Roman Josi’s Norris Worthy Season with the Nashville Predators | NHL Podcast

just how good was Roman Yosi this year and should he win the Norris we’ll tell you as we award him his season superlative on today’s lock on Predators podcast your locked on Predators your daily podcast on the Nashville Predators part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day welcome to the lock on Predators podcast and thank you for making us your first listen of the day we are your free daily Nashville Predators podcast we’re a part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day want to kick off this episode with a hello and how do you do to our locked on pred heads those are our everyday listeners who tune in to talk Nashville Predators hockey with us each and every day we thank you for your support we love that we get to spend just a little bit of your day with you I’m Anne Kimmel I’m a writer at Penalty Box radio and friends I have a partner in crime you do I’m Emma lingan and I’m the Predator site editor and reporter for the hockey news so on today’s show Emma and I are turning from the forwards to the defenseman we’re going to continue awarding our season superlatives for the 2023 24 season today we’re going to take a close look at Norris Trophy nominated Roman Yosi in his season we’re also going to talk about Dante fabri bro in the up and down season that he had as well before we dive into all that want to let you know today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase terms apply all right Emma we have tackled the forwards we have covered them we are moving on to the blue line and talking about season superlatives for the 2023 2024 season and of course there is no better player to kick off this discussion about than the captain the captain Roman Yosi what a season for him 82 games played 23 goals 62 assists 85 points Norris Trophy nominated season Emma what superlative are you awarding to Roman Yosi for this season I feel like there are so many that that we could come up with I mean one of them I mean and we’ll get into it I’m sure when we talk about the Norris but like most likely to be snubbed for the Norris Trophy even though he more than deserves it that would probably be my honorable mention um the other one would probably be something along the lines of most likely to not actually be human like we’re going to find out one day that he’s just like an incredibly like like superhuman you know like superhero or robot or something um because he just defies logic he defies time he defies all the laws of the universe and is just he’s an enigma and in the best way if that wasn’t clear he does all of this in the best way and I mean all of this as the highest of compliments um because I love Roman Yosi I mean I think there’s something seriously wrong with you if you don’t like Roman Yosi so yeah Roman Yosi I agree with you he is an enigma because let’s just be real phenomenal hockey player you know phenomenal hockey player he is really the backbone of the Nashville Predators team and here’s what’s real Roman Yosi has every reason to walk around in life like a jerk because he’s that good I mean there there’s really not anything Roman Yosi doesn’t have going for him I mean except he’s not as attractive ACC to PK suban as PK suban yeah well that you’re never going to win that battle with PK talking about himself so that is very true but everything going for him you’re right everything and he is literally the nicest person in the world like you you keep thinking if look if I was half of what Roman Yosi was you can bet I’d be an ass oh yeah God like he’s nicer than I am and I don’t have half of what he has going for him so I’m like maybe because I’m just bitter maybe you know what maybe I would just be happier with my life if I had everything going for me that he does for him and I would just be a nicer person I don’t know but I will say the one thing and I am so grateful for this experience the one thing that really humanized this man for me because again I was starting to really wonder I’m like is he real show show me a flaw show me one um 2022 beginning of the 2022 season um the Predators did the Home Run Derby collab with Vanderbilt baseball yes the man the man cannot swing a bat to save his life and you know what people are trying to give excuses like oh he’s European they don’t play baseball Philip forsberg did just fine okay so I’m just saying like I’m not going to use the European thing you know as an excuse for him it was like thank God I found the one thing the one thing and honestly if you watch a video of Roman Yosi swinging a bat and that’s all that if that was all that I had seen of him I could I could honestly say I have the same athletic ability as Romanos on video Alone um so I like sorry Roman sorry to put you on blast like this but you know sometimes I have to to make myself feel a little bit better oh yeah okay he’s he’s like 99.9% perfect but that’s just like the one thing he can’t do yep he his baseball his baseball skills that’s the hitch in Roman yosi’s giddy up right there corre there’s his there’s his weakness Y and we’ll probably never see it again because but again he just like laughed it off and he was such a good sport about it too as only he could be I’m like G he’s all good he is all goodness like Roman Yosi is the puppies and kittens and unicorns of hockey on and off of the ice he’s so great is that your superlative the Unicorn that should be my superlative you know what’s funny is you talk about there are so many to give him and I just look at traditional superlatives and you’ve got best allaround he’s obious vious ly class president most likely to succeed but if I was going to give him a unique one I would say he is most likely to Star as the male version in the movie age