Jason Spezza
Spezza's career came full circle on July 1, 2019, when the Toronto native signed with his hometown team, the Maple Leafs, at age 36.
It was a new chapter for someone who's been a marquee player virtually since he was born. At the age of 1 he became the poster boy for a Broadway musical called "Baby" that was playing at a theater in Toronto. That morphed into a child modeling career in which Spezza was chosen at the age of 4 for a Minute Maid television commercial, and at the age of 6 for clothing ads for Woolco and Kmart.
Spezza's hockey career has followed a similar path.
He began his junior career at the age of 15, scoring 71 points in 67 games as an underage player for Brampton of the Ontario Hockey League. A year later, when he made his IIHF World Junior Championship debut, Spezza joined Wayne Gretzky and Eric Lindros as only the third 16-year-old to make Canada's WJC roster. Rated the top Canadian Hockey League prospect ahead of the 2001 NHL Draft, Spezza was selected with the No. 2 pick by the Ottawa Senators.
After being named MVP of the American Hockey League while playing with Binghamton in 2004-05, Spezza made his first impact with the Senators, setting a team record with 71 assists during the 2005-06 season.
That season was the first of two in which Spezza hit the 90-point mark in Ottawa, and he went on to produce four seasons of at least 30 goals, the first coming in 2006-07. Spezza scored 34 goals that season, then tied for the League lead with 15 assists and 22 points during the 2007 Stanley Cup Playoffs, when the Senators reached the Final for the first time before losing to the Anaheim Ducks.
Spezza helped lead the Senators to the playoffs four more times over the next six seasons and he was named the eighth captain of the Senators on Sept. 14, 2013. But Spezza's captaincy was short-lived; he was traded to the Dallas Stars on July 1, 2014 and signed a four-year contract on Nov. 21, 2014.
Spezza had his fifth 30-goal season in 2015-16, when he scored 33 for the Stars. He remained in Dallas through the 2018-19 season, then became a free agent and decided the time had arrived to come home.
It was a new chapter for someone who's been a marquee player virtually since he was born. At the age of 1 he became the poster boy for a Broadway musical called "Baby" that was playing at a theater in Toronto. That morphed into a child modeling career in which Spezza was chosen at the age of 4 for a Minute Maid television commercial, and at the age of 6 for clothing ads for Woolco and Kmart.
Spezza's hockey career has followed a similar path.
He began his junior career at the age of 15, scoring 71 points in 67 games as an underage player for Brampton of the Ontario Hockey League. A year later, when he made his IIHF World Junior Championship debut, Spezza joined Wayne Gretzky and Eric Lindros as only the third 16-year-old to make Canada's WJC roster. Rated the top Canadian Hockey League prospect ahead of the 2001 NHL Draft, Spezza was selected with the No. 2 pick by the Ottawa Senators.
After being named MVP of the American Hockey League while playing with Binghamton in 2004-05, Spezza made his first impact with the Senators, setting a team record with 71 assists during the 2005-06 season.
That season was the first of two in which Spezza hit the 90-point mark in Ottawa, and he went on to produce four seasons of at least 30 goals, the first coming in 2006-07. Spezza scored 34 goals that season, then tied for the League lead with 15 assists and 22 points during the 2007 Stanley Cup Playoffs, when the Senators reached the Final for the first time before losing to the Anaheim Ducks.
Spezza helped lead the Senators to the playoffs four more times over the next six seasons and he was named the eighth captain of the Senators on Sept. 14, 2013. But Spezza's captaincy was short-lived; he was traded to the Dallas Stars on July 1, 2014 and signed a four-year contract on Nov. 21, 2014.
Spezza had his fifth 30-goal season in 2015-16, when he scored 33 for the Stars. He remained in Dallas through the 2018-19 season, then became a free agent and decided the time had arrived to come home.
