Nashville Predators defenseman Roman Josi finishes second behind Makar for Norris Trophy

That Roman Josi was up for the prize was no surprise.

The Nashville Predators defenseman and captain had a career year, scoring a franchise record 96 points, the most by a defenseman since Phil Housley scored 97 in 1993. He also broke the franchise record for career assists, set a career high with 23 goals and another personal best with 73 assists.

That landed him on a list of three finalists for the Norris Trophy, which is awarded "to the defense player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-around ability in the position."

On Tuesday night, during the NHL awards show, the 30-year-old Predators captain finished second behind the Colorado Avalanche's Cale Makar, who finished with 1,631 points to Josi's 1,606. The Tampa Bay Lightning's Victor Hedman finished third in voting by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

Josi was first on 98 ballots, compared to 92 for Makar, but Makar was second on 98 ballots to Josi's 76 in the closest Norris vote since Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson edged Nashville’s Shea Weber 1,069-1,057 in 2012.

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"Coming into the year, I felt like I had a little bit something to prove coming off of last year," he said after the Predators were swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Avalanche.

Josi led all defensemen in points and became just the eighth d-man to score 96 points in a season. He also second in goals, five behind Makar and seven more than he'd scored in a single season.

Josi won the Norris in 2020. He also was a finalist for the Ted Lindsay Award, voted on by NHL players and given to who they deem to be the "most outstanding player." The Toronto Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews won.

He said his regular season was merely a product of the team's success.

"Last year I wasn't too happy with my year and I knew I had to change some little things," Josi said. "This year the team played really well. We had a lot of guys with career years like (Matt Duchene, Filip Forsberg) scoring so many goals ... which helps ... and makes your life a lot easier."

The Predators will finish training camp before next season in Josi's hometown of Bern, Switzerland before opening the regular season with two games against San Jose Sharks in Prague.

Reach Paul Skrbina at pskrbina@tennessean.com and follow him on Twitter @PaulSkrbina.