Born in Bern in 1990, Josi has spent his entire 664 game career with the Predators after being drafted by Nashville in 2008. Most of those 435 points have come over the past seven seasons, including a career-high 65 in 2019-20 which led to that Norris Trophy win.
Residing from a country with only 12 active NHL players - and just 43 in League history - it comes as no surprise Josi is good friends with the man he passed on the list, former blueliner, and the only other Swiss-born NHL captain, Mark Streit.
"It's a huge honor," Josi said after tying Streit last week with point No. 434. "Me and Mark are really good friends. He did so much for Swiss hockey, because we never had a player that really made it in the NHL. We had a couple goalies, but he was the first guy [who really had] a big role on a team. He was a star in the League, so for us as young kids, we all looked up to him and he kind of gave us that belief that it's possible for Swiss players to make it. Now, we have a lot more players in the League, and he kind of took me under his wing when I came into the League. I started training with him, he's an unbelievable person that is a really good friend and he's always been a huge role model for me."
Nino Niederreiter, Timo Meier and former Preds forward Kevin Fiala round out the Top 5 Swiss point-getters, but Josi has a sizeable lead and figures to have plenty of years left to solidify his spot at the top of the list among his fellow countrymen.
However, just as Josi watched Streit all those years ago back home, there's no doubt another young Swiss player is dreaming of being like Nashville's captain one day.
That's about as good of a role model as one can choose.
"First and foremost, what a tremendous accomplishment," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said of Josi's feat. "To be a Swiss-born player, to come over to the National Hockey League and wind up being the all-time leader in points; there's been guys that have come prior to Roman that have led the way and, and have had great NHL careers, but it's a special thing to be the No. 1 guy in in your country. Swiss hockey is really producing more and more players and being a much more competitive country on the international stage, and Roman's a big part of that. I know he loves his country, it's where he was born and raised… and that's when you really sit back and think about that. That's a tremendous accomplishment.
"Not only as good of a player as Roman is, but the type of person that is to represent the Nashville Predators, to represent the city of Nashville, the country of Switzerland, they can't ask for a better person… He brings so much to our team on and off the ice that he's not only a special player, but I think we should all recognize the type of person and character that he has as a human being."
