Spezza injured - could be out up to eight weeks

How did he get hurt, anyway? My kid may have erased the game already.

wprager wrote:How did he get hurt, anyway? My kid may have erased the game already.

Off the faceoff he and Stajan or someone got tangled up and Stajan rolled over onto Spezza's leg, who rolled over on his ankle.

SpezDispenser wrote:

wprager wrote:How did he get hurt, anyway? My kid may have erased the game already.

Off the faceoff he and Stajan or someone got tangled up and Stajan rolled over onto Spezza's leg, who rolled over on his ankle.

So did he at least take out one of theirs?

I was at the game and the injury was such a fluke, everyone was watching the puck because there was only 30 seconds left-then you see Spezza trying to get up off the ice.

I know everyone has been giving him a hard time lately and probably rightly so-but I am telling you, from sitting in the Air Canada Centre, surrounded by the enemy, when Spezza was on the ice he makes things happen, and the Leaf fans around me hated him because of it. The biggest boos were for Alfie followed by Spezza-and then he scored.

If people truley believe his absence will mean nothing to the team-they are wrong plain and simple. I am definitely not saying Spezza is or has been the strongest Senator this year, but saying guys like winchester/neil/donovan can take his place is absurd. Spezza does things on the ice that most players can't do-sometimes they don't work and he looks like Dung, but other times they do and he looks like the elite player he is. Point is he has this ability,and most players don't have it. If you go to a game and watch it live, you see a different perspective, and while guys likewinchester/foligno/shannon etc., are hard workers they do not possess that next level Spezza has. Wether he uses it, or it works every time, is another story.

But saying he won't be missed-wrong.

N4L wrote:I dont see how Spezza coming out of the lineup changes anything in terms of the system they will play, the production they are getting from other players, their PP, their PK, or anything else.

Spezza coming out of the lineup is positive, he's a liability.

Over these last couple games, you could say the same thing about Alfie. His board work is obviously much better than Spezza's, even over the last couple of games but I haven't liked what he's done on the pp and he's been turning the puck over in our zone. He's still Alfie but over the last bunch of games, I haven't been impressed. Like I said, he still great along the boards and on the PK. But there are areas and times where Spezza has looked better (puck control in the offensive zone, for example)....just wanted to even things out a bit...with all the ripping Spezza takes.

It official. MCL injury 6-8 weeks. I just got an ott insider text followed by a tsn one. Hopefully they don't rush him back to play one or two games before the olympic break. Rest up completely and use the olympic break wisely. We won't see spezza till March hopefully/probably.

They say it's a torn MCL, no surgery required. I guess it's a partial tear and they'll let it heal. A full tear would require surgery. No surgery is good news. But he'll be gone until the Olympic break for sure.

111519 wrote:I was at the game and the injury was such a fluke, everyone was watching the puck because there was only 30 seconds left-then you see Spezza trying to get up off the ice.

I know everyone has been giving him a hard time lately and probably rightly so-but I am telling you, from sitting in the Air Canada Centre, surrounded by the enemy, when Spezza was on the ice he makes things happen, and the Leaf fans around me hated him because of it. The biggest boos were for Alfie followed by Spezza-and then he scored.

If people truley believe his absence will mean nothing to the team-they are wrong plain and simple. I am definitely not saying Spezza is or has been the strongest Senator this year, but saying guys like winchester/neil/donovan can take his place is absurd. Spezza does things on the ice that most players can't do-sometimes they don't work and he looks like Dung, but other times they do and he looks like the elite player he is. Point is he has this ability,and most players don't have it. If you go to a game and watch it live, you see a different perspective, and while guys likewinchester/foligno/shannon etc., are hard workers they do not possess that next level Spezza has. Wether he uses it, or it works every time, is another story.

But saying he won't be missed-wrong.

Add you to the list of reality. Thanks for speaking the truth.

111519 wrote:I was at the game and the injury was such a fluke, everyone was watching the puck because there was only 30 seconds left-then you see Spezza trying to get up off the ice.

I know everyone has been giving him a hard time lately and probably rightly so-but I am telling you, from sitting in the Air Canada Centre, surrounded by the enemy, when Spezza was on the ice he makes things happen, and the Leaf fans around me hated him because of it. The biggest boos were for Alfie followed by Spezza-and then he scored.

If people truley believe his absence will mean nothing to the team-they are wrong plain and simple. I am definitely not saying Spezza is or has been the strongest Senator this year, but saying guys like winchester/neil/donovan can take his place is absurd. Spezza does things on the ice that most players can't do-sometimes they don't work and he looks like Dung, but other times they do and he looks like the elite player he is. Point is he has this ability,and most players don't have it. If you go to a game and watch it live, you see a different perspective, and while guys likewinchester/foligno/shannon etc., are hard workers they do not possess that next level Spezza has. Wether he uses it, or it works every time, is another story.

But saying he won't be missed-wrong.

IMHO, Spezza hasn't used the next level skill often - if at all this year. And I believe it's because his back is messed up pretty bad. This latest injury makes it impossible for Spezza to hide from the fact that it's high time to get healthy. My hope is that he can kill two nerds with one stone and get back to 100% health - THEN he'll be a force. As of last game, everytime he stepped on the ice I cringed a little. He just...doesn't have it. Turn overs, poor, labouring skating, poor passes, judgment's way off, back to try to compensate for his lack of range with the drop passes, frustration etc.

He needed this break as much as the Sens needed him to take this break. Will we be better? That's a tough one...He had 19 points in 30 games playing on the top line with Alfie and Michalek and getting loads of PP time. That's not very good really. So Winchester comes in and gets...say...I dunno, 14 points in the next 30 games, but is a SOB to play against.

