Well, that didn't take long.
Usually, the Jason Spezza rumors trickle in as the season gets underway. A rumor this early, though, is almost unprecedented. And, considering it's coming from a man employed by TSN, it becomes exponentially more intriguing.
Of course, intriguing and truthful can very well be mutually exclusive, and that's precisely the case - once again - here. Again, unsubstantiated conjecture has somehow turned into a full-blown rumor in the city of Ottawa, once again browbeating a story that has, doesn't, and probably won't ever exist.
The rumor hit the wires yesterday when Dave Hodge of TSN tweeted the following:
TSNDaveHodge - Certain members of the Spezza family expect Jason to be a Leaf. I don't believe it--they do.
Just because it's September and I think pre-season hockey's importance is vastly overstated, let's exhaust this one more time.
The Ottawa Senators front office remains adamant that Jason Spezza - along with Erik Karlsson - are cornerstones of this franchise heading forward. Why's that important? Well, the obvious. You don't trade the building blocks of your team. Well, unless you're the Edmonton Oilers in 1988. But, I digress.
Second, I'm not sure why Dave Hodge puts that much stock into what family members think or believe. He may disagree with their thought process or rationale, but if he truly thought it wasn't newsworthy, he wouldn't have tweeted it. Players are often caught off guard when they're traded in the first place; it's actually quite rare for teams to sit down with players and let them know they're being dangled on the trading block. So, if the players are usually in the dark, what kind of inside track would the family or families have?
Lastly, consider the trade: Jason Spezza to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Right. Bryan Murray would be burned at the stake. Not only would Ottawa lose their most talented player, they'd give him up to an arch-rival who is probably one legitimate top-six center away from being an incredibly strong hockey team.
So, what part of this makes sense? Well, none of it. That's just the nature of being a bad hockey team, or a bad team in any professional league. The prevalent trade winds are always blowing about your few desirable commodities, but in most cases, including this one, they lack any kind of substantiation.
Listen: I'm not saying it's the right move to hold onto him. I'm not saying it's the right move to trade him. I'm saying that Jason Spezza's here to stay for a long time by the front office's volition, and that's an incontrovertible truth.
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The Ottawa Senators are back in action tonight, hosting the Montreal Canadiens at Scotiabank Place. And, for the first time this season, we're going to get a real taste of this team on the veteran front.
Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson are both back in the lineup, giving Paul MacLean a first hard-look at the scoring lines moving forward. Alfredsson will skate alongside Stephane Da Costa and Milan Michalek; Jason Spezza pivoting the line of Nikita Filatov and Bobby Butler.
Why's this important? Well, as many of us have speculated, those lines are pretty damn close to what should be rolled out on opening night. Nikita Filatov and Bobby Butler need to play with a dynamic center like Spezza. If the team wants two real scoring lines, their second trio needs to be loaded with veterans. Enter Daniel Alfredsson and Milan Michalek on the wings. Now, it's between three youngsters - Da Costa, Zibanejad, and Regin - to battle it out.
For those wondering, both Mika Zibanejad and David Rundblad will get the night off. MacLean expects to play them the rest of the exhibition schedule, so this is more of a rest and recuperate night.
The Canadiens are bringing a mixed bag to the ice tonight, but expect the venerable Carey Price in net. The Senators will counter with Craig Anderson, who should play all sixty minutes.
Puck drops at 7:30 PM EST. Check Rogers Digital 456 for the feed. If it's not available, you'll have to wait for the tape delay version on Rogers 22 at 10:00 PM ET. There's a good chance I'll send out a stream of the game on my Twitter feed, too.
Montreal Canadiens
Pacioretty-Gomez-Gallagher
Cole-Engqvist-Kostitsyn
Darche-Dumont-Avtsin
Blunden- DeSimone-Trotter
Yemelin-Weber
Gill-Diaz
Tinordi-Henry
Ottawa Senators
Filatov-Spezza-Butler
Michalek-Da Costa-Alfredsson
Grant-Pageau-Petersson
Hoffman-Smith-Condra
Phillips-Lee
Kuba-Karlsson
Wiercioch-Borowiecki
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Thanks for reading!
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