Jason Spezza

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

After beginning his major junior career at the early age of 15 in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), Spezza was selected second overall in the 2001 NHL entry draft by the Ottawa Senators, eventually serving as their team captain following the departure of Daniel Alfredsson. Playing in the AHL in 2004–05 due to the NHL lockout, he won the Les Cunningham Award as league MVP with the Binghamton Senators. In 2005–06, Spezza set an Ottawa Senators franchise record with 71 assists, while hitting the 90-point mark for the first of two times in his NHL career. He later played for the Dallas Stars and Toronto Maple Leafs. Following his retirement, he spent a year in the Maple Leafs' front office, before taking his current role with the Penguins.

In Their Own Story

The Senators faced the Anaheim Ducks but lost in five games, in large part because the Spezza–Heatley–Alfredsson line failed to perform against Samuel Påhlsson's checking line, backed by star defencemen Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger. Spezza finished the 2007 playoffs with a franchise-record 22 points (seven goals and 15 assists), tied with linemates Alfredsson and Heatley. On February 9, 2008, Spezza scored his first NHL hat-trick during a 6–1 Senators victory over the Montreal Canadiens, contributing to all of his team's goals for a career-high six-point game. In the 2010 playoffs, the Senators lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins four games to two, and Spezza's poor defensive play and costly turnovers resulted in him being booed by fans at Scotiabank Place. The following off-season was rife with speculation that he would be traded, and Spezza himself admitted he would not object to a trade from Ottawa, but ultimately no trade occurred.

Reader's Guide

Internationally, Spezza represented Canada at three World Junior Championships and two World Championships. When he made his World Junior debut in 2000, he became the third 16-year-old in history to make the team, after Wayne Gretzky and Eric Lindros.

Did You Know?

• Spezza was born on June 13, 1983, in Mississauga, Ontario.
• At age one, Spezza won a baby contest and became the poster boy for the Broadway musical Baby.
• He was drafted second overall in the 2001 NHL entry draft by the Ottawa Senators, after Ilya Kovalchuk was selected first by the Atlanta Thrashers.
• Spezza set an Ottawa Senators franchise record with 71 assists in the 2005–06 season.