McKenzie: Spezza a possible buyout candidate?

[AveryStar4Eva]

As I said above Dallas can eat a bit of salary and get somebody to bite, the more they eat the more the value goes up. Worse comes to worse I am guessing they can put him on waivers and some bottom dweller will pick him up so they can basically trade him at the deadline(@50%)

I think even at 50% we'd have to add to ditch him. When he's not scoring he isn't helping. There's a chance he could bounce back, but I doubt it

 

[Canada4Gold]

He is done. You know when players hit a certain age and you can just tell they are toast? Happened with Ray Whitney in Dallas a couple seasons ago.. from like 77 points to 30 and just toast.

So what you're saying is he'll probably get a 3x4.5 million contract when he's a free agent? Because it usually takes 3 or 4 years of a sample for GMs to realize guys are done.

 

[Kcb12345]

I have confidence he will bounce back next year if used right with decent linemates, but if Hitchcock is here he won't get that with this team. Looked good when he played with the big guys, but ever since the start of the season he's been shoved down the lineup with minimal ice time. He certainly has not looked good much at all this year, but he is still nearly a 30 point guy working with nothing. Should be a 40-50 point center maybe even more on another team with very weak center depth or in need of a 2nd line center. He has looked better since returning from a back injury. Good wingers and ice time is crucial though. He won't get that here most likely

 

[boredmale]

I think even at 50% we'd have to add to ditch him. When he's not scoring he isn't helping. There's a chance he could bounce back, but I doubt it

As I stated above, assuming my team the Islanders lose Tavares, I much rather take a chance with Spezza for 1 year @ 5M(maybe even 6M if he was practically handed to us for nothing) then go out and pay top dollar for 3-4 years of Stastny or Bozak

I am guessing their is many other center deprived teams willing to take a chance with Spezza as well, especially if Dallas went full in on paying 50%(hence 3.75M caphit)

 

[StreetHawk]

As I said above Dallas can eat a bit of salary and get somebody to bite, the more they eat the more the value goes up. Worse comes to worse I am guessing they can put him on waivers and some bottom dweller will pick him up so they can basically trade him at the deadline(@50%)

He has a NMC.

 

[boredmale]

He has a NMC.

I could be wrong but I believe it was a NMC for the fist couple years, last year he has a 10 team no trade list he can come up with

Jason Spezza - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

 

[shortfuze]

I’m not sure how this works. Say Spezza got traded to Toronto and Dallas was willing to eat 50 percent of this last year. Which would make it 3.75 million each. The actual dollar value was 5 million. Does Toronto pay all of the 5 million? Or is that split with Dallas. Is the 50 percent only a paper and numbers thing?

 

[SoundwaveIsCharisma]

Someone should lure Tanguay out of retirement. Tanguay-Thornton-Spezza would be the most entertaining line in the league! "Pass to Tanguay, he holds, gets open pass to Thornton, he holds and powers his way into the slot, pass to Spezza, what a dangle!!! Spezza passes to Tanguay. The fans are on their feet, chants of shoot are erupting everywhere!"

 

[SensNation613]

I wouldn't hate it if the Sens brought him back on a cheap 1 year deal. I doubt he'd want to come back to Ottawa unless he wants to end his career here and he feels like the team is heading in the right direction this off-season. I wouldn't pay over 2M for him with the hope that Burrows is bought-out and Gaborik goes on LTIR. I love Pageau but he isn't a 2C and I don't think White/Brown can step into the top 6 yet. In addition, our PP is abysmal and you don't lose hockey IQ with age.

Hoffman - Duchene - Stone
Dzingel - Spezza - Ryan
Smith - Pageau - 3RW
Pyatt - White - 4RW

Chabot - Karlsson
Dahlin (<3) - Ceci
Claesson - Wideman
Harpur/Borowiecki

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

Think he gets traded to the Leafs or Canucks.

Would like to say Ottawa, but it's doubtful.

 

[mouser]

10 Team No Trade List, which I would bet the Canucks would be on the list. He also has a full NMC so he will either go to one of the 20 places he can be dealt to or bought out. Can't see him landing in Vancouver via trade.

Getting into the technicalities, he does not have a “full NMC”. A full NMC means that player cannot be traded at all. Having a 10 team NTC list means Spezza has a partial NMC, prohibiting one or both of being Waived or Loaned.

