The crazy seasons for Cale Makar and Roman Josi
During the 2021-22 NHL season we will take an occasional look at some stunning numbers from around the league. Here is what is standing out to us right now.
Roman Josi going for 100 points
There might not be a hotter player in the NHL right now than Nashville Predators defenseman Roman Josi. He has turned the Norris Trophy race into a two-horse race with Colorado Avalanche defender Cale Makar (more on him in a minute) and is having one of the all-time great offensive seasons for a defenseman.
After recording an assist in Nashville’s loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday, Josi now has 26 points in 12 games during the month of March. Going back to the start of January he has 50 points in 33 games. As a defenseman.
For the season, his 79 points in 63 games place him seventh in the NHL scoring race (among all players) and have him on a 100-point pace for the season. His current rate of 1.25 points per game would be 102 points over an 82-game season, and exactly 100 points in 80 games (Josi missed two games this season).
Why is that significant? In the history of the league only five different defenders have hit the 100-point mark in a single season. Bobby Orr did it six times, Paul Coffey did it five times, while Al MacInnis, Denis Potvin, and Brian Leetch each reached it one time. Nobody has hit that mark since Leetch during the 1991-92 season. Leetch and Macinnis are the only two players that reached it after the 1980s. So it is rare. Almost unheard of.
Even 90 points for a defenseman has been a nearly impossible mark to reach. Ray Bourque, with 91 points during the 1993-94 season (in only 72 games) was the most recent defender to eclipse that mark. Only eight different defenders have hit 90 points in a single season (Orr, Coffey, Leetch, MacInnis, Potvin, Bourque, Phil Housley, and Gary Suter).
Barring injury, Josi seems like a lock to at least reach that mark, needing only 11 points in Nashville’s remaining 19 games.
Even more important for…
Source : yahoo
