Spezza's Maturing

Over the past 5+ games, the one guy I've noticed doing the little things right doesn't have the initials DA. It's been Spezza. He's dumping the puck in, goes in hard, fights for the puck, retrieves it, makes plays. When he loses the battles along the boards, you can see him slow down and not skate as hard for a split second, then he seems to remember what every coach must've been telling him. Get the franking puck back!

I like that he's taking Heatley by the arm and guiding him. Heatley is lost right now, absolutely lost and Spezza is there to try to get him going again. You can see that this is something that Spezza feels is very important. Get the big man going.

Spezza can't help it if Heatley can't hit the broad side of the barn right now. He also can't help that the defense (for the most part) can't get him the puck. But his persistence is starting to show through - a lot.

Is he listening to Hartsburg? You have to think that a lot of this trade rumour and coach firing stuff is making him finally man up and listen. He's buying in.

Now can we get one Dany Heatley on board as well?

I agree, but 5 games won't be enough for me to be convinced. I'll make a judgment at the end of the season. FOr now, I'm satisfied with his level of competitiveness.

marakh wrote:I agree, but 5 games won't be enough for me to be convinced. I'll make a judgment at the end of the season. FOr now, I'm satisfied with his level of competitiveness.

It might be a lot longer than that actually, I just threw out 5 games because most of the Sens' games are not memorable in the least.

But yes, there's still half a season to go. We need the same commitment for the rest of the year.

Another guy doing that is Jesse Winchester.

But yeah, I agree.

asq2 wrote:Another guy doing that is Jesse Winchester.

But yeah, I agree.

He's been doing that since day one though. He's an awesome checker. Awesome...

Like bye bye Kelly awesome. I do, however, find that he's not winning the 99.9% of board battles since coming back from the upper-body injury (which I assume is a concussion).

It is a concussion.

I think Spezza has been pretty good this year. He has had a few awful games, but I'll take that over Heatley's general malaise.

Heatley looks disinterested. At this point, I'd honestly look at keeping Spezza over Heater, the way things have been going. Trade Heatley to Columbus to play with Nash, and fetch us Leclaire, Filatov and a 2009 1st.

Spezza has improved and is slowly coming around while Heater seems to get further into this funk. He's rapidly moving towards a "needs a change of scenery" label.

A) I don't care how far Heater goes into a "funk", you can't trade a pure goal scorer like Heatley because he's in a funk. There are very few players that can match him for his ability to put the puck in the net. Very similar to Brett Hull. Now, if next year is the same story, then you consider it. After half a season of this which includes basically the entire team in the same funk, Ottawa loses that trade no matter what.
B) I wouldn't make that trade next year, even after Heatley has been in the funk for 1 full season. Leclaire is now a backup after one good year.

they were saying that Spezza is above Crosby at the moment in scoring, so take that as you will....

Holy crap, you're right! He's one ahead of Crosby (goals, of course), tied with Nash and Datsyuk, and one behind the likes of Iginla and Hossa.

Spezza isn't a scorer but he's tied with Nash and one behind Iginla? Iginla *is* a goal scorer, any rumours of *him* being traded to Columbus, hmm?

I still think Spezza needs to do more, and lately he has been doing that. He's shooting more, looking to pass to Alfie (well, passing to Alfie while looking at Heater) -- that will help him get points. Maybe he's been waiting for Heatly to get out of his funk and just recently started to branch out. This will, of course, also end up helping Heatley -- checkers and goalies won't cheat toward him all the time if Spezza shoots or passes elsewhere more than half the time.

whoa! I suppose I should lift my self-imposed no sens coverage to see this transformation for myself.

While I do remember a few games back that Heatley looks completely out of it and from what I could see, does not seem angry or hungry enough to snap out of it, but if what you are all observing is true (and I do believe all of your personal observations) then Spezza buying in to Hartsburg's teachings is DEFENITELY a step in the right direction. Now, we need EVERYONE else to start sloughing off this 'we suck so why should we even try' attitude and start competing...

Again, should Spezza keep this us, this is EXCELLENT news in my view, and I will say as hypocritical it may be, I'll retract my 'trade Spezza' comments and withold judgment after another dozen games or so.

It's not about who we should or shouldn't keep at this point, it's about who we can or can't deal.

"Trade Spezza" has very little to do with his talent or potential. It's a question of which asset can afford us the best opportunity to improve in the shortest period of time.

good point Seaway. I suppose in a way, assuming Murray remains at the helm, I'm comforted slightly to know that he does not operate in a knee-jerk kind of way; meaning he won't make a move for the sake of making one because flip-flopping fans demand one.

Cronenbergfan wrote:good point Seaway. I suppose in a way, assuming Murray remains at the helm, I'm comforted slightly to know that he does not operate in a knee-jerk kind of way; meaning he won't make a move for the sake of making one because flip-flopping fans demand one.

No. But the owner probably will because the flip-flopping fans will not buy tickets. Mark my words.

Did I fall asleep for like........A YEAR?!

Since when has Spezza become this saint that overnight has you all changing your minds and anointing him king of this team.

Jebus! No one ever said he was not a talented player capable of potting a lot of goals, not once. There is a reason he got a multi-year, multi-million contract.

How quickly you forget the behind the back passes leading to rushes the other way, the lack of defensive responsibility.

Sorry for going off a little, but I can't believe this actually deserves a whole thread on its own