of Adeline because this dude does not age no does not age and when you know just celebrated his birthday happy birthday to Roman Yosi but you keep thinking okay is this the season where Roman Yosi starts to show kind of that age and decline and I really think is that ever going to happen for him you know because it just has not this season was the second best season of his career he tied his goal high from that 2021 22 season 23 goals his second best season in assists second best in points second best in Power Play Goals you know this is a guy who he is like cheese he gets better with age he is the wine and cheese of the Nashville Predators better with they wine and cheese pair nicely with Mi with potatoes we have Mr Potato Head sorry I had to I had to throw it in there not what was it not scary in the face that was my other gem from that episode that episode was gold Roman Yosi also not scary in the face can confirm can confirm but no I mean you you talk about his season being one of the best of his career age 32 he’s now as you said he just turned 33 um and we talk about all of his offensive stats and that’s a whole other conversation you can get into about whether or not the Norris Trophy should go to the best offensive defenseman because that is kind of what it has come to be and and people have a lot of opinions on that so that’s neither here nor there I just think if you look at his like yes he’s a fantastic offensive defenseman 100% but he’s also fantastic in his own Zone I mean he well first of all he’s 12th in the league he finished this season 12th in the NHL in ice time per game he was averaging like over 24 minutes a game he was first on the Predators with 151 block shots like that’s insane to me I think that you know and he’s he’s making the diving saves and the that he had that great like High real glove save earlier uh earlier in the year that like he just does everything and he’s like I just I feel like I need people to know that I’m joking because this is something that I do but like when I’m talking about how just like perfect he is I feel like I’m just like GH gross like and I’m very much kidding I’m very much being sarcastic like uh he sucks um but no I mean he again he has had one of the best seasons of his career and it was a season that if you’ll recall by his standards he kind of got off to a slower start people were starting to worry about like oh oh oh and to be fair pretty much the entire team got off to a slow start um so I don’t think it’s quite fair to to put that on him but again like I think that he is the you know whatever the wine the cheese the rain bows and unicorns I don’t know um he’s all of that and I but then again I think he’s so underappreciated around the league I mean Andrew brunette said it best that it’s like there’s he’s not the shiny new toy like he’s he doesn’t get the you know the Fanfare it’s like we just get so used to him performing at this Elite level year after year after year and it’s like okay yes this is not I’m I don’t mean to take a away from kale mcar or Quinn Hughes or anyone else who you know is up there in that Elite defensive category in the NHL to me it’s arguably more impressive for for Roman because he’s performing at this Elite level at an older age and and it just keeps getting better and he’s not showing any signs of slowing down which is why I said like I don’t think he’s human except maybe when he tries to play baseball that was maybe like a a short circuit or something that happened there but otherwise less yeah less see we should have clipped that video so we could show it and be like okay look he he he is I want do that to him I don’t want to do that to him I I kind of felt bad everybody YouTube it just on your own time just just to make yourself feel better that was when I first came to the Predators and I was working for the team that was one of the first events that I covered and like out first non hockey events that I covered and I felt really bad because I think I tweeted something about it um I I truly I don’t remember what I said but I it was something along the lines of like oh my God I found his one flaw and the Tweet kind of took off in a way that I wasn’t expecting and then like it was just making the rounds and I felt so bad I was like oh my God this guy I just I barely know Roman at this point I was like he’s going to hate me whatever and clearly I didn’t know him well enough because he like could it couldn’t have been further from the truth he’s just like such a good sport about it he’s like yeah I mean he’s like you’re not wrong I didn’t even say anything bad it was just like oh my God he is human know was something like that and yeah uh bless him coming up we’re gonna take a look at Roman yosi’s stats compared to the other defenseman in the league talk about what are the odds he can win the Norris Trophy and we’re going to talk about Dante Fabro and award him his season superlative we’re going to do that in just a moment first today’s episode is brought to you by our great friends at game time look game time is going to make getting those NBA Finals tickets even faster and 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time app create an account and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account and redeem code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed all right Emma Roman Yosi Norris nominated defenseman again this season so in the league among defenseman this is where Roman Yosi ranked the season first in goals fifth in assist third in points first in Power Play Goals tied for second and even strength goals tied for third and even strength assists first in game winning assist he took the most shots of any defenseman this season is he gonna win the Norris I hate this I hate it because I don’t