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In this edition of the hotstove, we share our thoughts on Roman Josi’s monster extension (eight years, $9.059 per) with the Nashville Predators.
Todd Cordell
Roman Josi is one of the most gifted and exciting blueliners in the NHL. He can skate like the wind. He’s a one-man zone exit and zone entry. He can shoot, and he puts up a ton of points. I have concerns about this deal, though. More than $9 million per is a lot for a guy whose defensive impact is, uh, not great. It’s also a lot for somebody who will be on the wrong side of 30 in Year 1(!) of the contract.
I get that Nashville probably felt obligated to extend their captain, especially given they’re in win-now mode. That doesn’t make this a good deal. In fact, I think it’s going to look fairly poor in the not too distant future. Again, his defensive metrics are already poor and his offensive game – as well as neutral zone ability – is likely going to take a noticeable hit as his skating declines with age.
Adam French
Basically any 8 year deal given to somebody under 25 seems like it's a potential disaster but this deal is great. Josi has spent 80% of his career underpaid at a lovely discount. He's risen into a top-5 defenseman and the Captain of a consistent playoff squad. 9 million is exactly what he's worth...hell... glance at Erik Karlsson's way these days and how much more he's paid and I'm sure Preds fans are sighing in relief.
Strong start aside, Josi has proven he's an offensive mover on a team that has had a lot of issues scoring with consistency. He's also a very good defender in his own zone and transition leader. If you're sweating years 5-8 on this deal...well fine...but paying Josi 14mil a year on a 4 year deal or whatever would get it done would put the Preds out of contention. They'll have (health/randomness excluded) a top pairing defenseman for at least a few seasons being paid less than some of the guys around him who are falling off or will get new deals. People have been harping on how Tyson Barrie will be a one off in Toronto because he will command 8 million on the market...8 million for Barrie? Give me Josi at 9 every single freaking day.
It has to be said as well that his attempt to get paid his "jersey number" a la Sidney Crosby was admirable...if not hilariously pointless.
James Tanner
The Roman Josi contract is idiotic. I can't believe people think that paying players eight year deals when they are 29 is a viable option anymore. Have NHL GMs learned nothing from the (literally) dozens of times this has failed?
Now, Josi is an interesting player. When I first got into learning about advanced stats, I thought that he sucked because he didn't provide any defense. Now I've come to believe that people vastly overrate the defensive aspect of the game and that defenseman like Josi, Rielly and Carlson are shamefully underrated by analytics that account for preventing goals as equal to scoring them. If anything, Josi is underrated and he deserve the nine bills, but the length, considering he is 30 is absolutely nuts. Now if he was 24 this would be a sweetheart deal.
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