The Toronto Maple Leafs signed Jason Spezza because Kyle Dubas saw an opportunity to gain an advantage over most of the rest of the NHL.
Traditionally, the fourth line of NHL teams is made up of grinders, but the Toronto Maple Leafs signed Jason Spezza and deployed him in a skilled role at the bottom of the lineup, and it has proved to be one of the best moves Dubas has ever made.
With tons of disrespect towards Mike Babcock, Jason Spezza (who the crusty old coach sat in what should have been his Leafs debut) has been awesome on the Leafs.
Who knows, had Babcock put Patrick Marleau in the same position, both of their tenures in Toronto wouldn’t have been so disastrous. That, however, is a question for another day, because today we celebrate Jason Spezza cracking the NHL’s top 100 all-time scoring list.
Toronto Maple Leafs and Jason Spezza
With an assists on Travis Dermott’s goal, the NHL Legend scored his 960th career point to vault ahead of fellow NHL Legend Henrik Zetterberg into 100th place. (He also scored the winner in a shoot-out).
Spezza has 349 goals and 611 assists in a career that seen him go from Ottawa to Dallas to Toronto. In his two season in Toronto he has 45 points, but that doesn’t really come close to telling the whole story.
In both seasons, despite playing a limited role, Spezza is over 50% Corsi, and has an expected goals rating of 52% last year and 54% this year. It is extremely helpful for a competitive team to know that every time they are putting out their fourth line they are going to win. The NHL is a salary cap league with a ton of parity, and this kind of marginal victory can be very important over time.
Even more impressive is how much offense Spezza provides in a role that usually provides almost none. Last year he scored at a rate of 1.98 points per 60 minutes of ice-time. That is second line production from the fourth line. (stats naturalstattrick.com).
This year, he’s on fire. Spezza has scored at a rate of 3.03 points per minute, making him one of the NHL’s most productive players on a per minute basis. Anything over 2P/60 is considered 1st line production.
Spezza was the second overall pick to Ilya Kovalchuck back in 2001, and he leads his draft class in points. He is a sure-fire hall of famer, the best player in Ottawa Senators history and a future Stanley Cup winner with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
He should move into 99th place later this year, and if he keeps playing there’s no telling how high he can climb. When he cracks 1000 points, he’ll pass Paul Kariya and move into 91st place. Another 100 points would put him to 72nd.
Congrats to the living legend, Jason Spezza.