think he is and he should yeah I mean I know I’m biased but he should I mean right now Vegas odds depending on what sports book you’re looking at FanDuel I think hasm at plus 19900 uh I’ve seen b MGM I think has him at plus 2000 like the those are not good odds meanwhile you know You’ got Quinn Hughes at minus 500 minus 600 then kale Mar is in the middle like plus 350 or something like that so that’s what Vegas has to say and I would like to say that respectfully Vegas is wrong um I just if you look at the the midseason turnaround that Yosi had taking into account the age like his age his value to his team I mean like I get I get upset talking about this because I absolutely think that he should win the Norris and he won’t yeah I thought it was interesting when Andrew brunette talked about uh the shiny new toy he had a quote talking about uh the Norris Trophy nominations and kind of talking about Roman Yosi and and I think there is something to that because in some ways it feels like these Awards the Norris the vzna you know those kind of awards are almost about crowning the next big thing in instead of uh really looking at what happened in this particular season outside of anything else I get why Quinn Hughes I is kind of the front runner I I I can see it but I do think that there is something to something to that these awards are about let’s bring out the next big thing and let’s face it Roman Yosi is not the next big thing manosi is an older defenseman he is somebody who plays on a team that hasn’t been to the Stanley Cup finals since 2017 hasn’t made a deep you know playoff run and I think all of that factors into it as well and it’s it’s a little bit frustrating because I do feel like this is a guy who deserves some serious consideration to win the Norris and I love what you said about his his start you know he really made lemonade out of lemons after a tough start it took him eight games to get his first goal and Lord knows it wasn’t you know not for trying you know but he really had to figure out in this new system what his role was going to be offensively how you know to adjust defensively to what Andrew brunette wanted but then when you talk about a player really finding his stride and contributing to the success of his team Roman Yosi is that guy he is and I think that you know you made a really good point about the the fact that the Predators have not made a deep postseason run in several years and that yes the Norris Trophy is a regular season award so theoretically that shouldn’t matter but a a lot of that does factor in though to the the voting process and the decision-making because it it does depend what team he’s playing for you know and I think that if it’s team now granted last year was a little different I mean you had Eric Carlson who was playing for San Jose that you know maybe not quite the same but I think that he was a bigger name like big trade piece you know like a lot a lot was kind his name was out there a lot and I think that that plus he to be fair had an otherw worldly season last year so that’s like not to say it was not deserved but I’m just saying that he’s kind of the exception to the rule that like typically these Awards go to the guys who are on playoff teams now the Predators were a playoff team this year but like deep playoff teams or deeper playoff teams I mean both Vancouver and Colorado made it farther than Nashville did in the playoffs um and both of those guys Ma and Hughes they’re younger guys and they’re extremely talented but it’s kind of like you said they’re the next big thing and their teams are more like if you’re just looking purely at you know postseason success their teams are more successful than the Predators are with Roman Yosi on the team and it’s not to say that that’s because of them or because of Yosi but it just I I truly believe if Roman played in a different Market he would be huge like his name he would be one of the biggest stars of this league um not and I mean he has the talent the skill the Charisma I think to be that now but because he plays in Nashville he’s he’s not and so and I don’t mean that as a knock on on Nashville as a city or as a market I just think it’s again like you said the fact that they have not made a meaningful playoff run in a long time and people kind of forget about the team and then as a result kind of forget about him so you’re not watching him as much during the regular season as you would a guy like Quinn Hughes or kale Mard because they play for the I mean look at what Vancouver did like they you know defied the odds kind of like the Predators did and and made the playoffs this year but then also Quinn Hughes is a younger guy he’s 24 and then you’ve got kale ma also a younger guy and those are like the names you hear all the time so it’s like oh I’m gonna watch this guy because or this game because this guy’s playing and like you just don’t hear Roman yosi’s name a lot outside of Nashville which I think is a travesty but I mean it it’s it it’s the truth yeah I agree with you it is a travesty and especially when you look at this past season what Roman Yosi meant for the Nashville Predators in a season where I think they shocked everybody including themselves maybe a little bit um this was supposed to be hey we’re going to take some steps back the Predators made the postseason you know they were competitive against Vancouver it was a tough series but you look at specifically you know when I think about Roman Yosi season we talked about kind of a rougher start but let’s talk about that 18 game point streak Roman Yosi was key in that he had 24 points in 18 games eight goals he had six multi-point games that is the kind of player that you have to have on your team especially right now when the Predators are in a reset