The story of the 2024-25 Nashville Predators has been tragic, given their monster offseason that yielded little, if any, results. Prior to Friday night’s matchup against the St. Louis Blues, the Preds were just 11-17-7, with 29 points to show for all the efforts they put into the offseason. Then, they lost to the Blues by three goals, which handed them their 18th regulation loss of the season.
But it also doesn’t mean teams can’t come back from massive deficits, even when the season is basically at its halfway point. And to be fair, the Preds have some good goaltending, so that’s the first step in returning or gaining relevance, right?
We also can’t forget that this team was mediocre at best last season before a massive winning streak put them back on track. Can lightning strike twice but in a different place? I think if you ask that question to Steven Stamkos, he’d say yes to that.
But I don’t want to talk about Stamkos, even if better play from him would help turn around the Preds. Instead, I want to talk about Roman Josi.
Roman Josi would at least make the Predators interesting
Preds fans can’t say enough about Roman Josi, and why should they? The guy has been incredible since he first wore a Predators sweater during the 2011-12 season. Last year, he took second for the Norris after he put up 85 points and 23 goals, and that’s the kind of player that needs to come back out of the woodwork for the Preds to have a chance here in the back half of 2024-25.
Right now, Josi’s been good but nowhere near spectacular, with 24 points and seven goals in 32 contests. But he’s got a minus-23 rating, which is on pace to be by far the worst mark of his career.
He’s been rather physical this season, but he’s not invading shooting lanes like he should, with just 55 blocks on the year as opposed to the 155 he recorded last season. So, if we can see Josi return to what he was last year, it could ignite some scoring for the Predators, as the likes of Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, and Ryan O’Reilly, to name a few, could find their respective scoring prowess.
Yeah, it’s still a long shot for the Preds to climb out of this slump, but players like Josi are game-changers. So, Preds fans, let’s hope Josi looks more like the player he was last season as opposed to the one we’ve been forced to watch this year and don’t be surprised if the Preds get a little, or a lot, more competitive.