Roman Josi cannot be stopped.
The Nashville Predators' captain has 16 points (four goals, 12 assists) and a +14 rating over the team's active 13-game point streak (11-0-2), and he is climbing franchise leaderboards in the process.
With two assists in a 4-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets, Josi became the first player in Predators history to reach 100 career multi-assist games. To put the achievement into perspective, Josi has recorded multiple assists in over 11 percent of his 894 career NHL games.
Per NHL PR, Josi also became the fifth active defenseman with 100 career multi-assist games, joining Erik Karlsson (150) and Kris Letang (105) of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Victor Hedman (103) of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Brent Burns (101) of the Carolina Hurricanes.
Josi assisted on Nashville's first two goals in the first period against Winnipeg, beginning with a beautiful stretch pass to Gustav Nyquist, who opened the scoring at 6:38 of the first period.
"I think he's just taken it to another level, to be honest with you," Nyquist said during a first intermission interview with Bally Sports South's Lyndsay Rowley. "He's up and down the ice, flying. [He] plays so many big minutes for us. He's just one of the best players on the planet, so we're lucky to have him."
Josi also assisted on Kiefer Sherwood's goal later in the period to give him 50 assists on the season. It's the second time in his career that he has reached the 50-assist mark; Paul Kariya is the only other player in Predators history to accomplish the feat (54 assists in 2005-06 and 52 assists in 2006-07). The last time Josi eclipsed the 50-assist mark, he recorded 73 in 2021-22.
Josi hasn't gone more than one game in a row without a point since December. He has five goals and 20 points in 16 games since the All-Star break, while adding 49 shots on net, 24 blocked shots and a +12 rating.
Josi's 50 assists are the most on the Predators and the fifth-most by an NHL defenseman this season. He is also tied for second among league blueliners in goals (15) and ranks third in total points (65). Josi's 65 points are second only to Filip Forsberg's 69 on the Predators. He is operating at nearly a point-per-game pace and leading his team in average ice time per game at 24:31.
“I think his body of work over his career is probably overlooked, and he's probably a little underrated,” Predators head coach Andrew Brunette said. “He should probably be in the talk again this year to win the Norris Trophy, and unfortunately he does it every year and I think you forget about him a little bit. But he reminds you every now and then and he reminded you tonight of the versatility he has… He's a special player.”
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