Pat Burns on Jason Spezza

wprager wrote:Let's also not forget that Alfie never got more than 80 points in a season until he started playing with Sepzza fulltime. Oh, and with Heater as well.

Spezza is not a player without issues or one who can stop accelerating and coast the rest of his career. That said, there's not a team out there that wouldn't want him on their roster even at $7M per.

Does he make Heatley a better player? You bet! He scored 41 playing in the armpit of the NHL, the dreaded South (l)East Division. It was easier to score goals against those teams. Then he comes to the Sens -- a team that had been in the cusp for so long that *everyone* gets up for games against them, and he goes out and scores 50. Twice.

Spezza makes passes that all but the top 3-5 centers in the league simply cannot make, and he makes them on a regular basis. For a guy who lives on the one-timer, you'd better believe it makes him a better player.

wprager wrote:

Spezza makes passes that all but the top 3-5 centers in the league simply cannot make, and he makes them on a regular basis.

Tukker wrote:

wprager wrote:

Spezza makes passes that all but the top 3-5 centers in the league simply cannot make, and he makes them on a regular basis.

Thornton and Datsyuk are the only players I can think of.

Neely4Life wrote:

Tukker wrote:

wprager wrote:

Spezza makes passes that all but the top 3-5 centers in the league simply cannot make, and he makes them on a regular basis.

Thornton and Datsyuk are the only players I can think of.

Zettiberg, Little (yes he can and does), Crosby, Malkin, Lecailvier, Rebiero (in no way do I think he is better than Spezza, but he makes those passes).

Tukker wrote:

Neely4Life wrote:

Tukker wrote:

wprager wrote:

Spezza makes passes that all but the top 3-5 centers in the league simply cannot make, and he makes them on a regular basis.

Thornton and Datsyuk are the only players I can think of.

Zettiberg, Little (yes he can and does), Crosby, Malkin, Lecailvier, Rebiero (in no way do I think he is better than Spezza, but he makes those passes).

Zetts is a winger. Little maybe. I refuse to admit Crosby. No to Malkin. Maybe Ribs. I havent seen Vinny as a playmaker. st. Louis seems like the the playmaker.

Neely4Life wrote:

Tukker wrote:

Neely4Life wrote:

Tukker wrote:

wprager wrote:

Spezza makes passes that all but the top 3-5 centers in the league simply cannot make, and he makes them on a regular basis.

Thornton and Datsyuk are the only players I can think of.

Zettiberg, Little (yes he can and does), Crosby, Malkin, Lecailvier, Rebiero (in no way do I think he is better than Spezza, but he makes those passes).

Zetts is a winger. Little maybe. I refuse to admit Crosby. No to Malkin. Maybe Ribs. I havent seen Vinny as a playmaker. st. Louis seems like the the playmaker.

Just cuz Vinny scores doesnt mean he can thread the needle as well as anyone. Zettiberg centers 1A, Datsyuk centers 1B, they are both centers.

Neely4Life wrote:My point through all this wasnt to trash Spezza because I have liked his game more than I have in the past this year. It comes down to "will this be the guy to take the team to the top of the league", and if I had to answer right now, the answer would be no.

I said this in the chat room, if the Sens were to get an offer from Atlanta for Little, Enstrom, and their first round pick when the season was over (if it was top 3), the Sens would be stupid not to take it. If the Sens are just looking for a guy who can put up 80-90 points playing 1st PP mins and playing next to Heatley, they can find him, and probably in Atlanta. That is a team desperate to make a move.

If a trade like that were to happen, I think the Sens would be a better team going forward. Hopefully that pick would turn into Hedman, if not, this is another deep draft. Little would put up 82 plus points playing on that that first line, and Enstrom is a good D man with A LOT of potential.

Basically, if it was Little, Enstrom, and Hedman for Spezza, I wouldnt think twice if this team missed the playoffs.

Laker wrote:

Neely4Life wrote:My point through all this wasnt to trash Spezza because I have liked his game more than I have in the past this year. It comes down to "will this be the guy to take the team to the top of the league", and if I had to answer right now, the answer would be no.

I said this in the chat room, if the Sens were to get an offer from Atlanta for Little, Enstrom, and their first round pick when the season was over (if it was top 3), the Sens would be stupid not to take it. If the Sens are just looking for a guy who can put up 80-90 points playing 1st PP mins and playing next to Heatley, they can find him, and probably in Atlanta. That is a team desperate to make a move.

If a trade like that were to happen, I think the Sens would be a better team going forward. Hopefully that pick would turn into Hedman, if not, this is another deep draft. Little would put up 82 plus points playing on that that first line, and Enstrom is a good D man with A LOT of potential.

Basically, if it was Little, Enstrom, and Hedman for Spezza, I wouldnt think twice if this team missed the playoffs.

That would be a package hard to pass on. Little and Enstrom are smallish players but both will be good. Little was a big scorer in junior as well so you know he can score. Add Hedman to that and it's probably too much for Atlanta to give up. The 3 players combined would be a smaller cap hit than Spezza.

pgood wrote:http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/sports/story.html?id=3b284134-ee1b-4007-916a-25b0551a7a3f

Here is a good read on Spezza as well, with commentary from Wang (nothing negative though).

Some good points made too (ie. Spezz won't be traded unless its for someone like Luongo).

Anyways I thought it was a pretty well grounded write up on Spezza and the "situation" for lack of a better word.

TheAvatar wrote:On 730AM Radio,  every morning, Pat Burns has a daily 1/2 hour segment (it's awesome).  He was talking about Jason Spezza and the fact that he had spent quite a bit of time with him during the world tournament last year.

Basically, he said that Spezz was a good kid; a guy that loves everything about hockey except hard work.  Loves hanging out with the guys, loves to laugh and thinks everything is funny.

At one point, Burns pulled him aside and asked him what he wanted to do with his career.  Asked him if he wanted to be another Lindros, a guy that had an impact, a bunch of medals but who never won anything in the NLH.  He says Spezz looked at him with a "what are you talking about look" ...

Burns said that Spezza was lucky to play on a line with Heatley.  Said Heatley was a very smart player who knows exactly what's going on on the ice and a tireless worker.

He finished the thing by saying that Spezza needed to gain maturity; preferably this century but he wasn't sure whether there was enough time left to the century.

Cheers.

NEELY wrote:

TheAvatar wrote:On 730AM Radio,  every morning, Pat Burns has a daily 1/2 hour segment (it's awesome).  He was talking about Jason Spezza and the fact that he had spent quite a bit of time with him during the world tournament last year.

Basically, he said that Spezz was a good kid; a guy that loves everything about hockey except hard work.  Loves hanging out with the guys, loves to laugh and thinks everything is funny.

At one point, Burns pulled him aside and asked him what he wanted to do with his career.  Asked him if he wanted to be another Lindros, a guy that had an impact, a bunch of medals but who never won anything in the NLH.  He says Spezz looked at him with a "what are you talking about look" ...

Burns said that Spezza was lucky to play on a line with Heatley.  Said Heatley was a very smart player who knows exactly what's going on on the ice and a tireless worker.

He finished the thing by saying that Spezza needed to gain maturity; preferably this century but he wasn't sure whether there was enough time left to the century.

Cheers.

The part about Spezza is pretty amazing...