I wouldn't trade Spezza for him. Spezza's cap hit is only $300K more and he's got 5 fewer years left on that contract. Backstrom showed a lot of promise when they were the high flying Capitals. With Ovechkin and Green, and a coach who just let them go out there and fly around with barely a thought to back-checking, life was easy. What happened this year, when Ovechkin decided to take it easy in the regular season? 18 goals and 47 assists in 77 games. Spezza had 21 in 66 games on a much worse team (offensively speaking).
Say what you want about Ovechkin, but he had 5 goals and 5 helpers in 9 games; Semin had 4 goals and 6 points; Backstrom had 2 assists. Hopefully it comes out that he was injured, but it's been said that he was in poor shape.
Say what you want about Ovechkin, but he had 5 goals and 5 helpers in 9 games; Semin had 4 goals and 6 points; Backstrom had 2 assists. Hopefully it comes out that he was injured, but it's been said that he was in poor shape.