Predators' Roman Josi named Norris Trophy finalist, along with Quinn Hughes, Cale Makar

Nashville Predators defenseman Roman Josi was named a finalist Wednesday for the Norris Trophy, which is awarded annually by the Professional Hockey Writers Association to the NHL's best defenseman "who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position."

Josi won the award in 2020 and was a finalist in 2022.

Another finalist is on the bench opposite the Predators during their first-round NHL playoffs series, Vancouver's Quinn Hughes. The other finalist is the Colorado Avalanche's Cale Makar, a finalists for the fourth time. He won it in 2022 and was second in 2021.

Writers voted before the start of the postseason.

Josi led all defensemen in goals (23), power-play goals (9) and shots on goal (268) while playing all 82 regular-season games. He also tied his career high with that goal total, which he also accomplished in 2021-22, and became the first defensemen in NHL history to hit that mark at the age of 33 or older.

Josi's 85 points put him third among those at his position this season. He also tied for second with five game-winning goals and was fourth with 33 power-play points.

What about Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes?

Hughes' 75 assists and 92 points were tops among defensemen and both enough to top franchise records he set last season.

Makar's 1.17 points per game were an NHL-best at the position and the third-highest in the last 30 seasons for those who played a minimum of 50 games. His 22 goals were second behind Josi. He also set franchise records for assists (69) and points (90) for a defenseman.

Paul Skrbina is a sports enterprise reporter covering the Predators, Titans, Nashville SC, local colleges and local sports for The Tennessean. Reach him at pskrbina@tennessean.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @paulskrbina. Follow his work here.

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Predators' Roman Josi named Norris finalist, along with Hughes, Makar