Joseph Taylor Compher (born April 8, 1995) is an American professional ice hockey center 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.

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.

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.

Prior to the 2015–16 season, the Wolverines elected Compher their captain, with Boo Nieves and Justin Selman as his alternates. He spent the season playing on a high-scoring offensive line with fellow NHL prospects Kyle Connor and Tyler Motte, which was nicknamed the "CCM Line" for their initials. The line was assembled on December 4, 11 games into the Wolverines' season, and after being placed together, Compher and Connor both tallied at least one point in 16 consecutive games. On January 8, Compher recorded a five-point game (two goals and three assists) in a 9–2 win over Michigan State, the largest margin of victory for Michigan against their state rivals since 1996. With two assists in a 5–2 win over Ferris State on February 19, Compher recorded his 100th collegiate point with the Wolverines. Through 38 regular season games with Michigan, Compher had 16 goals and 63 points. He finished second among all Big Ten players in scoring, one behind teammate Connor, and was first with 47 assists, 1.24 assists per game, 24 power play points, and a +35 plus-minus. Combined, the CCM line recorded 83 goals and 107 assists during the season. In the semifinal round of the 2016 Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, Compher set a career-high five assists in Michigan's 7–2 win over Penn State, becoming the first Michigan player to have a five-assist game since Chad Kolarik in 2008. Michigan won its first ever Big Ten ice hockey championship with their 5–3 victory over Minnesota. Compher was named to the Big Ten All-Tournament Team, while the Wolverines automatically earned a bid into the 2016 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament. They faced Notre Dame in the first round of the NCAA tournament, with Compher assisting on the game-winning overtime goal from Tyler Motte. They were eliminated from the tournament in the next round with a 5–2 loss to North Dakota. At the time of their elimination, Compher had an eight-game point streak with five goals and 11 assists. He was a top-10 Hobey Baker Award finalist and was named to both the All-Big Ten First Team and American Hockey Coaches Association All-American Second Team at the end of the season. Compher's collegiate hockey career ended in 2016, at which point he chose to forego his final year of NCAA eligibility to sign a three-year entry-level contract with the Avalanche.

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.