Roman Josi’s new contract in the works
This Josi deal really needs to get done soon. The longer it goes without an agreement being reached, the more my heart rate is going to rise. The captain is going to get in the neighborhood of $9 million per year I’d expect, and he’s earned that based on what the market is doing. For comparison, Erik Karlsson of the Sharks got an eight-year deal that’s got a cap hit of $11.5 million. Josi isn’t going to get that most likely, but he’ll get close to it.
GM David Poile has had his hands full this offseason. Josi is now his biggest priority. After losing Subban, the Predators defensive core can’t take another hit. It’s still strong as of now, but Josi is a big reason why. And he provides so much of an offensive jolt to what the Predators like to do. This deal will get done eventually, and maybe it’s a pretty big gamble committing so much to him. You have to commit to your captain who has put up some of the NHL’s top numbers among defensemen for a while now. This deal needs to get done ASAP.