Friedman: Spezza regrets Cup Finalist Senators were broken up too quickly
/Elliotte Friedman was on Calgary’s Sportsnet 960 on Tuesday afternoon.
On Jason Spezza’s return to Ottawa:
“They’re playing in Montreal tonight and they play in Ottawa on Thursday. We went up to Montreal to tape something with him today. He was really interesting.
“Years ago, I remember interviewing him before a game in Toronto. He was sitting there saying, ‘My game is always going to have risk, and that’s just the way it is.’
“He got to Dallas here this year, and I think he realizes he’s going to have to change. I think initially him and Lindy Ruff had some trouble meshing. Now they’re making it work.
“But one of the more interesting things he really talked about was I asked him what his biggest regret was in Ottawa, and he said his biggest regret was that they broke up the team too quickly that went to the 2007 Stanley Cup Final.
“No, they didn’t win. They got knocked out by Anaheim. And they had a rough year the next year. But he felt that Ottawa gave up too quick on that team and that was his biggest regret.
“It was a pretty interesting comment, and I think we’re airing it tomorrow night during our national broadcast. We’ve got a doubleheader tomorrow. But I was really impressed by the frankness of his answer about that one.”
Source: Sportsnet 960/ Transcript: Nichols on Hockey