Maple Leafs release their official lineup, Spezza sitting on the sidelines once again.

Another scratch for Jason Spezza.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Maple Leafs release their official lineup, Spezza sitting on the sidelines once again.
Mike Wulf/CSM/Zuma

The Toronto Maple Leafs have set their official line up for Saturday night's game against the Philadelphia Flyers and once again it seems like there is one odd man out on the Maple Leafs roster.

For several days now we have been hearing rumblings suggesting that veteran forward Jason Spezza's time as a member of the Maple Leafs is rapidly coming to an end, and on Saturday Maple Leafs' head coach Mike Babcock poured more fuel onto that fire. The Leafs currently find themselves on a bit of a hot streak after a relatively rocky start to the 2019 - 2020 National Hockey League regular season and you would think that this would mean that Babcock will do everything he can to keep the momentum going. It is for that reason that the absence of Jason Spezza from yet another game strongly appears to suggest that Babcock has very little faith, if any at all, in the long time NHL veteran. 

Spezza has been utilized as a 4th line center for the Leafs this season but has recently found himself sitting in the press box more often than not. Making matters worse for Spezza is that he is being replaced once again by veteran forward Nick Shore, not exactly a star level player in spite of the fact that Shore is a solid roleplayer. Add to that the fact that Maple Leafs forward Zach Hyman is set to return to the line up in the near future and that will leave one fewer spot at the forward position, leading to speculation that Spezza will either be waived or moved in a trade.

The Leafs have announced their full line up for tonight's contest and you can check that out below.


Source: