Nashville Predators: Roman Josi is not a captain
The Nashville Predators are one of the most Jekyll and Hyde teams in the NHL. The Preds now sit at 5-7-0 after a 4-2 loss at the hands of the Calgary Flames. Just when you think the Preds might be turning a corner on the young season after their 5-2 win over the Oilers Saturday afternoon, they follow it up by getting outscored 4-0 over the last two periods in Calgary.
This is going to be a bold take, but I truly believe it has merit. Roman Josi does not deserve to be this team’s captain. Ever since Josi took over the role after the retirement of Mike Fisher the Preds seem to fall apart in games at the first sign of adversity, especially in games where the Preds give up the lead, and it happened again Tuesday night. Sometimes being the best overall player on the team doesn’t mean you’re most qualified to be the leader. A captain should be the player getting on everyone’s ass when things are looking bleak, a captain should be the player taking charge on the bench when the team needs a boost of energy, a captain shouldn’t be the player who “leads by example” they need to be vocal enough where no one is unaware of what they are feeling. I’m not in the locker room game in and game out so I just go by the team’s performance on the ice, and what I see from the team is a continued habit of collapse when things get tough. I’m not going to sit here and say the Preds would be undefeated with a different captain, but I do think giving Josi the C in 2017 was a mistake.
The Preds have a good enough roster to make a run at the playoffs, but if they continue to blow leads throughout the season those chances dwindle quickly. The Predators have a young roster in desperate need of good veteran leadership, and at this point I feel more confident in Nyquist, O’Reilly, and Forsberg to provide what the Preds need in that department. I understand making a change in the captaincy in the middle of a season probably wouldn’t go over well, but if the Preds aren’t where they want to be at the end of the year I would be looking for another player to don the C on their jersey.