Roman Josi wore this beautiful reverse retro game worn jersey in four games in the 2020-2021 NHL season.
He had a rough start to the COVID shortened season, however he came on strong late as the team made an improbable run into the final playoff spot in the Central Division.
The rough start for Josi and the team was mirrored in the initial reaction to the Predators reverse retro jersey reveal.
Collectors and fans found themselves somewhere between lukewarm to outright disappointed when the initial photos of the jerseys were leaked and then officially released. Fans have had their hearts set on the return of a navy jersey — or at least more use of navy in the jerseys — and that wasn’t what they were given.
There had been speculation that the jersey might be a gold version of last year’s Winter Classic design, however it turned out to be a slightly tweaked gold version of the original silver sleeved design.
Thankfully, the jerseys turned out much better on-ice and in person than in the promotional shots.
Josi wore this Reverse Retro Set 2 in four games (March 23rd, April 3rd, April 6th, and April 19th). All of those were wins for the surging Preds, and Josi tallied four assists in those four contests to average a point per game in the sweater.
I originally had the pre-order for the captain’s Reverse Retro Set 1, however I swapped due to the lack of success both the Predators and Josi had in those first three games. The team went 0-3 and Josi had just 1 assist in those matchups.
The Swiss defender’s gamer has a few repairs and unrepaired holes, and surprisingly has more wear than my 2019-2020 White Set 2 jersey that was worn in 14 games.
There isn’t much in the body, but both sleeves have unrepaired board burn holes.
The right sleeve has one burn and another unrepaired burn hole, and the left sleeve has three good-sized repairs and three or four unrepaired burn holes.
The sleeve ends have a bit of pilling, and the back hem has some pilling and interesting burn marks..
Roman Josi scored 8 goals and 25 assists for 33 points in 48 games in the pandemic shortened season.
The aforementioned slow start really hurt his numbers. He had just 8 points in his first 17 games, but 25 in his final 31 games as he regained his elite form.
The Nashville Predators are at a crossroads as the team has rapidly declined from it’s height of a Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2016-2017 and a President’s Trophy in 2017-2018. The team will likely be forced to make some tough decisions and rebuild sooner than later unless Ryan Johansen and Matt Duchene suddenly rediscover their offensive games.
With Pekka Rinne potentially retiring as well, things could look much different in gold over the next season or two.
The only constant fans can count on is the captain, Roman Josi, wheeling through the zone and willing the team to whatever scrap of success they can muster.