It feels like the Toronto Maple Leafs might be missing the veteran presence of Jason Spezza in the locker-room.
As strange as it seems, given that by the end of his run last season, he was seeing very limited ice-time for the Toronto Maple Leafs; perhaps there was more to keeping him around.
After a rough start where the roster looked bereft of confidence, it definitely looked like they missed Spezza.
Recently, the coach seems to have found a fourth line he likes and can trust (and even uses as a third line) in Malgin-Kampf-Aston-Reese
Toronto Maple Leafs Didn’t Just Rely On Spezza On The Ice
You only need to recall Game 5 against the Tampa Bay Lightning last season and how it was widely reported that Jason Spezza was the person to step up and stir the team emotionally to do better.
Not Sheldon Keefe. Not John Tavares. Not Morgan Rielly. It was the grizzled veteran, who retired this summer into a role as Special Assistant to the General Manager.
Perhaps it’s the tough love, the rousing encouragement of a player on his last legs in terms of his chances to lift the Stanley Cup during his playing career that is the missing piece of the puzzle in this meandering start.
It might fall to the NHL’s oldest-active player, Mark Giordano to be the man that steps up and tries to get the Toronto Maple Leafs moving. After all, the 39 year-old didn’t sign cheaply this summer to miss the play-offs.
Given his past history as captain of both the Calgary Flames and the Seattle Kraken, he certainly has the leadership qualities on hand. It might very well be on him to call his teammates out on their poor start, given Jason Spezza is no longer there to do so.
Maybe it’s just a case of putting Jason Spezza in the room for a team meeting. After all, his role as Special Assistant is relatively undefined to anyone looking at it externally. He already knows the room well enough that he shouldn’t be viewed as an outsider.
The Leafs don’t really miss Spezza as a player as much as they miss him as a person. He was one of the best people in the game, and still is. It is a fantastic thing that they kept him in the organization, but maybe he should have stuck it out for one more year?