Roman Josi pushing for heroic return to Nashville Predators after concerning health update

The Nashville Predators look to be entering a weird transition phase for 2025-26 and are basically in proverbial "No Man's Land", and that will further be exacerbated by the injury update to Roman Josi.

Josi has been diagnosed with condition called postural tachycardia syndrome, commonly known at POTS. It is described as a condition that causes problems with the nervous system while going from sitting to a standing position. Thankfully, it is treatable and other pro athletes have dealt with this condition.

According to a statement released from the Nashville Predators official social media account on X, Josi has been receiving treatment for the disorder and is on track to be ready to go for Predators training camp and not miss the start of the 2025-26 season.

Hockey takes a back seat when you see something like this. It's a frightening diagnosis, to be frank. Especially when you expect a player dealing with this condition to play a brutally demanding sport like hockey and take potential bone crushing hits against the boards while playing over 20 minutes on the ice.

In an article on The Hockey News, Josi tells a reporter about how scary this has been for him.

"“I have been afraid several times in the last few months that my brain is damaged,” Josi said to Blick in German. “I was completely exhausted even on days when I did little or nothing at home.”"

Roman Josi, via The Hockey News

Josi goes on to show his high confidence that he's going to be 100 percent ready for not only representing the Nashville Predators again soon, but also the Swiss national team for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Roman Josi enters twilight years of his NHL career trying to lead the transitioning Nashville Predators

Let's not be quick to forget that just the season before last that Josi finished runner-up in the Norris Trophy voting, so it's not as if Josi has been on a downward spiral for a few years now. And who knows if Josi would've rallied down the stretch of last season if not for the injury.

Josi has been one of the franchise's cornerstone players and played at a high level in the NHL for going on a decade now. His last full season in the NHL he averaged over a point-per-game with 85 points in all 82 games of the regular season.

This past season, however, Josi never got going to his full level before the concussion taken from Sam Bennett in late February, which sidelined him for the rest of the season. The entire team was struggling around the Captain as the team stumbled to a 30th place finish in the overall standings.

Now the Predators are heading into rare territory that we haven't seen this franchise in since the early days. They are projected to go through a rebuild phase, but it's also unclear how General Manager Barry Trotz will approach that.

Trotz has already made a trade for veteran Erik Haula, making the roster older and not younger like you would expect. Suggesting maybe that Trotz at least wants to field a team that can claw their way to a wildcard spot again.

For a quick return back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2026, it goes without saying that Josi will have to shake the rust off fast and play at a high level like he has for several years. He will have to be the primary offensive driver, lead the power play and be a mentor to the youth of the roster.

I'm just uncertain that Josi will be able to do that at his stage in his career, even without this recent diagnosis. Age catches up with every professional athlete sooner or later, and Josi is now 35.

Now this doesn't mean that Josi won't still bring enormous value to this organization, because he will. His role is going to remain on the top pairing and be that power play quarterback. Where I think his role could drastically change is in his ice time and his load management.

Trotz seems optimistic that Josi will be able to manage this condition and return to "elite" level of play in the upcoming 2025-26 season.

" "We concur with Roman that with continued management and treatment, he can return to the ice for the 2025-26 season and continue with his elite hockey career. We look forward to seeing Roman at the start of training camp this fall.""

Barry Trotz, via TSN

I won't be shocked at all if Josi gets more maintenance days and is no longer the workhorse that averages 25 minutes of ice time, which is his career average. However, when Josi is on the ice I still think he can be the offensive driver of the Predators and pile up the assists.

Even in a nightmare year for the entire Predators team, Josi had 29 assists in 53 games before the concussion. He can still make the players around him better and still be a force on an in sync top power play unit.

How much is Josi's role going to change for the Predators moving forward?

Who will be Josi's primary top linemate is a question we don't have a clear answer to. Do they split up Josi and Brady Skjei? That seems like the best option, and then put Jeremy Lauzon on the top line with Josi as the enforcer who also has a pretty decent shot.

Lauzon also had an injury plagued 2024-25 campaign, so starting a new season with a top pairing of two guys who missed a ton of time last season might be tough. But honestly the Predators don't have a lot of viable options when it comes to right shot defenseman that are capable of playing top pairing minutes to mesh with Josi's style of play.

I'm inclined to to think that Trotz has another move in free agency up his sleeve to add to this Predators defensive corps. Not a big splash, but another veteran body on the right side to give more flexibility to Head Coach Andrew Brunette to move some guys around.

First and foremost, Josi's health off the ice is most important. If he says he's ready to go and doctors sign off on that, then I'm excited just to see the Captain return to the ice. He is an all-time franchise great along with Pekka Rinne, Shea Weber and Filip Forsberg. I'm not ready to see his time cut prematurely short when he's got a few more years left of high level hockey.

Josi has three more years left on his current contract, which has a No Movement Clause for the next two but not in the final year. Just food for thought.

As long as he can manage this condition, I've always said Josi has a few more high quality years left in this league that should take him to the end of this contract. If Josi bounces back in 2025-26 and returns to being in the form he was just two years ago, then go ahead and book it that he's winning the NHL's Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for comeback player of the year.