Who comes out on top? We'll find out, but for now, I would say it would be the Sens as a team.

Vandelay wrote:

N4L wrote:I dont see how Spezza coming out of the lineup changes anything in terms of the system they will play, the production they are getting from other players, their PP, their PK, or anything else.

Spezza coming out of the lineup is positive, he's a liability.

Over these last couple games, you could say the same thing about Alfie. His board work is obviously much better than Spezza's, even over the last couple of games but I haven't liked what he's done on the pp and he's been turning the puck over in our zone. He's still Alfie but over the last bunch of games, I haven't been impressed. Like I said, he still great along the boards and on the PK. But there are areas and times where Spezza has looked better (puck control in the offensive zone, for example)....just wanted to even things out a bit...with all the ripping Spezza takes.

Did you see the interview with Alfie on TSN? He looked like George Costanza when he found out Susan died "restrained jubilation" I believe was the term.

N4L mentioned it a couple weeks ago that Alfie might just be sick of Spezza and thus distracted...I think he was right. If I'm a betting man, I'm placing a large amount on Alfie's "resurrection" so-to-speak, in the coming days... I'm betting on a 2 point night tonight.

cloverleaf wrote:

111519 wrote:I was at the game and the injury was such a fluke, everyone was watching the puck because there was only 30 seconds left-then you see Spezza trying to get up off the ice.

I know everyone has been giving him a hard time lately and probably rightly so-but I am telling you, from sitting in the Air Canada Centre, surrounded by the enemy, when Spezza was on the ice he makes things happen, and the Leaf fans around me hated him because of it. The biggest boos were for Alfie followed by Spezza-and then he scored.

If people truley believe his absence will mean nothing to the team-they are wrong plain and simple. I am definitely not saying Spezza is or has been the strongest Senator this year, but saying guys like winchester/neil/donovan can take his place is absurd. Spezza does things on the ice that most players can't do-sometimes they don't work and he looks like Dung, but other times they do and he looks like the elite player he is. Point is he has this ability,and most players don't have it. If you go to a game and watch it live, you see a different perspective, and while guys likewinchester/foligno/shannon etc., are hard workers they do not possess that next level Spezza has. Wether he uses it, or it works every time, is another story.

But saying he won't be missed-wrong.

Add you to the list of reality. Thanks for speaking the truth.

I can't tell you how funny it is that you, sidstu, and ### are now busom buddies

SpezDispenser wrote:
IMHO, Spezza hasn't used the next level skill often - if at all this year. And I believe it's because his back is messed up pretty bad. This latest injury makes it impossible for Spezza to hide from the fact that it's high time to get healthy. My hope is that he can kill two nerds with one stone and get back to 100% health - THEN he'll be a force. As of last game, everytime he stepped on the ice I cringed a little. He just...doesn't have it. Turn overs, poor, labouring skating, poor passes, judgment's way off, back to try to compensate for his lack of range with the drop passes, frustration etc.

He needed this break as much as the Sens needed him to take this break. Will we be better? That's a tough one...He had 19 points in 30 games playing on the top line with Alfie and Michalek and getting loads of PP time. That's not very good really. So Winchester comes in and gets...say...I dunno, 14 points in the next 30 games, but is a SOB to play against.

Who comes out on top? We'll find out, but for now, I would say it would be the Sens as a team.

You can always tell how he's feeling by his stride...unfortunately, he labours in most of the games he's played this year, so

Gohan wrote:

Vandelay wrote:

N4L wrote:I dont see how Spezza coming out of the lineup changes anything in terms of the system they will play, the production they are getting from other players, their PP, their PK, or anything else.

Spezza coming out of the lineup is positive, he's a liability.

Over these last couple games, you could say the same thing about Alfie. His board work is obviously much better than Spezza's, even over the last couple of games but I haven't liked what he's done on the pp and he's been turning the puck over in our zone. He's still Alfie but over the last bunch of games, I haven't been impressed. Like I said, he still great along the boards and on the PK. But there are areas and times where Spezza has looked better (puck control in the offensive zone, for example)....just wanted to even things out a bit...with all the ripping Spezza takes.

Did you see the interview with Alfie on TSN? He looked like George Costanza when he found out Susan died "restrained jubilation" I believe was the term.

N4L mentioned it a couple weeks ago that Alfie might just be sick of Spezza and thus distracted...I think he was right. If I'm a betting man, I'm placing a large amount on Alfie's "resurrection" so-to-speak, in the coming days... I'm betting on a 2 point night tonight.

I thought the exact same thing .

Seriously, that was my first reaction, and now that you mention it, there's probably some truth to it.

marakh wrote:I thought the exact same thing .

Seriously, that was my first reaction, and now that you mention it, there's probably some truth to it.

Is that right? Huh...if that's true, Alfalfa might want to let Murray know at some point.

SpezDispenser wrote:

marakh wrote:I thought the exact same thing .

Seriously, that was my first reaction, and now that you mention it, there's probably some truth to it.

Is that right? Huh...if that's true, Alfalfa might want to let Murray know at some point.

Check the interview. Alfie had a pause of 5 secs in there, didn't know what to say

And he ended with "I think we'll be fine." when asked what effect the "loss" would have on them.

Gohan wrote:And he ended with "I think we'll be fine." when asked what effect the "loss" would have on them.

Interesting fact...

Spezza missed 14 games in 2007 - sens went 9-3-2.

Just sayin'...