Reinforcements may be on the way for the Nashville Predators, and not a minute too soon.
Captain Roman Josi returned to practice on Nov. 19, a full participant for the first time since a 2-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Oct. 23.
“It was great to see him out there. We miss him when he’s out of the lineup,” coach Andrew Brunette said at Centennial Sportsplex. “So nice to have him back earlier in the year, hopefully he’s inching closer to a return.”
Josi left the game against the Canucks with an apparent upper body injury. He has missed the past 12 games and has been on injured reserve since Nov. 2. When the team announced his injury, they noted it was not related to his POTS diagnosis.
After practice, Brunette said wasn’t able to evaluate Josi overall yet, but hoped that Jose felt good in his return. He also said he was unsure if Josi would return to the lineup against the Avalanche on Nov. 22 (7 p.m. CT, FanDuel Sports Network). At this time, Josi remains on injured reserve.
The Predators (6-10-4, 16 points) desperately need their top defenseman back in the lineup. They have lost six of their past seven games and are in eighth place in the Central Division. Their most recent loss, 4-0 to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second game of the NHL’s Global Series in Stockholm, exposed their lack of production at both ends of the ice.
Through eight games, Josi has one goal and four assists while averaging 24:05 per game. The 35-year-old is the Predators’ all-time leader in points (729) and games played (970).
Alex Daugherty is the Predators beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Alex at jdaugherty@gannett.com. Follow Alex on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @alexdaugherty1. Also check out our Predators exclusive Instagram page @tennessean_preds.