Jason Spezza’s no-trade list includes Canada, Predators, Isles: Report
Jason Spezza has a limited no-trade clause in his contract with the Ottawa Senators, who can’t seem to avoid situations in which players with no-trade clauses eliminate the most beneficial trading partners for GM Bryan Murray. (Oh hi Dany Heatley.)
Spezza and the Senators mutually decided that they’d part ways this offseason after he played 11 years in Ottawa, the last one as their captain. Prying a No. 1 center away from a team isn’t easy; harder still is trying to find a team that will ante up a proper package for him while being able to digest his $7 million salary cap hit for next season.
A few teams that had the need, the assets and the cap space sprung to mind, like the Nashville Predators, the New York Islanders and the Calgary Flames, for example.
Alas, unless he changes his mind, Spezza will not play for any of those teams. According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, they’re on his 10-team no-trade list.
On TSN 1260 Tuesday morning, Dreger said that Spezza will refuse a trade to the Islanders, the Predators, the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Florida Panthers; as well as to any of the other six Canadian teams in the league.
Hearing the Predators on the list is a bummer, considering how he’s exactly what they need to fill out the holy trinity for hockey success, given they have an elite goalie (Pekka Rinne) and defenseman (Shea Weber) already.
Hearing the Blue Jackets are on it is a little surprising; Rick Nash sympathizer maybe? Murray isn’t going to trade him to the Eastern Conference anyway. Seems like a wasted bullet from Spezza.
The Anaheim Ducks, St. Louis Blues and maybe the Dallas Stars now become the focus for the Senators on the Spezza front. Will they have to wait until Ryan Kesler’s situation with the Vancouver Canucks is sussed out? Probably.
Will they get the value they’re looking for since the Eastern Conference, all of Canada and the Nashville Predators are off the table? Good luck with all of that.
You know, it can be a real distraction if someone makes a trade request. Or as Spezza said:
That laugh. So creepy.
