Spezza Trade Getting Closer

A few Wednesday thoughts as the NHL Draft inches closer.

* To touch on the Jason Spezza trade talk for a moment, Pierre LeBrun had an interesting angle about how a potential trade would shake out. It's his theory that Ottawa may have to wait on the Ryan Kesler and Vancouver stuff to get sorted out -- as far as I can tell, he thinks that the first round of big bidding will likely be on Kesler, and if there are losers or if the price gets too high, attention will quickly turn to Spezza.

Now, I don't know if that's actually going to happen. But, I do think the fact that Kesler's still signed for two more years intrigues general managers a bit more than a player on an expiring deal (Spezza). Obviously, both are great targets for teams looking to upgrade. And, considering that it doesn't appear likely that Joe Thornton will be waiving his no-trade clause any time soon, these are the two big names on the market.

* Speaking of Spezza, Bob McKenzie at TSN dropped a #McKenzieBomb on us all a few minutes ago.

Let me take a shot at these four teams: Anaheim. St. Louis. Dallas. The East team is tricky, but based on a variety of things, I'm led to believe it's Florida. The no-trade lists tossed around over the past few weeks have included Florida, but you wonder if it's possible if Florida -- a team I know is interested -- could entice Spezza to waive.

The Panthers have alleged over the last few months that they're gearing up for big player salary expenditures. I've been sort of skeptical since they cheaped out on signing Dan Bylsma literally a week ago, but they've maintained that money is going to be poured into the team this summer. We'll see.

I note that other Eastern Conference clubs -- like the New York Rangers -- have been referenced in the past by the Ottawa Sun.

* New long-term television partner TSN gave Ottawa's owner the Harold Ballard" award last night. From T6S:

TSN, a television station that operates under the Bell Media umbrella and will also broadcast the Ottawa Senators’ regional games for the next twelve years, has awarded Senators owner Eugene Melnyk with this year’s fictitious Howard Ballard Award – that is “awarded to the owner who best contributes to the downfall of a franchise….

In classic style, TSN scrubbed the story this morning. So, I'm guessing we're not going to get a press release on the team site about this honor -- you know, like this one.

Thanks for reading!