Report: Toronto Maple Leafs signing Jason Spezza to a one year deal

As free agency signings began to leak, Bob McKenzie dropped this just as Toronto Maple Leafs fans were sitting down to breakfast:

Jason Spezza, a long time top centre for the Ottawa Senators, will be leaving the Dallas Stars after five seasons to play for the Leafs, his childhood team, and possibly for league minimum to boot.

While he’s not the superstar he once was while playing for big money contracts on the Senators and Stars, he’s about league average for a 3/4 centre, or so I’m told this chart shows:

Spezza has been a name thrown around for Leafs depth for a while, last spring Kevin Papetti wrote about how he could benefit the Leafs:

If the Leafs can get Spezza back to his pre ‘17-18 form, they would have themselves a terrific centre.