- Roman Josi named MVP of the 2026 IIHF World Championship after leading Switzerland to silver
- Predators captain also took home top defender honors with five goals and 12 points in 10 games
- Read below for full details on Josi’s record-setting tournament and Finland’s gold medal video
Roman Josi just stole the show even in defeat.
Nashville’s captain was named MVP of the 2026 IIHF World Championship on Sunday after leading Switzerland to a silver medal on home ice, per Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff. Josi also walked away with top defender honors and a spot on the tournament all-star team.
Switzerland fell 1-0 to Finland in overtime in the gold medal game earlier in the day, a brutal way to come up short with the trophy in sight. The host nation finished the tournament 9-1, with the lone loss coming in the final.
Josi’s numbers speak for themselves. The 35-year-old blueliner wrapped up with five goals and 12 points in 10 games, fourth in tournament scoring overall. He was the only defenseman in the entire field to crack double digits in points, and the only one to score five times.
His biggest moment came on May 23 against Hungary. Josi recorded the fastest hat trick in Men’s World Championship history, needing just 4:45 to bag three goals in Switzerland’s 9-0 rout. That broke a record set by Canada’s Shane Doan in 2007.
Check out the historic treble:
This is Josi’s second tournament MVP at Worlds. He took home the same honor back in 2013 after a four-goal, nine-point run that helped Switzerland reach the gold medal game. Thirteen years later, he repeated the feat in his 10th career Worlds appearance.
Josi also has plenty of NHL hardware. He won the Norris Trophy as the league’s top defenseman in 2020 and was a finalist again in 2022 and 2024. This season, he put up 13 goals and 55 points in 68 games for the Preds.
There was Predators flavor on the other side of the score sheet, too. Justus Annunen made 19 saves to backstop Finland to gold, posting a shutout in the final after the Finns punched their ticket past Canada in the semis.
Switzerland still hasn’t won gold at Worlds. But with Josi leading the way, they keep getting closer. The 2026 Olympics in Milano Cortina come next, where the captain is set to wear the “C” again for his country.
