Top 25 in all-time earnings among past and present NHL players, Spezza has signed at the league minimum in Toronto in search of his first Cup ring for the second offseason in a row.
It was a marriage that got off to as rocky of a start as imaginable last October with a home-opening-night scratch against his former team in the Ottawa Senators by then-head coach Mike Babcock, who all camp long talked about Spezza needing to change his game in order to find a way to contribute from a checking-style depth role in Toronto — hinting strongly at the philosophical divide between the former Leafs bench boss and current General Manager on what the team’s fourth line should look like.