Jason Spezza Autographed Card

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Two weeks after being put on waivers by the Toronto Maple Leafs - with his agent using the "don't claim him or he'll retire" shtick - Jason Spezza scored a hat trick against the Vancouver Canucks.

Things seem to be going Toronto's way this season, as the team leads the NHL a month into an abridged 56-game season, and their decisions in handling Spezza's situation and cap hit is just one example of how fortunate they've been; any team could have claimed him off waivers, even the Ottawa Senators, whom he has captained in the past with the "C" currently vacant; at 37 years of age, ending his career with the team that drafted him would almost be as romantic as his current situation of suiting up for his hometown club. Except the Leafs truly believe they are Stanley Cup contenders - and as a fan, so does he. It's a mass delusion that's been ongoing since 1967.

The Sens went back to their original uniforms this season, and this is what he lookied like wearing the white (then-home) uniform, on card #577 from Pacific's 2002-03 Complete set:

He signed it in black sharpie via mail five years ago. The card itself is of the "Red" variant and is numbered 25/100; Complete cards were spread out randomly among packs of other Pacific sets (Crown Royale, Vanguard, Pacific, Quest For The Cup, Atomic), they were not available as a standalone product.

In 10 games this season, Spezza now has 8 points, spread evenly in goals (4) and assists (4).

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.

Two Jason Spezza Dual Jersey Cards

Regular readers know how I feel about Jason Spezza. He's still among the five best passers in the league (currently in the top-20 for assists while mostly playing with the Dallas Stars' under-performing second line wingers) and has 35 points in 48 games; I predicted he would be able to hit 70-75 points as the second-highest-scoring second-liner in the NHL (behind Sidney Crosby), and he is just one hot streak away from hitting that pace, despite the Stars not currently being in a playoff position.

Which means his year is not totally a write-off, nor a full-blown success. I would be tempted to say ''Spezza-like'', considering what fans always expected of him, both statistically and in a leadership role when he took over as captain for Daniel Alfredsson (actually, many ''fans'' were almost rooting against him from the start, saying he lacked leadership capabilities based on how he was in his early 20s as opposed to at that point in his career), but that would be unfair to a player who, at the beginning of the season, was a point-per-game player both in the regular season (587 in 586 games) and the playoffs (52 in 56). He also has 18 points in his last 16 games playing for Team Canada at the World Championships; his collection of IIHF medals is also complete, with one gold (2012 Spengler Cup), three silver (2002 World Juniors, and 2008 and 2009 Worlds), and two bronze (2000 and 2001 World Juniors).

He's 31, and has given the Ottawa Senators 10 terrific seasons (eight of them great), and had 5 points in 5 games the one year where he was mostly injured. He has 4 or 5 more very good hockey years left in him, maybe a chance at another World Championship gold medal or two if the Stars fail to make the playoffs. I was very happy that the Sens were classy enough to put this video together for last night's game, his return to Ottawa:
And it gives me the opportunity to share these really nice cards of him, each a dual-swatch card, each with one or two gold patches from the Sens' old uniforms, and both showing him wearing the Sens' white (away) uniform with the captain's 'C':

They're from Upper Deck's beautiful 2013-14 SPx collection (card #WM-JS of the Winning Materials sub-set). Usually, when I get doubles of a card, I try to sell one, but for swatch cards, if they have different colour swatches, I keep them.

Dany Heatley & Jason Spezza Jersey Card

Pardon my absence this week, as I had way too much work and was dealing with a pretty bad case of the mumps flu.

I thought about writing a few posts, was hoping perhaps a return from last season's of this year's mailings would come in to get my spirits up, but it didn't happen. I could even have gone to the game tonight, pitting the Ottawa Senators against the Montréal Canadiens, but I'm still a bit too groggy to want to step out into the winter if I can avoid it, so I'll watch it from the comfort of my home instead. And probably nap during the second period.

Still, I figured I could talk about the Sens a bit, through this card featuring their former star sniper Dany Heatley and former captain and star playmaker Jason Spezza, from Upper Deck's 2006-07 SP Game-Used Edition set (card #AF2-SH of the Authentic Fabrics / Dual Jersey sub-set, numbered 77/100), showing both of them wearing the Sens' red uniform, Heatley with a matching red swatch, and Spezza with a black one:

Heatley was a bona fide NHL star for a while, twice scoring 50 goals, scoring 41 two other times and 39 twice as well, being voted in 5 All-Star Games and playing in four, being named the MVP in one. However, the fact that he has demanded trades from the Atlanta Thrashers (in an understandable move, considering) and the Sens (childishly, after being demoted to the second powerplay unit), then proceeded to see his goals totals plummet (26, 24, 11, 12) with the Minnesota Wild and San Jose Sharks - finishing last season with just 28 total points in 76 games - screams ''entitlement'' and ''pouty behaviour''. He tried to revive his career with the Anaheim Ducks this season, but injuries have prevented him from doing so. Perhaps it's time for him to realize that at age 33, his body has accomplished what it had set out to, and not let his legacy be tainted by additional sub-par years.

