The Nashville Predators were inconsistent all season long. The same can not be said for Roman Josi, who turned in a typical Roman Josi stat-line.
It’s easy to look at the way the year went for the Nashville Predators and place a lot of blame on the captain’s shoulders. After all, the Preds’ nightmare of a power play certainly wasn’t helped by Roman Josi’s paltry 12 points (2 G, 10 A) with the man-advantage. Almost certainly, if Josi had come closer to his power play production the previous 3 seasons, the Predators would have won the Central Division a bit more convincingly. A few more PP-points in the playoffs might have pushed the team into round 2, as well. Therefore, it isn’t the harshest of criticisms to suggest that the man wearing the C on his sweater should have done more to get that glaring weakness in the squad to be, well, less glaring.
What you may not have realized, though, was that 2018-2019 was Josi’s 2nd best season in his career, in regard to points. His 15 goals tied a career-high and 41 assists trail only his 2015-2016 number. In total, he ended with 56 points on the season, good for 2nd on the team.
In the first round of the playoffs, Josi led the team with 4 points and was one of two Preds players with more than one goal in the series (Rocco Grimaldi). Yeah, we’d rather not think about that, either. The fact remains, however, that Roman Josi was the most reliable scorer on this Nashville team the entire season and post-season despite the litany of injuries to key players throughout.
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So why does it somehow feel like 2018-2019 was such a let-down?
Viktor Arvidsson missed 24 games. Filip Forsberg missed 18. The Preds were without PK Subban for 19 matches, while 2nd-line center Kyle Turris was on the mend for 27 games. Yet, Roman Josi missed a grand total of 0. His health, like his production, was steady and reliable, but the lack of normal lineups around him because of injury surely hurt the Predators’ consistency.
After 2017-2018 saw 6 Preds pot 16 or more goals, 2018-2019 saw just 4. The top two of whom missed a combined 42 games. Without consistent goal-scoring threats, the whole team struggled. The leap-forward everyone expected from Kevin Fiala never came. PK Subban and Calle Jarnrok saw their goal-totals drop from 16 a piece in the previous season to just 9 for Subban and 10 for Jarnkrok in 18-19. Kyle Turris‘s struggles have been well-documented, as well. With so many players having down years, it’s a wonder Josi didn’t join in on the misery.
Then there is that blasted power play. 255 power play opportunities produced just 33 goals for the Predators. An abysmal 12.94%. Maybe it was the injuries and slumps that created that disaster, but one thing is certain, the ineptitude of such an important phase of the game colors the way the rest of the year is viewed.
For Roman Josi’s part, however, he was a consistent source of points, as he’s always been. So It feels a bit harsh to dock him for being as good production-wise as he’s been for the last several seasons.
We’re going to have to do it, though. We can’t overlook the aspect that, fair or not, the Predators needed their captain to step up in a big way to carry them when they couldn’t find their footing. Josi delivered “steady” when the team needed “exceptional”. They needed him to play clean when the rest of the team was sloppy, yet his 65 giveaways were a career-high. They needed a career-year, not a 2nd-best career year, and unfortunately, the team got the latter.
Josi was unable to carry the team the way many would have liked, and to some degree, that is a fair criticism. The hope is that the man wearing the C is providing the point-production that validates that letter or the leadership and locker-room presence we typically think is required from a captain. When the team struggles the way the Nashville Predators did this season, questions begin to be asked one way or the other. That’s why Roman Josi ends up with a solid B, this season.
He did what was asked. Given the tools at his disposal in certain parts of the year, perhaps he did a little bit more than asked. The captain goes down with the ship, however.
The Nashville Predators 2018-2019 season was a success by winning the Central Division, but it was also a disappointment to watch a pitiful powerplay usher the team from the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Leaders should receive plenty of praise for the highs, but also shoulder some of the blame for the lows.