Roman Josi won the Norris Trophy between 5:50 and 6:00 p.m. central time Monday night. Around 6:05 he joined Ryan Porth and Willy Daunic for Preds Insiders on 102.5 The Game. And he had some important people to thank.
“It’s a huge honor,” Josi said. “Very humbling for sure.”
Thank yous to three Preds defensemen stood out in particular, two current and one former. The former player is a man who all of Smashville believes was robbed of a Norris Trophy: Shea Weber.
“I think Shea definitely deserved to win a Norris Trophy,” Josi said immediately after winning one of his own. “I was lucky to come up and have so many great defensemen in front of me with Ryan Suter, Shea Weber. Me and Shea became really good friends and just watching him every day and learning from him was the best thing for a young kid coming into the National Hockey League.”
After showing love for his predecessor, Josi moved on to his contemporaries: Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm.
“I remember going to development camps with Elly and Ekky ten or twelve years ago,” Josi said. “We’ve known each other for such a long time. We came up together and we’re still playing together. It’s pretty fun. A ton of credit goes out to those guys too, they’re such great defensemen. I get to play with Elly every night and I should probably give him half of this award because he’s so solid back there. He’s a rock back there, he lets me play my game. Definitely a lot of credit that goes out to him too.”
Though James Norris did not permit the trophy to be sawed in half, we think a nice dinner or bottle of wine maybe be headed Ryan Ellis’ way.
Two more notes from Josi’s appearance on the show:
1) His dogs were not excited about the award, they were sleeping during the announcement while Roman and his wife, Ellie, watched Monday night.
2) Josi does not think this honor will help him catch Roger Federer in the race for most beloved Swiss athlete; “No, no. He’s unreachable.”
Hear Preds Insiders Monday nights from 6-7 on 102.5 The Game with host Ryan Porth!
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