ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Colorado Avalanche acquired Nico Sturm from the Minnesota Wild for Tyson Jost in a swap of centers on Tuesday.

The 26-year-old Sturm has nine goals, eight assists with a minus-5 rating in 53 games this season for the Wild, mostly on the fourth line. The native of Germany was signed as a college free agent out of Clarkson in 2019. Sturm won 51.1% of his career faceoffs, compared to just 39.5% for Jost.

The 24-year-old Jost has six goals, eight assists and a plus-1 rating in 59 games this season. He was a first-round draft pick by the Avalanche in 2016 out of North Dakota.

Sturm can become an unrestricted free agent this summer. Jost is under contract for next season with a salary cap hit of $2 million.

The Avalanche, who are firmly in control of first place in the Central Division, acquired veteran defenseman Josh Manson on Monday in a trade with Anaheim.