Predators’ Roman Josi appears in 1,000th NHL game

History has been made in Smashville.

When the puck dropped between the Nashville Predators and Ottawa Senators on Thursday night, Predators captain Roman Josi appeared in the 1,000th game of his NHL career.

He becomes the first player in franchise history to play in 1,000 games as a Predator.

Josi has spent all 15 seasons of his NHL career in the Music City, and has become not just one of the best defensemen in the team’s history, but in all of hockey. He joined the team during the 2011-12 campaign, when the likes of Shea Weber and Ryan Suter headed the D-Corps. However, Josi quickly established himself as an effective two-way blueliner for a team that was seemingly always bound for the playoffs.

After Suter and Weber went elsewhere, Josi remained and, along with Mike Fisher, became a leader on a Predators team that reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2017, ultimately losing to Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

In the years following that Cinderella run, the Swiss rearguard produced some of his best individual performances. He won the Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenseman in 2019-20, after scoring 65 points in 69 games. A couple of years later, he narrowly came close to hitting the century mark, posting 96 points during the 2021-22 campaign.

Even with the Preds having some lean years recently, Josi has been on a constant, standing as the face of a franchise that looks to turn the corner in the near future.

Along with becoming the first player in Preds history to play 1,000 games with the club, Josi is the franchise all-time leader in assists (554) and points (752), while sitting third in goals (198), only trailing former Nashville star David Legwand and current teammate Filip Forsberg.

Josi is also the team’s leader in career shots (2,937), fifth in career plus/minus (+53) and third in game-winning goals (37).