Tuesday Thoughts

A few Tuesday thoughts as we crawl into hockey's dead months.

* Jason Spezza worked a press conference down in Dallas with GM Jim Nill yesterday, and the two spoke an awful lot about coming together for a chance at winning a Stanley Cup. Spezza in particular seemed excited to work with a lot of the younger guys -- a quick look at talents like Tyler Seguin and Valeri Nichushkin, and it's hard to blame him. One quote in particular stood out to me, though:

Spezza on what is making the Dallas organization a destination for players

“I think the opportunity to compete. I think it’s paramount to be in an organization that’s committed to winning. I think that word gets around the league fast that when a team has made a decision to try to be a team that tries to compete every year and win. This city and they’ve had success in the past and the fans have been great in the past and kind of the total package makes it a desirable place to be. So for me, I’m very fortunate to come to a sports city like this that’s passionate about the game, but also with an ownership group and with Mr. Nill that are committed to trying to win. And as a player, that’s all you want, is that opportunity to give yourself a chance to win.…

You can say what you want about the benefits of Ottawa moving away from Jason Spezza long-term -- I've written about them in the past, and there are many different arguments to be made. Truthfully, as good of a player as he's going to be for the next couple of years, I can't see any way his following contract isn't poisonous. It's going to be long-term, and for a guy already in the midst of a fight with age and injury regression, moving him for prospects was a very defensible position.

That said, I think Spezza wanted out just as much as the team wanted out. That quote kind of tells the entire story, doesn't it? TSN's Steve Warne made a funny point about this yesterday:

Hard to disagree, anyway.

* Still no word on Robin Lehner's next contract, and I'm guessing we won't hear anything for a few weeks on that. Based on the numbers we have for comparable RFA goaltenders, it seems likely that Lehner's going to clock in somewhere between $2.6 - $3MM range, which would put the team a shade under $56MM -- their reported internal budget for the 2014-2015 season.

* Though my thoughts and prayers are with GM Bryan Murray, you kind of have to feel for the cancer here. Of all the people to pick, it chose Bryan Murray. I don't like cancer's chances in this fight.

The team issued a release on the matter yesterday. While Murray pummels cancer like Ivan Drago did Apollo Creed, Pierre Dorion and Randy Lee will take on larger (shared) roles in his absence.

Here's to a one-sided affair in favor of Murray.