His accomplishments even extend further than the NHL: his play for Team Canada has garnered him Olympic gold (2010), World Cup gold (2004), World Championship gold (2003 and 2004), World Championship silver (2005, 2008, and 2009) and World Juniors bronze (2000 and 2001), two World Championship MVP nods (2004 and 2008), and the record for most career goals and points on Canada's men's teams. While I think a Hockey Hall Of Fame berth is out of the question, he does have a case for the IIHF one.

Spezza, on the other hand, remains a potent offensive force in the NHL. Originally slated to be the Dallas Stars' second-line center this year, injuries and Ales Hemsky's slow start forced the team to play him as a winger on the first line, and he was in the league's top-20 for assists and points for most of the year (he remains 18th in assists as of this writing but has fallen considerably for total points in the last two weeks). He, Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin are probably the two lone bright spots on the Stars thus far, though.

Spezza was the best man at Heatley's wedding. And now they're both playing down South.

Jason Spezza Jersey Card

Obviously, the biggest trade this off-season was the one that sent Jason Spezza from the Ottawa Senators to the Dallas Stars, giving Dallas two current-day #1 centers. Playing second fiddle to rising star Tyler Seguin puts Spezza out of contention for the 90-point mark he reached twice and approached two other times (including as recently as 2011-12 where his 34 goals, 50 assists and 4th-in-the-NHL 84 points got him to finish 6th in Hart voting), but 75 points seems totally feasible.

He will likely be feeding his masterful passes to Ales Hemsky, who had 17 points in 20 games playing with Spezza in Ottawa to finish out last season. Erik Cole or Antoine Roussel could complete their line on the left side, or Shawn Horcoff (a former teammate of Hemsky's with the Edmonton Oilers) could be moved from center to wing to accomodate.

As it stands, the Stars' line-up on paper is the best they've had since their days of contending for Stanley Cups and Presidents' Trophies, by far.

And whatever your opinion of Spezza might be, as it stands, he is a point-per-game player both in the regular season (587 in 586 games) and the playoffs (52 in 56). He also has 18 points in his last 16 games playing for Team Canada at the World Championships; his collection of IIHF medals is vast, with one gold (2012 Spengler Cup), three silver (2002 World Juniors, and 2008 and 2009 Worlds), and two bronze (2000 and 2001 World Juniors).

I purchased the following card of his on Ebay earlier this summer because I didn't yet have one of him in the Sens' classic black uniform; it's from Upper Deck's 2006-07 Sweet Spot set, and is #SS-SP of the Sweet Stitches sub-set, numbered #156/2000, and the black swatch matches the jersey in the picture:

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.

Jason Spezza Jersey Card

Should a team losing its #1, league-leading goalie (Craig Anderson), its top Norris trophy-winning defender (Erik Karlsson) and its top center, the second-best passer in the league (Jason Spezza) trade away its short-term assets (Milan Michalek) and hope for the best the following season - or should it keep at it, build on the success and cement team chemistry and keep the ship steady?

The Ottawa Senators have chosen to see what's behind Door #2 and it's paying off dearly: not only are they still in a good playoff position, they're also still leading the Jennings trophy race thanks to the stellar play of future star goalies Robin Lehner (who isn't winning as much as his 2.07 GAA and .944 save % should allow, going 1-0-4 so far but getting the team points in each start) and giant Ben Bishop (the ''worse'' of the Sens' goalies at 4-4-0, 2.54 and .925, which still makes him a top-10 goalie, stats-wise).

It's unclear whether Spezza will return this season, but one thing is for sure: the longer the Sens play and the deeper they get in the playoffs, the better the chances of a comeback this season. I've been seeing the Senators as contenders for a couple of seasons now, and although I'm liking how they're playing minus any of their stars (save for venerable captain Daniel Alfredsson), a team is still better with its best elements present, particularly when they're just added to an already-working mix.

This awesome swatch card is from Upper Deck's 2000-01 CHL Prospects set (card #JS, the Game Jersey sub-set) and features a white swatch of a game-used Mississauga IceDogs jersey in its center.

Jason Spezza: Four Autographed Cards

I had a post about Jason Spezza over a year ago, one that was about I card I found ridiculous - and it wasn't the player's fault at all, just the card manufacturer's.

This time around, I sent him a fan letter and 4 cards I like, care of the Sens, on September 30th (incidentally, the same day I sent the Miikka Kiprusoff cards - a good day!) and received all back on October 19th, a bit more than 2 weeks later, signed in beautiful blue sharpie, with his jersey number (19) at the tail end. And what an interesting signature! A great return from a great player.