Barry trotz talked about like Roman Yosi is the guy that we are going to build this reset around despite the fact that he’s you know you know 32 33 years old he is going to be a foundational player and you saw during that 18 game point streak exactly what Roman Yosi can do for this team whether they are a a deep cup Contender or a team trying to get back to that and it’s frustrating because again feels like it’s overlooked yeah it’s it’s unfortunate cuz again these and you know this shouldn’t matter it shouldn’t be like well Hughes and Ma are going to be good for a long time so they’ll have their chance like I I get the flaw in that argument too but I think that it really just should go straight up to the best all-around defenseman like offensively defensively value to their team and to me I do not think for a variety of reasons I don’t think that Quinn Hughes or kale Mar are as valuable to their teams as Roman Yosi is to the Predators I love that argument I I love that point Emma I absolutely agree that that should be a factor in the noris I don’t know that it is for the voters but I absolutely agree the between those three Roman yosi’s role is very very different and what he contributed to the success of the team this season very very different than the other two the other thing that I I will say is we didn’t see as much from Roman Yosi in the postseason as we wanted to and I think a lot of that credit has to go to Vancouver I don’t I don’t necessarily think it was like Hey Roman Yosi you didn’t bring your A game again you know it sucks but you got to give props to Vancouver because Vancouver did a great job in that series really shutting down Nashville’s top offensive weapons and that included Roman Yosi had one goal to assists in six games didn’t see as much from him in the postseason as we would have wanted to but again don’t think that’s the fault of maybe Roman Yosi didn’t step up I think Vancouver just had a really good game plan for shutting down Nashville’s offensive weapons I mean yeah because they also shut down Philip forsberg and Ryan O’Reilly and Gus NYIT like they shut down every one of their big scoring threats so absolutely you have to give the credit to them and I mean that’s what you do you go after like you identify who the top performers are on the opponent and you try to shut them down I mean Nashville did a pretty good job shutting down Quinn Hughes I mean they were going after him too and just really you know they were they were beating on him a lot you know he took a beating in that series and I I think that Vancouver did to to Yosi what Nashville did or tried to do to Hughes and I mean understandably because that is one of your your biggest threats and so you got to shut them down so it was a really great defensive effort by them yeah coming up we’re going to talk about another defenseman that we saw a lot less than Roman Yosi what did we think of Dante Fabro season and what is next for him when it comes to the Predators Blue Line all right Emma we have talked about Roman Yosi the captain who may or may not be a cyborg we are not 100% sure we’re going to talk about Dante Fabro and this season is one of the his season is one of the most interesting for me to try to piece it together 56 games played three goals 13 points this was his lowest average time on Ice since his first four game season in 2018 2019 it was not what I think we anticipated his role just wasn’t what we’re used to seeing from Dante Fabro so if you have to award him a season superlative what are you giving Dante Fabro so this is one where I’m gonna need you to come on this journey with me because it’s not gonna be the the it’s not going to be evident right away it requires explanation okay it’s not you know you can’t take it at face value so my superlative for for Dante would be the most likely to be put in time out and then forgotten about after you put him in time out because because that almost kind of happened to him this year uh when he was benched and then it was like oh yeah we we still have him and I think though and I realize the reason I’m saying come on this journey with me is because I don’t I realize that face value that makes it sound like he is a very forgettable player and he like is not valuable um and that is not my intent with that with that superlative what I mean by that is he honestly I love Dante Fabro I think that he is a very underrated part of this team I think that he but again kind of like the Roman Yosi Shiny Toy argument not saying he’s Roman Yosi at all but you’re just so used to him always being there that you don’t really think of like yes okay when he was drafted you know he was really hyped up because he was a a defenseman that liked to join the offensive attack and we’re thinking like okay we’re getting Roman Yosi two point out we’re gonna see you know a ton of goals that has not turned out to be the case at the NHL level I think Dante has never quite taken off offensively the way that a lot of people would have hoped or expected um but defensively he is so good in his own Zone he’s so reliable he’s very disciplined uh he can move the puck even if he’s not always putting it in the back of the net like he’s still joining the rush he’s joining the attack and he can move the puck very well and he can play throughout the lineup I mean we see him on a pair with Roman Yosi all the time he does extremely well in that role then you can put him down on the third pair with whoever the the six defenseman is and he he works well there and I think that to me he’s a guy that again is almost his reliability is almost a curse to the point where you kind of forget about him that it’s like okay if he screws up because again love Dante I feel like he doesn’t make a lot of mistakes but when he does make a