Jason Spezza Denies Trade Talk
Ottawa Senators forward Jason Spezza made his feelings clear on Tuesday and set the record straight regarding his name being involved in constant trade rumours.
"At no point did I ever demand a trade. I've seen a lot of what's been written and talked about," Spezza told a media scrum on Tuesday. "At the end of the year I was pretty emotional and upset. I was upset at us losing, and I was upset at a bit of the response I got."
Spezza also said that he had talked to Senators GM Bryan Murray about the situation.
"I talked to Bryan and I read the newspapers. I see every year there's trade talk about me," said Spezza. "I just basically told him, 'If you want to move me, you can move me.' Obviously, I had a no-trade clause coming up on July 1. I want to be here, but if he thinks it's best for the team for me not to be here, and the city, then he can move me."
The 27-year-old centre has spent his entire seven-season NHL career with the Senators.
"(Murray) told me he wasn't going to move me, and to be honest, I was happy about it, because I like being here in Ottawa," said Spezza. It seems like every year it's been, should I get traded, should I not get traded," said the Mississauga, Ontario native. "It gets to the point where you get sick of it a little bit. But my priorities are here in Ottawa, I want to win in Ottawa. I have great friends here, we have great roots here, my family enjoys it, I'm close to home, I'm excited we're moving forward with some of the moves we've made. I wanted to talk to Bryan about how I was feeling at the time, so that going into having a no-trade, there was no misunderstandings."
The Senators and Spezza would like to avoid a repeat situation of last off-season when the Senators were involved in trade rumours with Dany Heatley. The poor handling of that situation eventually led to Heatley being dealt to the San Jose Sharks for Milan Michalek and Jonathan Cheechoo. However, Spezza’s teammates quickly dismissed the comparisons.
"You hear the comparisons to Dany's situation. It's not even close to a Dany situation," said Senators centre Chris Kelly. "Obviously Dany wanted to go play somewhere else and that was his choice, but Jason wants to play here and win here."
Spezza has five years remaining on his current contract running through to the 2014-15 season and he does have a no-trade clause. Any takers on a possible trade would have to digest a $7 million annual cap-hit. However, the 6’3" 215-pound pivot is just entering his prime years and certainly has the size and playmaking skills other National Hockey League GM’s covet.
The Mississauga-born native is certainly not shy of the spotlight or controversy. Back in 1998, Spezza was granted “exceptional player” status by the Ontario Hockey League to play as a 15-year-old. That same season, he was also named to the OHL’s First All-Rookie Team. During his draft year in 2001, he was also given the honour by the OHL and Canadian Major Junior Hockey as the "Top Draft Prospect".
The Senators selected Spezza second overall at the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, just behind Russian sniper Ilya Kovalchuk, who went first overall to the Atlanta Thrashers. Since then, Spezza has played in 464 career games for the Senators tallying 171 goals and 304 assists. Spezza set career-highs in 2007-08 with 34 goals, 58 assists and 92 points. Spezza also helped the Senators reach the Stanley Cup Final in 2006-07 with 22 points in 20 games before falling to the Anaheim Ducks in five games.
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