NHL Rumors: Roman Josi Prepared to Ask Out Of Nashville

Nashville Predators defenseman Roman Josi

The Nashville Predators sold off a bunch of pieces ahead of the trade deadline last week, all of them pending unrestricted free agents. And while the really big names didn't go, they tried their darndest to deal off Jonathan Marchessault as well.

Meanwhile, the Preds are just one point back of a playoff spot, trailing the Seattle Kraken for the second Wild Card spot, while the LA Kings and San Jose Sharks are right there with them as well.

It sounds like the sell-off while chasing a postseason berth might not have gone over well with top defenseman and former Norris Trophy winner Roman Josi. According to insider Pierre LeBrun in The Athletic, Josi would like to know exactly what the Preds have in mind for this franchise going forward—and depending on what that answer is, he might not want to be part of it.

There are a lot of ifs in this conversation, but a league source suggested keeping an eye on Josi this summer if the Nashville Predators, under new management, decide to deepen the rebuild and move on from the likes of Ryan O’Reilly, Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault.

LeBrun suggests that if even two of those three star players are shipped out, the captain will want to "have a conversation with the Predators about the organization’s direction."

Why Roman Josi could ask out of Nashville

The 28-year-old d-man has two more years to run on his eight-year, $72.47 million contract ($9.06M AAV). He has a full no-move clause through next season (though it goes away in the final year of his deal in 2027-28). And although he's in his 15th NHL season—all with Nashville—he might not want to spend the rest of his prime in a deep rebuild.

And while LeBrun says Josi is "as loyal as they come," he feels this rumor could have some truth to it.

"As hard as it is to even think of Josi in another uniform, I actually think this has more of a chance of happening than one might imagine."

Josi won the Norris in 2019-20 and has finished as the runner-up for the award two other times since then.

In 1,014 regular-season games, the elite, top-pairing offensive defenseman has 201 goals and 767 points, with a +43 rating, and 1,893 blocked shots, while logging an average of nearly 25 minutes of ice-time per game.

This season, he's at 11 goals and 43 points in 52 games while averaging 24:34 TOI.