SensGirl11 wrote:
Spezza still has time on his side though. He's still a very young man who will learn. I've seen it in him, I've seen the drive in wanting to be a more complete player from him. He's had some really bad moments too, I will not deny that at all. But, I saw a massive change in him the year we went to the Cup. He was the most complete player I'd seen him be. But, again, he lost it in the following 2 years, 2 horrible seasons where everyone was bad. Coaching was obviously a problem, and he, Heatley and Alfie all lost a bit of their game. They weren't able to play the game they are used to playing, it was just a complete mess. Now, with Clouston coming in, it should really improve a lot of these players games. We've seen it with Foligno, Shannon, Kuba. Heatley, Spezza and Alfie still have some work to do to get back to what they were, I'm very confident it will happen this year.
Really, in the end, Spezza for Thornton is basically a player for player deal, with one of them very close to his prime and one not even close to the prime of his career yet. We will not see Thornton get better, but we should see Spezza get better. Maybe I'm seeing things with rose colored glasses, but I really don't think so. I think I would rather stay with the guy that has actually made it to a Final than someone who keeps getting knocked out year after year after year.
Thornton had some good guys to play with in SJ as well, they wouldn't have won the President's trophy if he didn't, so I think that argument is non-existent. He is the #1 Center afterall, a lot of the winning on a team has to do with the #1 center, that's where it all begins. If you don't have that, you probably won't be successful.
Spezza and Thornton are 4 years apart, and the way Thornton trains and works his "prime" could very well take him into his mid 30's. We didnt get Alfi's best until he was 33, 34 years old. Spezza may very well be going into his prime but he has been on a steady and steep decline since that cup run where he was owned by Anahiem. (Imagine Spezza playing them 6 times a year and 4 against Detroit, esssh).
I def think you are looking at it with rosed colours glasses which is fine, you believe in the guy and thats just a personal opinion that cant be faulted, I def dont. But when people say "well he lead the team in points" or "he is too young to deal" thats all BS. Put him in Atlanta, he can lead a last place team all he wants. Hell, if a team is bad enough you could put a anyone at center and call them a "number 1 center".
Thornton is, like it or not, the superior player and by a large margin. He is only 29 which is young when you consider how long the star players in this league in the last decade have played. Sakic, Yzerman, Jagr, so on, all of whom perfromed at elite levels well into their late 30's. If people want to compare Spezza with Yzerman, I would say Thornton is way more of a comparable and the motivation factor that Thornton would bring would be at an extreme level.
Spezza isnt motivated right now and his play shows it. He signed his enormous deal and his play has dropped. Thats not a good sign and with a NTC and Spezza steering the ship in Ottawa for the next 6 years given what we know about Spezza and this point, or more importantly what we dont know, is a scary thought.
Home
Publications
