Spezza a future Captain for the Sens?

SpezDispenser wrote:

rooneypoo wrote:
Yeah, let's just leave it at that.

Surely you can see the flaws in the Phillips for C argument. I have nothing against him, in fact, with the pickings so slim this summer and the coach's brain frying, I'd be up for re-signing him and seeing how he does under our new coach next year, but as a C, I simply don't see it.

In the case you just made, how do you blame Phillips without blaming Alfie, Fisher, Kelly, Neil, etc., etc.? It doesn't make any sense to single him out as you've done in that example.

After Alfie, Phillips, Fisher, & Kelly are the closest things we have to a real captain (one in fact, not in name, I mean). I give the lead to Phillips because of age, service, & past performance.

rooneypoo wrote:
In the case you just made, how do you blame Phillips without blaming Alfie, Fisher, Kelly, Neil, etc., etc.? It doesn't make any sense to single him out as you've done in that example.

After Alfie, Phillips, Fisher, & Kelly are the closest things we have to a real captain (one in fact, not in name, I mean). I give the lead to Phillips because of age, service, & past performance.

I do blame Alfie and Fisher for some of this. I also blame the selection of assistant captains. You can't have 3 lead by example guys, in retrospect, Neil should have been one of them. Kelly too, he needs to get his head out of his arse and help the captains. Not impressed with any of them - least impressed with the C and 2 As. However...Alfie is what he is, he's a leader by example and that's not something I would mess with, but I would change the As on this team immediately if I got the job.

phillips + alfie = TOO PASSIVE

and I have no idea what Fisher is ilke, but he probably falls under the same category. You need vocal ppl on the bench, half the time the team chemistry is in shambles

With spezza, I don't think he's ready to be captain just yet. But Assistant captain? hell yeah

I have yet to read all of your comments, but I'm all in for Spezza taking over for Alfie when Alfie is ready to retire.

Spezza has proven to me with the end of last season, this summer and the way he has conducted himself this season, that he has indeed become much much more mature and he is taking steps to becoming the guy the team and management look for to lead them to the promised land again.

I can't really see where anything negative would come of this. He wants to win very badly, he's young, fresh, getting better all around -Even defensively, which is obviously very important for someone that is going to lead the team.

Aside from him, I can't tell you who I would name as captain of this team. I'm not a big fan of putting the C on Fisher, not knowing where his future is with the team. Phillips couldn't lead anything this year, so he's definitely been taken off my list of favorites for that position. He should've been able to do much more for the team than he did this year. Same for Alfie as much as that pains me to say.

When the team was down in the dumps this year, the only person I heard of that was trying to do anything to make the team positive again was Spezza. He planned an outing at one point for the boys to have some fun. He was trying to get everyone out of the dumps. I did not hear of any other Sen doing that...not then, and not since.

I vote for Spezza at this point, he should be our guy for sure by the time the Alf retires.

(Cowen might make a push but he'll still be very young, same for Condra)

Neil could be another candidate, but I'd prefer Spezz.

EDIT: How could I forget Kelly too, he's definitely a candidate.

The one thing I really hope for is that Spezza can get past all these injuries. I realize that this recent injury was not his fault, but he's had a history of sustaining back injuries that I really hope he can get past.

If Fisher and Phillips are traded like the rumours suggest (big 'if,' granted) then definitely. Who else would be the captain, Kelly?

I didn't have time to read through the thread, but just want to say that, while I don't know who should be captain, I'd love to see Neil wearing an A.

spader wrote:I didn't have time to read through the thread, but just want to say that, while I don't know who should be captain, I'd love to see Neil wearing an A.

I concur.

spader wrote:I didn't have time to read through the thread, but just want to say that, while I don't know who should be captain, I'd love to see Neil wearing an A.

Yep, +1 on that. And I'd be fine with Spezza as a captain or wearing an A. With all the crap that this guy has gone through starting with the Martin days (good or bad, Spezza wasn't thrilled with being left off the big club for so long), he's always just put his head down and worked hard.

This thread was started because the article states that Alfredsson would endorse Spezza as the Captain once Alfie retires.

Right now I wouldn't put a C on Spezza. I wouldn't hesitate to put an A on him should one of the A's be traded. A couple seasons from now and we'll probably have a better picture and if Alfredsson truly said that about Spezza then that is more than enough for me and the value of that endorsement out weighs anything anyone else could possibly say. Again though there are no direct quotes from Alfredsson so it could all be Brennan extrapolating from what Alfie did say.

I don't think anyone should wear the "C" right now except for Alfredsson. He's injured, not retired. Go with the three "A"s right now.

When the time comes for the "C" to be replaced, then you have to heavily consider Spezza.

Dash wrote:I don't think anyone should wear the "C" right now except for Alfredsson. He's injured, not retired. Go with the three "A"s right now.

When the time comes for the "C" to be replaced, then you have to heavily consider Spezza.

This was a long while ago but I recall Phillips coming out and saying, during a longer term injury to Alfredsson, that there is only one Captain in Ottawa and that he wouldn't even accept the C.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

Dash wrote:I don't think anyone should wear the "C" right now except for Alfredsson. He's injured, not retired. Go with the three "A"s right now.

When the time comes for the "C" to be replaced, then you have to heavily consider Spezza.

This was a long while ago but I recall Phillips coming out and saying, during a longer term injury to Alfredsson, that there is only one Captain in Ottawa and that he wouldn't even accept the C.

I can believe that. When I met phillips on fan fest, I told him that he's our future captain. He was pretty modest and all he said was 'we have a great captain right now'

Class guy all the way

I don't deny Phillips is a classy guy, and in fact I was all for his re-signing when an article came out before the season started and Volchenkov had been signed in NJ.... the article was about the revolving door of partners he has had and that he was willing to take a hometown discount to stay here because money was not important to him as long as he and his family are happy (which to me said: I will stay here as long as I am paid enough to live comfortably, but not more than I need)...

But his play is more important than those factors. I don't care how nice he is, how much he does in the community, etc. he has to play to earn his contract.

If you are an advocate of him you might as well have been for Redden, since he was also a very good community representative.

Well, with Fisher gone now, will Spezza get an official "A"?

shabbs wrote:Well, with Fisher gone now, will Spezza get an official "A"?

Seems like the logical next step.

shabbs wrote:Well, with Fisher gone now, will Spezza get an official "A"?

And he was wearing one last night too.

Kelly. No ifs ands or buts.

There is no guarantee that Spezza will be here much longer. In fact, if he isn't presented with an A, I'd say that's a sign he's moving on.