TAMPA, Fla. — J.J. Moser was 11 years old when countryman Roman Josi made his NHL debut in the fall of 2011.
From that moment on, Moser aspired to study Josi’s every move, to try and duplicate his game as much as possible. To suggest Josi has had an impact on Moser’s career might be a slight understatement.
“Huge, tremendous influence,” Moser said this week, his eyes lighting up. “He was my main influence, he was my main idol, and also a guy that I tried to copy my game after. Just because of how much I admire his game and how he plays, how he’s effective in all kinds of situations, obviously offensively but then also having the gifted defensive game.”
So, is it cool to hear that a younger countryman idolized you if you’re Josi, 35, or does it make you feel old?
“Probably both, for sure,” Josi said with a laugh. “It does make you feel old a little bit. But it’s really cool to see, he’s such a great guy and an awesome kid … He’s a really good player. He’s taken his game to another level, which is really cool because I’ve known him for a long time since he was 18, 19.”
They first played together at the 2019 World Championships. Moser was a month away from his 19th birthday. He couldn’t believe he was sharing a dressing room with his hockey hero.
“You remember watching his highlights when you’re 10 years old and now like less than 10 years later, you’re playing with him and you have a chance to ask him questions, ‘How do you do this or that in that type of situation?’ It helps you a lot,” Moser said. “Same here with Heddy (Victor Hedman) and Kuch (Nikita Kucherov), you can pick their brain and that helps your development, too.”
The first thing that jumps out at having a conversation with Moser, 25, is his brain. He’s got a lot to share. He also speaks six languages. You see that personality come through in the Lightning’s Bolts Beginnings episode last summer when they visited Moser in his home country.
So, picking the brains of veteran players and using them to improve himself as a player is a natural. Learn, learn, learn.
Josi, for one, remembers Moser making an impression at 2019 worlds despite only playing three games after being injured.
“You could see how good he was back then,” the Nashville Predators captain said. “You could always tell how good he is, but I feel like this year was kind of his breakout year and everybody saw how good he is. We were partners at the (Milan) Olympics for a lot of the games. He’s just so smart and so good defensively. He’s not a big guy, but he’s a really good skater and he’s really smart and he’s got great offensive skills, too. I feel like he’s just going to keep getting better and better, especially in Tampa on that team, he’s got a really nice role.”
Win or lose in this series against the Montreal Canadiens — the Lightning are facing elimination in Game 6 in Montreal on Friday night — Moser has been a stud in these playoffs. With his poise in his own end, his passing abilities, his Game 2 overtime goal, Moser has been one of Tampa’s most reliable players.
He’s become more of a household name now. And one of his close pals saw it coming way before most people did.
“I’m not surprised,” Nico Hischier said. “Just being around him the last couple of summers, training with him, he works very hard. The potential was always there, I always knew he would be a great player. He’s been working on different things the last few summers and for him it’s just clicking. But for me, it’s no surprise.”
The Josi influence is obvious in Moser’s game. As Moser keeps growing, Hischier sees the parallels.
“He can do it all. He’s super competitive. You can put him out there to shut down guys, he’s a very good skater, very good defensively, and he’s very smart,” Hischier said. “He always had the hockey IQ but then he grew with more strength, he just kept improving and how he’s built his game up. He can definitely turn out like Roman Josi for sure.”
Janis Jérôme Moser was drafted in the second round at No. 60 by the Arizona Coyotes in 2021 at age 20. The late bloomer benefited from staying back before being drafted and playing in the top-notch Swiss League against men.
After just two and a half seasons with the Coyotes and adjusting to the NHL game, Moser had his life turned upside down. He was traded on June 29, 2024, during the NHL Draft in Las Vegas, to Tampa Bay in a package that featured the more-established Mikhail Sergachev going the other way.
To say he didn’t see that coming is an understatement.
“I didn’t expect that at all. My first reaction was, ‘What the hell?’” Moser said. “You spent a lot of time with those guys (in Arizona) trying to build relationships, and now it was all for nothing. You’re not going to see those guys much anymore.
“But then, when you sit down and let it settle, you realize you’ve been traded to an awesome organization, a winning team, great players, great city, great weather, everything that you can ask for, basically. Then you get excited.”
Yeah, that’s pretty much how everyone reacts when arriving in Tampa.
But in that moment, it was a lot to process. Moser was already trying to get his head around the Coyotes moving to Utah, which had just happened. He had just had the one trip to Salt Lake City when the players first met owner Ryan Smith and saw the market for two days before heading back to Switzerland for the offseason.
The Lightning surprised many by dealing Sergachev to Utah in exchange for Moser, Conor Geekie, a 2025 second-round pick and a 2024 seventh-round pick. At the time, the Bolts were clearing up some cap space in order to pursue Jake Guentzel, so Moser ($3.375 million AAV at the time) was more cost-effective against the cap than Sergachev ($8.5 million AAV). And the Bolts were betting Moser wouldn’t be much of a downgrade, if at all.
Head coach Jon Cooper won’t lie — his first thought at the time was about the guy they were losing. The guy they knew and won with.
“First of all, it was tough in one regard: because I got to know Sergy for a number of years, he played with us, won with us, kind of brought him up,” Cooper said. “I remember when he first started defending with us, (former assistant coach) Todd Richards did a great job with him. It was great. So it was really hard to see him go.
“Another side to it is that Sergy wanted to be handed the reins to a team and be the guy. So we missed him, and I didn’t know much about J.J. Moser at the time other than coaching against him a couple times a year.”
But it didn’t take long.
“I don’t think I appreciated his 200-foot game,” Cooper said. “I think I thought about him more as a skater jumping into the play and stuff like that. I definitely didn’t foresee his ability to defend the way he can. And he comes in and he’s a phenomenal kid, he checks all those boxes. You look at that trade now and it’s a win-win for both teams.”
The challenge for Moser coming into Tampa was not trying to think he had to live up to and be Sergachev. But admittedly, it was hard not to think about it given who he was traded for.
“It definitely crossed my mind initially, just by the nature of that trade,” Moser said. “That’s a big star you’re being traded for. He won a lot here. That’s the initial thought, but then you realize very fast that you can’t really have that thought. Because if you go in with that thought, it’s not going to help you at all. So I realized pretty early on I just had to bring my qualities and bring my game regardless of who you got traded for. And don’t try to fill that spot like one for one. Understand that we’re different players.”
He’s absolutely flourished with the Lightning. And further props to Tampa GM Julien BriseBois and his front office for not only seeing the promise in Moser two years ago when making the trade, but getting ahead of things this season and signing him to an eight-year extension, which kicks in next season at a $6.75 million cap hit, which is already looking like a total bargain.
“This year especially, he’s just freakin’ gotten better every single week,” Tampa defenseman Max Crozier said. “He’s constantly improving and he plays with more swagger now, plays with more jam in his game and that’s been huge for him, it gives him a lot more space. He’s got a lot of confidence with the puck, great in transition, great skater. He’s been huge for us this entire year and really big for us in this series.”
