Look at what was offered for Kova at the draft. Do you honestly think Spezza would have gotten a similar deal? Nope.
Patrick,
im afraid you are the one in denial. Not to mention you seem to have a very short memory. 3 years ago the Sens traded the Hart trophy runner up in yashin to the Islanders for Chara (who nobody expected to be anywhere near as good as he has turned out to be) and the rights to the Islanders #2 overall pick (expected to be either Kovalchuk or Spezza). So the Sens ostensibly traded one of the top players in the league the right to draft Spezza.
Frankly i don't care if you prefer Kovalchuk, he's an excellent player and if you think he's better than Spezza, fine its your constitutional right to say so. I disagree and rather than to simply tell you you are in denial and not backing up wild claims. I'll give you some stats to chew on.
GP G A PTS +/- PPG ES GWG Icetime/game
KOVALCHUK ATL L 81 41 46 87 -10 16 24 6 23:41
SPEZZA OTT C 78 22 33 55 +22 5 17 3 14:38
Lets do some simple math shall we?
Since Kovalchuk played
9 minutes per game more than Spezza, it would stand to reason than he would get more points than Spezza even if their talent level were equal and assuming Spezza got even half the amount of PP time that Kovalchuk got. (WHICH HE DIDN'T). please note Kovalchuks PP goals and even strength goals in comparison to Spezza's.
1121 minutes of ice time for Spezza gets him 55pts = 0.049 pts / min played
1896 minutes of ice time for Kovalchuk gets him 87 pts. = 0.045 / min played
hmm.... so if Spezza played the same amount as Kovalchuk it seems as though he ends up with about 93pts (0.049 x 1896) to Kovalchuks 87pts.
As you said they are OBVIOUSLY worlds apart.
So, how about using your own eyes, or looking to stats at the very least to come to a conclusion rather than just following message board hype and talking out the blowhole. As i stated earlier in this thread, the difference betweent he 2 isn't talent, it is style of play.
If you still think nobody but you knows what they are talking about, you can wait until the NHL reopens and watch Spezza all over the highlight reels as he has his first season playing on a top line getting far more icetime.