Nashville Predators captain Roman Josi is considered week-to-week after suffering an upper-body injury. The news broke in the lead-up to the Predators’ Tuesday night game against the Carolina Hurricanes. Nashville communicated the injury via its PR Twitter account.
#Preds Captain Roman Josi is week-to-week with an upper-body injury.
The Preds have recalled forwards Mathieu Olivier and Rem Pitlick and defenseman Jeremy Davies from the taxi squad.
— Nashville Predators PR (@PredsPR) March 9, 2021
Roman Josi Injured, Out Week-to-Week
Josi, who scored the Predators’ game-winner against Dallas in the shootout on Sunday, will join teammates Ryan Ellis, Matt Duchene and Luke Kunin on injured reserve. The burgeoning list of banged-up first-team players will all-but assure the Predators position as sellers at the deadline. Nashville is currently seventh in the Central Division on points percentage (.440). As it stands, the team is 3-9-0 against the top four teams in the Central.
In reaction to the injury, Nashville has called up prospect Jeremy Davies from the taxi squad. The 24-year-old, Davies, will make his NHL debut for the Predators on Tuesday. He currently leads AHL defencemen this season with nine assists. Davies also becomes the third prospect on defence to play in Smashville this season, joining Alexandre Carrier and Ben Harpur.
What This Means Going Forward
There has been plenty of speculation surrounding who Nashville will be shopping before April 12th’s trade deadline. Included on that list are second-pair defenceman Mattias Ekholm and pending free agent Mikael Granlund. Although, there are also plenty of depth-forward options such as Erik Haula, Nick Cousins and Brad Richardson.
So far, general manager, David Poile, has been coy about his intentions, displaying hesitation around declaring a full Predators’ rebuild. “This next stretch of games playing against the Carolinas, Floridas and Tampa Bays are really going to show us whether we’re one of the top teams in our division, a playoff team or possibly that we’re not,” Poile stated in a recent interview.
Needless to say, if there was a time to call it quits and tear it all down, that time would be now. However, it may prove difficult to find trade partners with plenty of teams penny-pinching during this COVID-affected season.
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