Jason Spezza's surprise decision may give the Stars a huge advantage.

Huge for the Stars.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 5 years ago
Jason Spezza's surprise decision may give the Stars a huge advantage.
Keystone Press

The Dallas Stars are head for somewhat of a salary cap crunch next season thanks in large part to the massive raise that star forward Tyler Seguin that will kick in during the 2019 - 2020 National Hockey League regular season. 

Although the Stars and general manager Jim Nill have undoubtedly prepared for this eventuality what they could not have prepared for was the sudden resurgence of of 35 year old veteran forward Jason Spezza. The 35 year old center showed some real signs of his age last season when after 88 regular season games he had amassed just 8 goals and 18 assists for a total of 28 points and an unimpressive plus minus rating of -12 on the season. It was a tough situation for the Stars who were investing some massive money into Spezza at $7.5 million in average annual value, a number that Spezza's production in no way seemed to justify. 

In spite of his struggles however the Stars have remained loyal to Spezza through and through and it seems like their decisions in that regard may be paying off. Spezza has had a huge bounce back year and through the first 13 regular season games of 2018- 2019 the long time NHL forward has recorded 3 goals and 7 assists for a very respectable 10 points. This is of course a contract year for Spezza though and that could mean that his sudden increase in performance could cost the Stars if they wish to keep him, but it appears their loyalty has also paid off on that front. 

According to a report from Sportsnet NHL insider Chris Johnston it sounds like Sepzza is willing to take a massive pay cut if it helps the Stars add more talent and by extension gives him a better chance of winning the Stanley Cup with this organization. 

“I really don’t care [about the value of the next contract], like I really could care less. I have lots of money,” said Spezza as per Sportsnet.. “I want to stay and play, and as long as I have a good role they can take my money and give it to someone else and give us more depth. I’d take it, you know?”

Although this is of course a big financial sacrifice for Spezza himself, the Stars could not have predicted in even their wildest drams that the former NHL star would be willing to take a large shave on his salary to remain a Star.

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