Avs' top rookie prospect is a ham, but could be filet mignon on ice

Martin Kaut is just a bartstool, an extension cord and a microphone away from being the Avalanche’s new locker-room stand-up comedian.

“I was 83 kilos here, when I was here after the draft,” Kaut said, when asked about his summer conditioning regimen. “Now I am 91 kilos. So this is great for me.”

You had to be there maybe.

There’s just something about the way the Czech Republic native speaks that makes you giggle a bit, not unlike those two Wild and Crazy Guys from “Saturday Night Live” fame. There’s just something endearing about a guy who uses the metric system in portraying his weight to his new hosts in America, where lessons in the metric system ended at approximately the same time of the last episode of “Charlie’s Angels.”

For those who never had the pleasure of learning the metric system growing up, here’s what one kilo weighs in American pounds: 2.20. That means that the Avalanche’s first-round pick from the 2018 NHL draft increased his weight from 182.6 pounds to 200.2 pounds. By the looks of him underneath his considerable hockey gear, the weight wasn’t all from Big Macs. Kaut looked svelte. With a height listed at 6-foot-2, Kaut could handle the extra weight.

“I feel great. It’s great to be here. I say, ‘I want to win every game,'” Kaut said.

All that idealism, all that Horatio Alger stuff. Endearing, right? For now.

Life in North American professional hockey might take it down a notch or two before long, but for now Kaut seems to be riding the magic carpet ride of life in the bigger time of hockey. He looked like he belonged already in the first day of Avalanche rookie camp on Friday. Kaut started the day in Denver, ready for his first real day on the ice after a first 18 years spent on Czech soil, where he showed well enough for the Avs to make him the 16th pick overall in this summer’s draft. Later in the day, Kaut was one of the many youngsters slated to hop on a plane to Las Vegas, where this year’s Rookie Showcase will be held.

Expect Kaut to be a lot further along the road to full Americanization when this trip ends.

“It will be my first games, and I hope we will win every game,” said Kaut, a right winger who has an outside shot to make the big club out of training camp. If not, he is likely to play for the Colorado Eagles of the AHL. He could also play nine games for the Avs before the club could send him down to major junior.

Thank you for the interview, Kaut was told.

“We’re good? Are you serious?” he said.

But seriously, folks, this kid should be a good one. He has excellent stick-handling ability, and added muscle from that summer of training certainly showed in his willingness to hard to the net during Day 1 of camp. Fifteen picks were taken before him at the draft.

The joke, ultimately, could be on them.

BSN DENVER’S Jesse Montano contributed to this story