Jason Spezza returns to the city he spent 11 years in on Thursday for the first time since being traded in the off-season.
Although he’ll be in an unfamiliar Dallas Stars jersey, Spezza will be back in a familiar setting at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa.
The 31-year-old’s tenure in Ottawa was tumultuous at times, but the highs were the best the franchise has ever seen. Spezza was a core player for the club in the latter half of its 11 consecutive playoff seasons between 1996-97 and 2007-08, including the Senators one and only franchise appearance in the Stanley Cup Final in 2006-07.
Ottawa went on to lose that series in five games, with the trio of Spezza, Dany Heatley and Daniel Alfredsson all setting a franchise record of 22 post-season points, a record that stands today.
However, it’s this team that’s his biggest accomplishment, but also his biggest regret, according to Elliotte Friedman.
“[Spezza] said his biggest regret was that they broke up the team too quickly that went to the 2007 Stanley Cup Final,” Friedman told Sportsnet 960 The Fan on Tuesday. “No, they didn’t win. They got knocked out by Anaheim, and they had a rough year the next year, but he felt that Ottawa gave up too quick on that team. And that was his biggest regret.”
Two years after their Stanley Cup appearance, the Senators missed the playoffs for the first time in 11 seasons despite still having one of the best first lines in the game. However, diminishing returns from Heatley, who felt neglected and improperly used under new head coach Cory Clouston, led to his trade request and subsequent departure to the Sharks in the off-season.
With the Sens unable to reach the heights of 2006-07, Alfredsson departed for a last-ditch effort at a championship a few years later with the Detroit Red Wings. Spezza left the following year.
“They’ve lost Heatley. They’ve lost Alfredsson. They’ve lost him,” Friedman said. “And I asked him about that: ‘Why does Ottawa lose those guys?’ He kind of did an end-around the question, but at the end of the day he said, ‘We want to win.’
“The city there, they have a bit of an inferiority complex, and I see them watching these three guys walk away, and you sit there and say, ‘What’s wrong with our team? Why can’t we keep our players?’ “
It’s a question that haunts both the city of Ottawa and Spezza to this day.
