Nobody knows which team Jason Spezza will play for come October, but it won't be Columbus.
The Ottawa Senators forward Spezza refuses to accept a trade to any of the other six Canadian teams, as well as Nashville, Columbus, Florida and the Islanders, according to TSN's Darren Dreger.
While it's not surprising he doesn't want to play in a Canadian market where he'll be grilled, or on non-playoff teams like Florida, New York and Nashville, I was surprised to see the Blue Jackets made the list.
Spezza seems to favor smaller market teams who can contend, and while the Blue Jackets aren't a true contender just yet, they're well on their way and adding Spezza would have been another big step forward.
Apparently the feeling was mutual, though, as Aaron Portzline speculates Columbus wasn't overly interested in Spezza's services.
Best I can tell with #CBJ re: Spezza is that the feeling is mutual.
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) June 18, 2014Columbus was rumoured as a dark horse team for Ryan Kesler at the deadline, so I'm a little surprised there's no real interest in Spezza.
I suppose with Spezza only having one year remaining on his contract and some injury issues flaring up of late, it might make sense to avoid him given the expected asking price.
Nevertheless, you can scratch Spezza off your list of potential targets this summer. Should Jarmo Kekalainen elect to go after a big name on the market, he'll have to look elsewhere.
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