BET YEAH ON SPEZZA?
The Dallas Stars centre would look good in Vancouver colours mentoring the youngsters
Short-term insurance on longterm investments — that’s what the Canucks could consider to solve their riddle in the middle.
In replacing the retired Henrik Sedin, they need to examine whether a motivated veteran on an expiring contract can buy development time for projected centre Elias Pettersson, who will probably start on wing, and centre Adam Gaudette, who looks like a fourth-line fit.
Then again, the Canucks could package players to address the need.
“It’s going to be about our young players and how we best get them up and developed,” Canucks general manager Jim Benning said Monday. “We have cap space available for whether it’s taking on a player or making a trade to get our young players a more proven centre. We’ll look at everything.
“We like Gaudette up the middle and Pettersson has played wing most of the year (in Sweden) and would probably start there with us.”
Thomas Vanek was an example of the Canucks’ willingness to commit to a one-year deal. He propped up their scoring with 41 points in 68 games and brought mentorship, especially for rookie Brock Boeser.
“If there are players out there who can do what he did for Brock this year, we’re going to look at that,” Benning said.
That brings us to Jason Spezza. He’s far removed from scoring 33 goals for the Dallas Stars in 2015-16. He plummeted to just eight goals and 18 assists this season because he was reduced to a third-line role with three fewer minutes per outing. He didn’t work the power play and wasn’t a favourite of recently retired head coach Ken Hitchcock.
He was fifth in shots but only 15th in shooting percentage, so he had his chances — he just couldn’t finish.
What does this all mean? We’ll sift through it because rival GMs will be fined for tampering if they publicly discuss players under contract.
The Stars have Tyler Seguin, Radek Faksa, Martin Hanzal and Jason Dickinson pencilled in down the middle. It leaves the 34-yearold Spezza, who has hit the 30-goal plateau on four occasions, as a costly afterthought.
He has a year left on his contract at US$7.5 million, but the Stars are open to eating a good chunk of that salary. They’re not going to buy him out because the cap hit is twothirds of the buyout at US$2.5 million annually the next two years. They need to move him.
What if the Stars ate US$3 million and would only want minimum return in a trade? What if the Stars balk at that much and the Canucks push for a prospect or pick to make the deal happen?
And what if Spezza, who has a modified no-trade clause and can veto 10 teams he doesn’t want to join, looks at the Canucks’ situation and sees a light at the end of the tunnel?
Spezza could be an initial fit between Jonathan Dahlen and Pettersson to help the hotshot rookies transition. And if the Canucks want to keep Pettersson and Dahlen together, Brandon Sutter could join them on the right side because he’s the club’s best faceoff performer.
That would allow Spezza to move up and play more than he did in Dallas.
“I’ve got a lot of good years left in me, so I’m optimistic about the future,” Spezza told the Dallas Morning News. “I feel I have a lot to contribute to a team. I can still have a big role on a team and it’s going to be my job to prove that.”
There’s a chance that the new Dallas coach — possibly Alain Vigneault, who was fired by the New York Rangers on April 8 and interviewed for the Stars’ vacancy in 2013 before opting for Broadway — could look at Spezza in a different light.
However, the roster pecking order seems set, and you’re not paying a bottom-six guy US$7.5 million.
The Canucks are committed to being very young and being well below the projected salary-cap ceiling of US$80 million. That rules out expensive and aging UFAs because money and term are of paramount importance to them.
Even the buzz around Tyler Bozak, 32, being a fit is a bit befuddling. Besides a raise on his US$4.2-million cap hit, he’s going to seek security. All this from a third-line centre who had but 11 goals for the Toronto Maple Leafs this season.
With Bo Horvat and Sutter as returning centres — Sam Gagner and Markus Granlund are better fits at wing — the Canucks need to exercise creativity to land
experience that checks their boxes. They insist any veteran addition be a good player and person.
Spezza was the second-overall draft pick in 2001 and supplanted Daniel Alfredsson as captain of the Ottawa Senators in 2013. That resonates with the Canucks and it would give Horvat help with his expected captaincy.
Overtime: Jacob Markstrom had an MRI on his knee last week. There was no damage, but he felt getting rest after a 60-game load as a firstyear NHL starter was more important than playing for Sweden at the world championship tournament next month in Denmark. Anders Nilsson has been added to the Swedish roster after Henrik Lundqvist also declined an invitation.