Jason Spezza Autographed Card

One of the better free agent deals of the summer may prove to be Jason Spezza's one-year, league-minimum ($750K) contract with his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs, solidifying their depth down the middle.

Now, granted, his final two seasons with the Dallas Stars have seen him relegated to mostly a defensive role, as his points totals of 26 and 27 points are far behind his 62, 63 and 50 of the previous three years and light yeras away from his 90-point, All-Star Game heyday, but he led the league in face-off percentages last season (58.2%) and managed some clutch goals down the stretch and in the playoffs to keep his team's chances alive when it seemed like captain Jamie Benn was unable to spark himself up.

He was also a leader in the room who now sits at 915 career regular-season points (in 1065 games), so he may require two more years to hit the 1000-point mark - and I hope he does.

He sent me this card (#312 from Upper Deck's 2015-16 Series 2 set) in the mail a couple of summers ago, before my most recent move:

It shows him wearing the Stars' beautiful green (home) uniform and is signed in blue sharpie.

I hope he gets some second-unit powerplay time with the Leafs, to pad up his stats line in the twilight of his career on a team that has some decent offensive weapons.