2 to Canada in the championship.
Compher was meant to play for the United States junior team at the 2014 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, but he sustained a foot injury during practice and was cut from the team. The following year, he was one of several Wolverines to attend the 2015 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, where he was held pointless in five games for the fifth-place United States team.
All three members of Compher's "CCM Line" at Michigan were selected to represent the United States senior team at the 2016 IIHF World Championship in Russia. He recorded one goal and three points in 10 games, while the United States finished in fourth place, losing to Russia in the bronze-medal game. He returned the following year as one of nine Avalanche players to participate in the 2017 IIHF World Championship in Germany and France. There, he recorded two goals in eight contests.
Personal life
When deciding on his name, Compher's parents first decided on the initials "J. T." before filling them out with his first and middle name, "Joseph Taylor". His younger sister, Jesse, is also a professional ice hockey player for PWHL Detroit and is a member of the United States women's national ice hockey team, with whom she won a silver medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics. She played college ice hockey for the Boston University Terriers and the Wisconsin Badgers.