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Welcome to Babcock’s Doghouse

September 20, 2019, 2:15 PM ET [180 Comments]
Lucas Neilson
Blogger •Atlantic Division Writer • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The title of the article sure is misleading when it comes to guts of what’s actually in here.

Kyle Dubas and Mike Babcock together signed Spezza, the home town boy to a one year deal at 700k a year. Spezza is coming off a juicy deal with Dallas where he was being paid 7.5 a year for four years. Quite the haircut in salary wouldn’t you say?

No doubt Mr. Spezza is nearing the end of his career, Christ he’s almost as old as I am. That also means he’s been around the block and he’s a legitimate NHL oldtimer when it comes to the league today.

I don’t really think Babcock is all that concerned about his new pegged to be fourth line center. This is what I call a serious case of hard love. It’s the way Babcock feels he can get the most out of Spezza. He want specific skills to shine out of the Toronto native; faceoffs, defensive play, penalty killing and all in reduced minutes overall.

I still think of Spezza as an Ottawa Senator, and man oh man did that team ever annoy me. That goofball Alfreddsson (aka Crusty the Clown) would get me fired up most nights we played the Senators. That’s what Spezza reminds me of. Not the greatest thing to think about when I think of one of my Maple Leafs. But hey, he’s a Bud now so let’s get behind him like we do anyone else on the team.

Babcock knows this role is something knew for Jason and it would be hard to fully motivate yourself coming into a new team, playing fourth line minutes after a career of top six play. I get it, I do.

What I think could be huge for the Leafs is if Spezza played a very sound game defensively and supports his wingers and covers his defensemen and we have a quality fourth line who ends up a + at the end of the season scoring more goals than allowing against. That’s key for a teams success, giving the big names a rest when they need it; especially versus weaker talent.

I’d never predict a player to get hurt, but if we were to have someone go down in the top 9, I could see Spezza being a decent option to fill a void if need be. You never know what the season brings and it never hurts to have a backup plan. I think that’s exactly what Spezza is for the Maple Leafs on top of being a decent option on the penalty kill.

Years past we have seen centers miss games; Kadri, Matthews, Bozak; that’s just part of the gig when you are playing such a heavy duty contact sport. Injuries happen; to some more than others, but nevertheless they happen and it never hurts to stock up your NHL depth with a veteran fourth line center who was a former 2nd overall pick.

I can’t see this so called “fued” between Babcock and Spezza to last very long.

Bab’s is pumping Spezza’s tire full of air as we sink our toes into the preseason sand.

Have a great weekend, puck drop isn’t far away now!

Thanks for reading.
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