I've never been a Spezza supporter but I find myself feeling a little sorry for the guy. He has 18 pts tied with Turris who some are saying has been our best player & 2 pts less than Ryan who everybody is very happy with. Where's the perspective here? Parise has 18 pts & most on here love this guy, but he has the same amount of pts as Spezza. I don't thing it has anything to do with Spezza's leadership or Alfie departing or some guys not stepping up, every yr some guys aren't playing as well as others. The whole problem is that they are not winning, they are not getting the bounces & they are not getting the calls so far this yr. They have played some very good teams to start the yr when they were not quite prepared or good enough to compete against those team & we expect them to win most games. The other team expects to win too & they will work just as hard, if not harder. Spezza has had his problems same as always but IMO no one player is at fault for the whole team coming out flat & this team has had a history of doing this, not just this yr.
IMO Spezza is playing the same way he has always played, the fact that the team isn't winning & he is newly elected captain, some people lay all the blame on him & that's not fair. Are these same people also watching how often Karlsson screws up this yr & gives the puck away? A lot of people blame Greening & yet I am hearing on the radio how he is in the top 5 in hits in the NHL & leads Ottawa in hits. People wanted him to use his size more, to hit more & to drop them & he has done that yet some still want to get rid of him. He's not a goal scorer, never has been but he is a big, tough, fast defensive forward who can play the PK, stand in front of the net & fight for pucks along the boards. Greening is the kind of guy everybody tries to get at the deadline for the playoffs.
Know the players & what their attributes are, Yost is terrible at this, he is always defending Spezza & Karlsson & always crapping on the bottom six players or the 5th & 6th defenceman like it's their fault the team can't score. He is always crapping on Kassian yet has no answer as to what to do against the other enforcers in the league. Should Neil fight everybody by himself? Does he expect Z. Smith to fight Orr or McClaren? That didn't go so well for DD. I suppose he wants to be like JM & just ignore them, but how did that work for JM, it got him fired ... twice. Kassian does his job & it's not his fault the team isn't winning either. Conacher was brought in to score & he isn't scoring yet people including Yost never critizes that guy but he has critized Greening a non-goal scorer. Neither Greening or Conacher are scoring but I will take Greening & all the stuff he can do over Conacher any day. BM will need to make a least two deals at some point this yr, one for a forward & one for a defenseman but I hope it doesn't cost us a player who turns into a star for the other team, remember Laich. Hopefully BM trades both Conacher & Condra in a package who have become irrelevant to this team for a top 6 forward. And place Corvo on waivers.