When the Ottawa Senators were eliminated from the playoffs last year, general manager Brian Murray clumsily tried to defend Spezza from ''critics'' (whether those were fans or journalists wasn't clear) who thought he wasn't a ''complete enough'' player like Sidney Crosby by saying something along the lines of ''Spezza being drafted second overall in 2001 put unfair expectations on him''.

Are you kidding me? He should have just ignored it or told ''them'' off.

We're talking about a guy who holds the team record for most assists in a single season (71), has two 90-plus seasons and an 87-point season (in as few as 67 games, no less!) under his belt, regularly scores over 30 goals a year and has produced at over a point-per-game pace in the NHL.

In the AHL, he was named league MVP and won the Les Cunningham Award for doing so, as well as the John B. Sollenberger trophy as the league's leading scorer.

And as far as team stats go, not only was he a part of the Sens team that made it to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2006-07 (and the Conference Finals in 2002-03), he has two silver medals at World Championships (2008 and 2009) a World Juniors silver (2002) and two World Juniors bronze medals (2000 and 2001). He is also only the third Canadian junior player to make Team Canada at age 16 - after Wayne Gretzky and Eric Lindros.

We're talking about a rare talent here. What people should do is let him play his game, and watch the points pile up. He's a first liner - a star player; his job is to feed goal scorers, not check the opposing team's best line. When he's on the ice, his team, coaches, and fans should concentrate on what makes you win hockey games - scoring more goals than the opponent - rather than merely stopping the opponent from making plays. You can't get milk out of a stallion, and chances are you'll be disappointed if you try. And you'll end up with something else altogether.

Now back to the cards. As for the Kiprusoff cards, I tried to send cards each with different jerseys. The card on the top-left, from Topps' 2002-03 Topps Total set (card #411), sees his wearing the Sens' red jersey that we've grown accustomed to. However, notice he's wearing a #44 jersey (despite his signing his #19 on it!), probably a number they gave him during training camp that was no longer available when he actually made the team. It's his rookie card in the set, and I bought the packs at a dollar store I happened to pass by, totally by chance, because I'd been out of the ''purchasing hockey cards'' game for almost a decade at this point and wouldn't have known where to get them.

The card on the top right sees him wearing the 'old' white jersey, the one in which the team's logo faces sideways. It's from Fleer's 2005-06 Fleer Ultra set (card #134).

The card on the bottom left sees him wearing the same red jersey from the first card, but this time with his current jersey number, and is from Upper Deck's 2006-07 Victory set (card #135), while the one on the bottom right sees him wearing the Sens' third jersey, the black one that says SENS in front, one of the latest monstrosities from the Reebok Edge line; the card actually has the jersey in the best angle: red, white and black are three colours that fit well together, it's just an aberration to have the team's nickname on the players' chests rather than a logo, in my opinion. It's from the brand-new 2010-11 Victory set, a beautiful design that brings the player to the foreground, makes the background almost disappear and incorporates a giant V in the team's colours behind the player, with a white contour.

All in all, a great, fast return from one of the game's elite playmakers and a terrific humanitarian who helps teach kids in the Ottawa-Gatineau region the importance of school, language and spelling through his ''Spelling With Spezza'' program, which 600 classes participate in - each of which sees their top speller receive a poster of Spezza and a pair of tickets to a Sens game.

If Sens fans don't want him and would prefer a checker, the Montréal Canadiens have a good 2-way-playing Cup winner who makes just about the same salary who might be available...

Jason Spezza Patch Card

Here's another useless specialty card Upper Deck tried to pass off as special: a card incorporating a patch commemorating the choice of Jason Spezza as the second overall pick of the 2001 draft. Not a patch he wore, not one that was on the jersey he was given on that day, nope...

As it states on the back of card #PS-JS from Upper Deck's 2007-08 O-Pee-Chee Premier set:

You have received a manufactured patch hockey card. On the front of this card is a manufactured patch. Enjoy your card!

Wow, thanks. And they went as far as to number the damn thing, 044/199.

So they went through the trouble of having 199 of these patches made for Spezza alone, and who knows how many other players too...

They could have saved themselves the trouble of doing that and just produced a card that was blank in front, and read, in the back:

You have received a blank-fronted Jason Spezza card representing every time he's backchecked last year. That's why your card is blank. It was that, or have people in Asia sow a patch that has barely anything to do with the player involved, who likely will never know it ever existed, and passing it on to you as a collectible. We chose not to be jackasses, we hope you enjoy our honesty!

The Ottawa Senators' forward, one of the best playmakers in the league, deserved better. So did the once-amazingly valuable O-Pee-Chee Premier set.