 

[mouser]

As I said above Dallas can eat a bit of salary and get somebody to bite, the more they eat the more the value goes up. Worse comes to worse I am guessing they can put him on waivers and some bottom dweller will pick him up so they can basically trade him at the deadline(@50%)

Spezza’s partial NMC probably prevents him from being Waived without his consent.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Spezza's done unfortunately.

 

[Daffy]

Don't forget Canada didn't have one good team at that time, they all sucked.

Toronto and Winnipeg are both championship condenders now.

Well Winnipeg is yes.

 

[valente317]

Stars insiders have been broaching this possibility for a good part of the season.

A buyout makes more sense for the Stars than a trade, as I doubt any team offers up an asset for Spezza, even at 50% retained. They gain $5 million this year to look to add a new 2C, and the $2.5 dead space next year shouldn't be an obstacle in re-signing Seguin.

The guy might get a one year, low AAV contract from a desperate team hoping to inject some life into him, but I think the more likely path is that he retires. It was evident from early on that Spezza just isn't "in it" anymore.

 

[LordJamieBenn]

Is him bobbling the puck and having it hop over his stick every second play the coaches fault? One of his main skills of puck control and puck handling is down the tubes this season and that isn't on the coach.

Nobody is arguing that he's the same player he once was but if you don't think playing under someone who he clearly doesn't see eye to eye with in a system that doesn't support his style of play isn't getting to his head you're only kidding yourself. On top of that last i checked he's also was playing on average like 3 min less a game this season as well(usually with 4th liners). When you add all that together it's going to take a mental toll on any player

 

[WhatWhat]

This has been tossed around a bit and I just dont think it makes sense unless Galiardi wants to save real dollars.

Looking at our team we should be able to bring back all the RFA's and Nuke and still have enough money for an offseason signing. So yeah we could buy Spezza out but there is simply no need unless we spend that money on a big 1 yr deal. We will need a lot of that 7.5 million to shift to Seguin in a year so buying Spezza out just to spend the money would be horrible cap management.

Also I believe Spezza still has solid 2C abilities to offer in a non Hitch system, so Im sure a team would take him at 50% and that would be cheaper than a buy out.

So since Dallas really has no need to spend Spezza money this year I just dont see the point in buying him out just to have dead cap in 2019-2020 when we might actually need the cap to sign a cheap player to support our expensive forwards.

 

[WhatWhat]

Canucks should be all over this if a sweetener is involved especially since they can afford to take the whole cap back. We currently have no 2nd line center for next season , Pettersson is coming but I dont see him playing as a center for a few years at least if at all. The question is how much the sweetener would be ? Any chance they would add a prospect like Honka or would be a 2nd rd pick be more plausible. Interested what stars fans think a realistic return would be if we say offered up an RFA like Baertschi ?

No to the 2nd and HELL NO to the Honka ask... We dont need Spezza's cap next year so we arent in a situation where we need to pay to have him removed. Also if we were there is no way we pay the price of Honka

 

[biturbo19]

Nobody is arguing that he's the same player he once was but if you don't think playing under someone who he clearly doesn't see eye to eye with in a system that doesn't support his style of play isn't getting to his head you're only kidding yourself. On top of that last i checked he's also was playing on average like 3 min less a game this season as well(usually with 4th liners). When you add all that together it's going to take a mental toll on any player

Yeah. I know the question was originally posed rhetorically and sarcastically...but it's absolutely possible for a bad situation with poor coach/player fit and unskilled linemates to get in a creative offensive player's head and stymie their confidence (and with that, puckhandling comfort). It's at least as plausible as one of the best puckhandlers in the league for over a dozen years, suddenly forgetting how to perform even the most rudimentary stickhandling tasks.

 

[Mr Misty]

Is somebody like Ritchie enough of a sweetener to get rid of Spezza?

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

Dallas is going to have cap space up the arse with Lehtonen/Hamhuis contracts coming off the books and potential Spezza buyout. That's like 14-15 mil right there. Combine with the cap going up and Roussel/Pateryn we're talking over 20M.

Interesting to see what Nill does with it considering what he did last summer. They'll be a big player come free agency.

 

[Dr Pepper]

Dallas is going to have cap space up the arse with Lehtonen/Hamhuis contracts coming off the books and potential Spezza buyout. That's like 14-15 mil right there. Combine with the cap going up and Roussel/Pateryn we're talking over 20M.

Interesting to see what Nill does with it considering what he did last summer. They'll be a big player come free agency.

Probably win the "offseason Cup" again, only hopefully this time the moves actually pan out.

 

[finkelsteinberg]

I'd take Spezza on the Yotes at 50% retention.