Jason Spezza finally responds to retirement assumptions

The NHL pause has a lot of players - especially free agents - thinking about what might be next in their career. This includes veteran forward Jason Spezza, whose 17th season in the National Hockey League could be the last amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

However, Spezza won’t let that happen if he can, revealing on Tuesday that he wants to return to the NHL, and hopefully with the Toronto Maple Leafs despite becoming a free agent in the coming months. 

“I’m in it for as long as I can be so I can win a Stanley Cup,” Spezza told reporters on a conference call Tuesday, per TSN. “It’s something that I dreamt of as a kid,and I would love nothing more to do it here in Toronto. I definitely feel like I have game left, and there’s nowhere else I’d rather be than [playing here] anotheryear. So I do hope that it works out. I feel like we’re building things with this club, and I want to be a part of it.”

The 36-year-old signed a one-year, $700,000 contract with his hometown Leafs as a free agent on July 1, making him an UFA again this coming summer. Many fans assume he would hang up the skates sooner rather than later, but Spezza is focused on training hard and playing as long as he can in the league. 

“The way I’ve approached [the pause] is we should be in better physical shape, in terms of off-ice strength,” he said. “You try to approach it like summer training, where you’re just worried about building a strength base. [But since]there’s nobody on the ice, the biggest challenge will be getting your game up to speed. And I think that’ll take a few weeks of skating. But the reality is, it’s our job to keep ourselves fit. So if that [return] period isn’t as long as maybe is ideal, [we still have to be] ready to play.”

Spezza became a key leader in the young Maple Leafs’ dressing room and is hoping to get his role back, not only when play resumes, but next season as well. It remains to be seen if he will get a new deal with Toronto, as he remains set on winning a Stanley Cup before calling it a career. 

“Hockey’s not work to me. I enjoy the challenge,” Spezza said. “You go through different phases of your career, there’s different challenges, and I love the day-to-day grind. The passion, I think, is what’s allowed me to play this long, and [I just want] the chance to win a Stanley Cup.”

Do you think Spezza should therefore sign elsewhere as a free agent?