Jason Spezza Prime Jersey Card

The Vancouver Canucks took one step back in their playoff race after losing today's Heritage Classic at the hands of the Ottawa Senators - but perhaps one step in correcting past mistakes. While head coach John Tortorella said he'd choose Eddie Lack over Roberto Luongo if he had the chance to do it again, any move that brings the team closer to its post-Mike Gillis days could end up positive for the team in the long run.

And the Sens needed those two points in their own playoff race, spearheaded by their energy line and Clarke MacArthur's two-point night. One of my favourites, Jason Spezza notched an assist on the game-winning goal, his 31st this season despite a sub-par year from his go-to winger Milan Michalek (only 10 goals so far, after notching 35 in 2011-12).

Which brings me to this card, the third from my trade with Dave:

Look at that! Two swatches, one being a regular red one, the other a ''prime'' piece of jersey, complete with stitching and three colours, probably from a number on the arms or the logo on the shoulder. It's from Panini's 2010-11 Luxury Suite (card #49, numbered 121/150).

How much do I like Spezza? Here's my Dream-Yet-Feasible-Team for this season, with their salaries to fit under the $64M cap:

David Perron (3.5) - Jason Spezza (5) - Mike Cammalleri (6)
Alex Galchenyuk (1.1) - Tomas Plekanec (5) - Milan Lucic (5.5)
Guillaume Latendresse (0.75) - Saku Koivu (2.5) - Alexandre Burrows (4.5)
Brandon Prust (2.5) -  Maxim Lapierre (1) - Jordin Tootoo (1)
Michael Bournival (0.75), Gabriel Dumont (0.5)

Andrei Markov (5.75) - Alexei Emelin (2)
Chris Phillips (3.1) - P.K. Subban (3.75)
Braydon Coburn (4.5) - Jarred Tinordi (0.9)
Paul Postma (0.7)

Jaroslav Halak (3.75) - Peter Budaj (1)

Captain: Koivu; Assistants: Spezza, Markov (away); Plekanec, Subban (home).

Yup, one is retired and another one's in the AHL. Five are Olympians, five more easily could have been.

In real life, though, I'll keep watching the Sens because Spezza is a genius at passing, and his play opens up Kyle Turris who is having a terrific season and should be ready to take over the official first-line duties the season after next and, as the leader he is, I'm sure Spezza will be more than happy to slide into the ''luxury second-line'' role when the time comes.