Jason Spezza Retires

 

Photo From NHL.com

 

After nineteen seasons in the National Hockey League Jason Spezza announced this morning that he would hang up his skates and call it a career. This was a question surrounding Jason at the teams exit interviews and Jason insisted that Toronto was the only place he would play. The day after while making an appearance on the Steve Dangle Podcast Chris Johnston from TSN believed that Spezza would remain with the organization, but it wouldn’t be as a player. This statement made Leaf fans wonder what was next for Spezza and his career. Well, the questions were answered as General Manager Kyle Dubas announced that a role in the Leafs front office would be given to Jason as he will now work as an advisor to Kyle. I know that this announcement is likely going to be criticized by the fans who want Dubas gone but that comes with the territory in a market like Toronto.

Jason joined the Maple Leafs in the 19-20 season after signing a 1-year league minimum contract, this would be Mike Babcock’s final season behind the bench as he would be fired as Leaf coach after the team went through a five-game losing skid. I am not going to go into the controversy that surrounded the treatment of Spezza by Babcock because honestly every Leaf fan knows all about it but under Sheldon Keefe Jason Spezza produced better then many fourth line veterans in the league as he would finish his first season as a Leaf with twenty-five points. This was the pandemic season that saw Toronto play seventy games before playoffs were held in a bubble with no fans. In the playoff series against Columbus Spezza would register no points in the five games played but everyone remembers game 4 where he would drop the gloves and fight which sparked the team and led to that crazy comeback in the final minutes of regulation before Auston Matthews would score the winning goal in overtime.

Jason Spezza quickly became a fan favorite here in Toronto because he was not only involved in the community but there were so many times where we say his leadership on the ice as he would pull players aside and settle them down and then we heard time and time again that throughout his time here that Jason would step up and speak to the players in intermissions when it was needed if the team wasn’t performing to their standards they had set.

Spezza would return for his second season with the Leafs this would be a shortened season with no fans due to the pandemic still going on and with all the experts and talking heads on tv thinking Jason would slow down and have a negative impact on the Leafs he responded by registering thirty points in fifty-four appearances. He would then add five points in the seven games played against Montreal. Before his second season when all the talk surrounded contracts and the leagues frozen cap Spezza played this season once again on a league minimum deal but after signing it, he told everyone “If I could take less I would” That quote just added to the appreciation from Leaf fans.

Last season, Jason’s final he would once again sign on the dotted line of a league minimum deal and he would finish this season with twenty-five points in seventy-one appearances before adding one assist in five playoff games against the Lightning. I mentioned his point totals in all three seasons because the Maple Leafs got more then what they asked for from a player that many felt was playing for far too long. Jason Spezza collected a total of eighty points while wearing the Blue and White all that while being paid the lowest amount of money allowed by the league. There are plenty of players in the team’s history that were paid top dollar and didn’t live up to the contract at all David Clarkson I’m looking at you. The Leafs signed a player in Spezza that at one time was looked upon as a goal scorer but when signed by the Leafs he was brought in as someone who could add production to Toronto’s bottom six forward group but he would also bring leadership to the young group both on and off the ice and as I have mentioned in this article there are countless examples of that because we have seen and heard the over flowing level of respect the players on the Leafs have for the veteran.

Jason’s front office role is believed to begin immediately so it will be interesting to see what he brings to the team as they head into an interesting off season. Now, speaking as a fan for me it is disappointing knowing that Jason will finish his career just five points away from the milestone of 1000 or knowing that he will end his career unable to lift the desired Stanley Cup as a player but hopefully he can assist Kyle Dubas in a management role and assist in bringing Toronto the Stanley Cup that this fanbase has been wishing for. In closing it needs to be said but strictly as a fan of Jason Spezza thank you for not only your time as a member of the Maple Leafs but thanks you for everything you did for the game of hockey.

That’s all for this one thanks as always for reading.