With training camp still a little over a month away, players have slowly begun to filter back to the Nation’s Capital.
This afternoon, Jason Spezza spoke to the media for the first time which included an address to local media followed by an appearance on the Team 1200. Spezza covered a range of topics including the Alfredsson departure, his snub from Team Canada orientation camp and the season ahead.
Not exactly an easy laundry list of items to cover in your first public appearance but Spezza said all the right things.
He tiptoed around the Alfie move, saying that Alfredsson called to give “his side of the story” but that it wasn’t his story to tell. The wording there is kind of interesting and suggests that maybe we haven't heard all the factors that went into Alfredsson's decision. No surprise there.
Spezza was quick to defend Alfredsson’s decision but also emphasized that he felt that the team here in Ottawa was every bit as good as Detroit. That’s a statement that will certainly resonate well with fans in Ottawa.
He touched on the fact that he was left of the Team Canada Orientation Camp list and again, handled it with class. He was predictably disappointed but was quick to point out that his priority is making the team here in Ottawa better. After missing a majority of the season due to injury, Spezza is clearly eager to get back on the ice. The fact that he has a legitimate goal scoring winger skating alongside him in the form of Bobby Ryan is clearly adding to that level of excitement.
As a fan, it’s hard not to be impressed with the answers Spezza gave today. If this was his first unofficial test as Captain, he hit it out of the friggin’ park.
Here’s the link to this afternoon’s interview and a separate link to a Q&A Spezza did with Wayne Scanlan of the Ottawa Citizen.
-We heard about it first late last week but this afternoon the Ottawa Senators made the official announcement, indicating they have reached an agreement with RFA forward Stephane Da Costa on a one year, two way contract. Link to the news release is here.
