Maple Leafs Fans Should Appreciate Spezza While He’s Still Around

At 38-years-old, Maple Leafs’ veteran forward Jason Spezza could very well be playing in his final NHL season.

As the Toronto Maple Leafs prepare to host the Boston Bruins in the final game of Toronto’s regular season, it’s a good time to reflect on the contributions of Jason Spezza, a Leaf veteran who may be playing in his final NHL season.

The 38-year-old forward is only signed through the rest of this season, before he becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer. This will be Spezza’s third season with his hometown team, and despite being a healthy scratch on a few occasions, he’s got 12 goals – the most he’s had in a single season wearing Blue and White – and 25 points in 70 games. Oh, and he’s done that while averaging just 10:41 of ice time. Oh, and he’s done that for a league-minimum salary of only $750,000.

He may not have the speed he had six or seven years ago, but you can’t blame Spezza for that. Father Time casts us all out, eventually. What matters is the way you handle the slow slide out of the league, and in that sense, Spezza has been outstanding. He’s a thoughtful, insightful person, polite and genuine in his dealings with the media. He has never raised a stink about a shrinking role. He has been the consummate team player. And Leafs fans should be cheering him on, both in Toronto’s final regular-season game and the playoffs.

Spezza doesn’t have a Stanley Cup championship on his resume, but it’s not for lack of talent and determination. As a member of the Ottawa Senators, he made the Eastern Conference Final as a rookie in 2002-03, and in the next 10 years as a Senator, he made the playoffs seven years and came within three wins of a Cup championship in 2006-07. Spezza was just as dangerous when he joined the Dallas Stars in 2014: he scored 33 goals in 75 games for the Stars in 2015-16 – the fifth time he scored 32 goals or more in a single season.

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However, as his offensive statistics began to ebb, Spezza never lashed out at anybody. He tried his best to make it work in Ottawa, but it didn’t happen for him, and he went to a place, in Dallas, that allowed him to relax away from the rink. As a 31-year-old who’d played a full American League season (in which he was named the AHL’s most valuable player), Spezza had earned the right to pick his next stop in the sport.

Similarly, Spezza has earned the right to pick his hometown team as what will probably be his final NHL stop. He has been a terrific ambassador for the Leafs. He probably could’ve signed with a different franchise for more money, but as many Toronto-born-and-raised stars often do, Spezza wanted to be a Leaf before he hung up his skates for good.

If this is Spezza’s last season and he doesn’t play again, the Leafs would be well-advised to keep him around in some capacity. Should he be an assistant coach? Maybe. It would be great to see him have a little bit of a break from the daily pressures of coaching, and enjoy time with his family a bit more. But if Spezza has the urge to stay in the league as a consultant or coach-at-large, the Leafs should immediately sign him up. His relentlessly good-natured spirit would do wonders for a franchise that always has the spotlight on it, for better or worse.

For now, though, let’s just take a moment to appreciate what Spezza has done as a player. He’s been a superstar at the highest level of the sport, even garnering votes as the NHL’s most valuable player in 2011-12. And he hasn’t let any of it get to his head. You’d better believe the conscientious man that Spezza is now is keenly aware his NHL time is running out. But he’s giving everything he has left to the Leafs, and that’s reason enough for Toronto fans to cheer him every time he has the puck from this point on.

One day soon, he’ll be a Leafs alumni, but today, he’s still a Leaf. There is no classier player than Spezza, and before he retires, Buds fans can still let him know how much they appreciate him.