ALL Spezza talk - to trade, not to trade, rant, rave etc.

NEELY wrote:

Michallica wrote:Poor spezza...damned if he puts up points and damned if he doesn't. Quite frankly, I don't give a damn until he puts in the same effort that he was putting in towards the end of last year.

At the same time, I'm not going to fault him for getting the majority of his points against bad teams. At least he's ONE ottawa senator who's doing it...where are the rest?

Alfi, Michalek, Greening, and Karlsson?

I'm talking over the years. Those guys are doing it right now (with exception of alfie, I'll give you that).

Michallica wrote:

NEELY wrote:

Michallica wrote:Poor spezza...damned if he puts up points and damned if he doesn't. Quite frankly, I don't give a damn until he puts in the same effort that he was putting in towards the end of last year.

At the same time, I'm not going to fault him for getting the majority of his points against bad teams. At least he's ONE ottawa senator who's doing it...where are the rest?

Alfi, Michalek, Greening, and Karlsson?

I'm talking over the years. Those guys are doing it right now (with exception of alfie, I'll give you that).

You talk to a lot of the educated fans and they will say pretty much the same thing, Spezza is a better player when he is playing a complete, hard working game than when he is just worried about offense.

I wholeheartedly agree....but I'm also not going to Dung on him for collecting points against weaker opponents or when the games don't matter. I will Dung on him for when he doesn't get points when it matters though.....I don't know if you see the difference there? That's all I'm really tr¥ing to say. I think the game of taking away credit from someone's performance is bogus.

La Femme wrote:I think it's about time we stop evaluating players on a lottery team in games after the spring break

I don't disagree, I was simply saying I think Spezza can make a line produce by himself over Alfie.

3 more points tonight.

Just against the Jackets though, so NBD

Big Ev wrote:3 more points tonight.

Just against the Jackets though, so NBD

There is a reason he wasn't a game star tonight. He, along with the Sens are lucky that small miracle happened because they were all pretty bad all night.

NEELY wrote:

Big Ev wrote:3 more points tonight.

Just against the Jackets though, so NBD

There is a reason he wasn't a game star tonight. He, along with the Sens are lucky that small miracle happened because they were all pretty bad all night.

He wins 3 big face offs at the end to keep possession, battles hard behind the net leading up to the tying goal (the guy was all over him and he managed to get it back to the point), the a nice one-touch pass for an assist on the game winner.

wprager wrote:

NEELY wrote:

Big Ev wrote:3 more points tonight.

Just against the Jackets though, so NBD

There is a reason he wasn't a game star tonight. He, along with the Sens are lucky that small miracle happened because they were all pretty bad all night.

He wins 3 big face offs at the end to keep possession, battles hard behind the net leading up to the tying goal (the guy was all over him and he managed to get it back to the point), the a nice one-touch pass for an assist on the game winner.

Hey, Spezza came through at the end and he was hard on the faceoffs for the most part. I'm just saying, he had major problems for 95% of that game but there is no denying his talent.

Against a better team, not just Spezza, but the entire team would have been blown out of the water tonight.

wprager wrote:

NEELY wrote:

Big Ev wrote:3 more points tonight.

Just against the Jackets though, so NBD

There is a reason he wasn't a game star tonight. He, along with the Sens are lucky that small miracle happened because they were all pretty bad all night.

He wins 3 big face offs at the end to keep possession, battles hard behind the net leading up to the tying goal (the guy was all over him and he managed to get it back to the point), the a nice one-touch pass for an assist on the game winner.

Doesn't matter man. He can't lead and his points mean nothing.

Big Ev wrote:

wprager wrote:

NEELY wrote:

Big Ev wrote:3 more points tonight.

Just against the Jackets though, so NBD

There is a reason he wasn't a game star tonight. He, along with the Sens are lucky that small miracle happened because they were all pretty bad all night.

He wins 3 big face offs at the end to keep possession, battles hard behind the net leading up to the tying goal (the guy was all over him and he managed to get it back to the point), the a nice one-touch pass for an assist on the game winner.

Doesn't matter man. He can't lead and his points mean nothing.

Constructive. He was awful for most of that game along with about 7 or 8 other guys. He and the Sens are lucky the way it ended. Anyways, it's tough to have conversations or discussons with people like yourself when you don't really understand the game. Fantasy hockey though, you da man!

NEELY wrote:

Big Ev wrote:

wprager wrote:

NEELY wrote:

Big Ev wrote:3 more points tonight.

Just against the Jackets though, so NBD

There is a reason he wasn't a game star tonight. He, along with the Sens are lucky that small miracle happened because they were all pretty bad all night.

He wins 3 big face offs at the end to keep possession, battles hard behind the net leading up to the tying goal (the guy was all over him and he managed to get it back to the point), the a nice one-touch pass for an assist on the game winner.