mistake it’s usually a very glaring one and I think that it’s unfortunate because people like to hyperfixate on it’s like that one m akake oh Dante Fabro sucks and it’s like okay that was a very bad mistake like bad play for sure but like because it’s so glaring it’s like an own goal or something like that that people like to fixate on and say like oh we can’t rely on him but it’s like for every one thing that he does wrong he does like 15 things right that don’t get appreciated I don’t think um defensively especially because again people like offense right they like they like goals and he doesn’t provide that so it’s like well what does he do I just think that he is just so reliable um and you know if he that happened earlier in the year where he got he actually got off to a pretty good start and he got healthy scratched uh by Andrew brunette and then he kind of sat on the bench for a while to the point where you’re kind of like oh yeah like this guy I forgot we got this extra guy yeah cuz it’s like kind of like you know you different things going on though with defense and again if you’re if you’re talking about you need to shore up the defense in Nashville I mean like I think that he is a really reliable presence to have on the back end even if you know his numbers his offensive numbers aren’t anything to write home about I mean even this year though I mean to be honest he played in 23 fewer games this year than last year but he scored more goals more assists more points he had a plus nine like which is good yep yeah and and I just I don’t know I think that he and he I think he’s a really good utility player like if he were a baseball player he’d be he’d be like the utility guy he could play anywhere in the infield like maybe catch if you need him to like I just think he’s one of those guys that like you plug him anywhere in the lineup and he will be Dante Fabro you know you’re going to get from him and to me that reliability is very valuable but it it kind of means that sometimes he gets forgotten in the timeout corner you had this kind of backlog in the blue line and he was out and you almost forget because he doesn’t necessarily have like the the standout thing like lazon with the hits or you know Yosi obviously with you know the offensive upside or Ryan MCD with you know just some of that quality defensive play but that doesn’t mean that he’s not a valuable piece for the Nashville Predators but I think I agree with you I think he is easily maybe overlooked but the key for me even though he’s easily overlooked and you touched on this you can put Dante Fabro anywhere and I think going forward especially as there’s this turnover with mcdna gone and is Alexander kerer going to be back and of course Tyson Barry that’s a whole thing you know and you have young players coming up Dante Fabro may be a little bit of a secret sauce for Nashville if he can get in the lineup and stay in the lineup because he is kind of that Old Faithful reliable defensive player that you all you have to have you know he’s he’s not gonna get nominated for the Norris y’all he’s not gonna get nominated for the Norris but you need that reliable guy that you can plug in almost anywhere especially with the transition that the Predators are going to go through defensively as well so I I’m with you like easily overlooked but adds value I think we forget or at least I forget sometimes how young he is because he’s been in the NHL for so long Dante Fabro is 25 years old like it feels like he should be at least like 27 28 by now and so he like I don’t know it’s like the youngest veteran on the team it feels like but he you know I I think that he is a super reliable guy he’s a perfect seventh defenseman you might maybe start him in a more elevated role as you get younger guys or new guys who come in and you gotta kind of figure out where they go I think he is the perfect Mr reliable to just have and you can kind of move him anywhere like I said and you’re still going to get the same Dante it’ll be interesting to see Dante Fabro future with the Nashville Predators changes on the blue line again coming up next season let’s see how Andrew brunette opts to use him and what he does with the ice time he is potentially given next season as well coming up later this week we’re going to continue through our defenseman season superlatives we’re going to take a look at jermy lazan we’re gonna take a look at former Predator Ryan MCD season as well before we wrap up this episode though Emma tell everyone where they can find you on social media and where can they find your work you can find me on social media Twitter and Instagram @ _ lingan same handle both places and you can find my work at the hockey news you can find me on social media at ankor Mama on Ice you can find my work at Penalty Box radio as well that’s going to do it for today’s episode of the locked on Predators podcast thank you for making us your first listen of the day we will be back tomorrow with an all new episode we’ll see you then okay

Roman Josi had an outstanding season for the Nashville Predators and earned a Norris Trophy nomination alongside Colorado’s Cale Makar and Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes. On today’s Locked On Predators we take closer look at what led to Roman Josi’s success in a transition season for the Predators under Andrew Brunette. How do his stats rank against top defensemen in the league and how important was Josi to the Predators mid season turn around? We also talk about Dante Fabbro, a player who was a healthy scratch for stretches of the season. We discuss his strengths and struggles and how he could help the Predators moving forward as the blue line goes through a transition this offseason.

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