Doesn't matter man. He can't lead and his points mean nothing.

Constructive. He was awful for most of that game along with about 7 or 8 other guys. He and the Sens are lucky the way it ended. Anyways, it's tough to have conversations or discussons with people like yourself when you don't really understand the game. Fantasy hockey though, you da man!

Yeah I understand the game. He's doing what he is paid to do.

Points aren't everything, and they are often overrated, but when you are among the league leaders early in the year then you're doing something right. OBVIOUSLY he can play better in other areas, but nobody is currently complaining about his offense, which is a good thing.

In all honestly, if he plays like that against a team like Philly or Colorado, well....

What they are doing out there is they have made sure Michalek is the forward down low in the zone and and taking the 3rd man in the zone. Basically playing as the center while Spezza is up top covering the point. Credit to SSF because they are letting Spezza cheat a little without sacraficing much defense.

That said, he needs to be way better in his own zone right now and he has to battle way harder going forward.

NEELY wrote:In all honestly, if he plays like that against a team like Philly or Colorado, well....

What they are doing out there is they have made sure Michalek is the forward down low in the zone and and taking the 3rd man in the zone. Basically playing as the center while Spezza is up top covering the point. Credit to SSF because they are letting Spezza cheat a little without sacraficing much defense.

That said, he needs to be way better in his own zone right now and he has to battle way harder going forward.

Yes I have notice that as well and I think that is a good thing. Spezza doesn't have the skating ability to be able to play the true 200-foot game. He will never be a Crosby or Toews who have a non-stop motor and go end-to-end, muck in the corners, etc. If we take him for what he is and what his body and skills are capable of, then we won't be disappointed with his play as often as people seem to be.

What he has shown is that he is an elite playmaker. He reminds me of Joe Thornton - obviously Joe is massive though.

This is a reason they are drafting players like Zib, Noesen, etc. who can play 200 foot games. They will try to take the pressure off Spezza.

Jason has been great the past couple games, let's hope he can keep it up. He has 11 pts in 8 games...I've never seen a guy pooped on who has 11 pts in 8 games.

Big Ev wrote:“Jason has been a very consistent player for us,” coach Paul MacLean said after the dramatic, 4-3 win over the Blue Jackets Saturday. “He’s really working hard at being a complete player, and I think it has shown in all the games. His shift lengths are always at a good number, he’s shooting the puck a bit more than maybe in the past ... he’s been taking a leadership role in the face off responsibilities ... I’ve been very pleased with how Jason has played.”

who the hell is paul maclean? If your name isn't one of three/four posters on this website, then your opinion of spezza doesn't matter and is most likely wrong

Seriously, I'm not the biggest spezza fan (look through my posts lately and i've been criticizing him more than anything) and I certainl¥ don't think he a great game last night but he did still have a good game and I give him credit for the 1st goal and burying the tying goal. I don't know why time and time again people always want to discount his efforts, however little it is sometimes. Damn him if he doesn't, but try not to Dung on him when he helps the team win.

Michallica wrote:

Big Ev wrote:“Jason has been a very consistent player for us,” coach Paul MacLean said after the dramatic, 4-3 win over the Blue Jackets Saturday. “He’s really working hard at being a complete player, and I think it has shown in all the games. His shift lengths are always at a good number, he’s shooting the puck a bit more than maybe in the past ... he’s been taking a leadership role in the face off responsibilities ... I’ve been very pleased with how Jason has played.”

who the hell is paul maclean? If your name isn't one of three/four posters on this website, then your opinion of spezza doesn't matter and is most likely wrong

Seriously, I'm not the biggest spezza fan (look through my posts lately and i've been criticizing him more than anything) and I certainl¥ don't think he a great game last night but he did still have a good game and I give him credit for the 1st goal and burying the tying goal. I don't know why time and time again people always want to discount his efforts, however little it is sometimes. Damn him if he doesn't, but try not to Dung on him when he helps the team win.

Well like I said yesterday, Spezza is being asked to do a lot less on the defensive side of things now. He's responsible to a certain extent but he has a lot of trouble 5 on 5 and against teams with systems, I think that's all anyone was saying. Beating up Columbus and Winnipeg isn't going to change a lot of things. It's when people make outrageous claims about how great Spezza is, that's when people like myself kind of go off.

Paul MacLean is doing the right thing by putting 2 big guys on Spezza's wing. It's been something that's been needed for a while, big guy goes after the puck, takes a defender with him, battles for the puck, the 2nd big guy drives the net, taking the 2nd defender with him, Spezza opens himself up for puck retrieval without doing the 'mucking' along the boards, something he's not too bad at, but something he'll never do consistently, so you give him the players who'll do it for him, but they also benefit hugely from Spezza's creative plays/great passing, so they're likely not complaining.