Jason Spezza Q & A

NHL Conference Call
Jason was named the National Hockey League's Offensive Player of the Week after posting four goals and four assists for eight points as Ottawa defeated Carolina, the New York Islanders and Boston. The second overall selection in the 2001 Entry Draft, Jason is currently tied with Jaromir Jagr of the New York Rangers, Peter Forsberg of the Philadelphia Flyers and his Ottawa linemate Daniel Alfredsson for the overall National Hockey League scoring lead, each with 39 points. With 29 assists, he trails only Forsberg, who has 31, and his plus-minus rating of plus-20 ties him for second in the league behind linemate Dany Heatley, who is plus-22. Jason has tallied a point in 19 of his 21 games so far this season and is currently on a six-game point streak.

The Senators have a record of 18-3-0 for 36 points, ranking them first in the National Hockey League's overall standings. This week they host divisional rival Montreal tomorrow night, travel to Boston for a game with the Bruins Thursday and finish the week with a game against Los Angeles Friday.

Q. Can you talk about the week that has come and gone for you and I guess some of the areas right now that are really working well in your game.

JASON SPEZZA: It was a good week for us, we picked up all three wins. We played a Carolina team that we had lost twice to previously. We had to be ready for that one. We had a couple other big games against divisional teams and against the Islanders. It was a big week for us. We've had a little bit of a lighter schedule leading up to what's going to be a pretty hectic schedule for us. We knew we had to play pretty well and pick up the points when we can, especially at home.

Q. How about the chemistry of your line.

JASON SPEZZA: We have great chemistry. Dany and I have had chemistry from day one at training camp. We've been together since the first time we put the skates on this year. Alfy has come onto our line the last few weeks. It's been phenomenal. They're both just such great players. They're both shooters. That helps me out a lot. I like to carry the puck a lot, a little more of a disher than I am a shooter. The chemistry is working well right now. It's going good.

Q. You look at the points you've be en able to accumulate so far. Do you look at any number at the end of the year you would like to attain?

JASON SPEZZA: I don't know. We're not going to set numbers on anything. I think the most important thing for us is to keep winning. If we keep having success as a line and keep winning and having success as a team, individuals do well, I guess it's limitless how many points you can get if the team's winning.

Q. Could you talk about what specifically it is with you and Heatley that works chemistry-wise, why he's gotten a point in every game so far, your contributions to that.

JASON SPEZZA: Yeah, it's been a great match for me since day one. I think we get along real well off the ice. We played World Juniors together. I'd known him previous to this year. Dany was looking for a fresh start. He's come here. He's so good with the puck, he's such a smart player. He likes to give the puck up a lot and get it back in the offensive zone. It kind of fits into my game. I like to hang on to the puck a little bit longer. We've meshed well together. He's got such a great shot that it's gone well for us.

Q. How much did you play with Dany Heatley at the World Juniors?

JASON SPEZZA: We played in training camp a little bit together. We didn't play too much together. I didn't play too much at all in that one World Juniors.

Q. The clock is ticking on the Olympic team. Are you trying to figure out, there's all these centers, where am I going to fit in? I talked to Kevin Lowe, and he thinks there's certainly room for young centers on the team, too. 2010 is coming.

JASON SPEZZA: I think the biggest thing right now is I'm going out, trying to play the best, win as many games. If you're on a team, we're 18-3, I'm on the first line, you like to think that will get you recognized. That's all I'm trying to do, just get recognized on their radar. They have tough decisions to make. I hope I can be a part of something like that. Playing for Canada is always one of the greatest honors you can have. I hope I can kind of start off here maybe and continue to go on with my career and play for Canada a lot.

Q. Is it similar to when you were so young on the Canadian junior team that guys were thinking, I don't know if we should put him on the team because he's so young?

JASON SPEZZA: Well, it's always that way when you're a younger guy. They look at the experience factor. But I think the only way you can get experience is by getting a chance to go over there and play. Like I said, I'm just going out, trying to play my game, get noticed, hopefully make the decision real tough for them, and hopefully maybe end up with a spot on that team.

Q. Looking at the plus-minus standings for the entire league, the Ottawa Senators totally dominate the top five players, then more through the top 30. Plus, you have Dominik Hasek with a goals-against average that makes it look like a couple years ago rather than the modern world. We've talked about the offense of the Senators. How much of the overall team defense is contributing to that 18-3 record ?

JASON SPEZZA: Oh, yeah, definitely. I think defense probably gets overlooked because we're scoring so many goals as a team. We do pay attention. We have the puck so much during the game, offense is your best defense. With Dom back there, if you take the chance and make the odd mistake, he's there to back us up. We play against the top line of the other team most nights, and we make sure we try to end up on the plus side of it. If we can do that, we figure with the depth we have on our team, all the other guys will do what they do and we'll win hockey games.

Q. Lot of players have talked about how much difficulty they've had fitting into the standard of rules enforcement. You guys are obviously succeeding. Did you find much problem adjusting to the rules? Are these kind of rules, the new standard, would they benefit you, Dany and Alfy as much as anybody in hockey?

JASON SPEZZA: Well, they definitely benefit the three of us, especially playing together. It's harder for teams to check us. You can't just throw a checking line out and they throw a blanket over you and hold you and grab you the whole game. It probably gives us the chance to play all three of us together because of the new rules. I think as a team we're starting to realize. I think we took a few too many penalties early on with some of the hooking. We have such an offensive team, our defense is so mobile, our defense probably doesn't get the credit they deserve. Our defense is so mobile and they move so well for being big guys, the new rules definitely help us out.

Q. Can you talk about the fact that you played all of last year while the lockout was on, what that did for your game heading into this year?

JASON SPEZZA: Yeah, it definitely helped me out a lot, being able to be productive during the lockout. It was a tough time for everyone. Getting a chance to play in the American League under John Paddock, he helped me out a lot. He taught me a lot. I got to play big minutes down there, kind of learned to be the go-to guy. Now I've kind of fit into that role here. It was definitely a good year for me.

Q. We've circled it on our calendar out here, such a rarity for a western team to play an eastern team. You're coming out here on December 9th. What do you think of the schedule? Would you like to play the west more often? Are you looking forward to coming out here?

JASON SPEZZA: We're definitely looking forward to coming out there. There's some great teams out there we're looking forward to playing. It will be a challenge and a measuring stick for us. The schedule has been great so far. It's fun playing against divisional teams, but you like to travel around a little bit, too. We're looking forward to it, definitely. They should be good games out there.

Q. At the beginning of training camp, did you know how explosive you and your teammates would come out to this 18-3 start?

JASON SPEZZA: I think you can never expect what your record is going to be. I think with the talent we have, we knew we were a deep team, we knew we were a favorite coming into the year, we had high expectations for ourselves, and we still do. With the new coach, he had high expectations for us. Bryan (Murray) has made sure he's pushed us. We had a lot of guys playing during the lockout last year. That probably helped us out, too. We had six or seven guys from Binghamton now up in Ottawa. We've definitely been one of the teams that benefited from the lockout.

Q. How have you found playing for Bryan Murray this year?

JASON SPEZZA: He's been great. He lets you play. He lets you kind of do your thing. But there's always -- he's also real tough on you. He's hard on our team, too. We don't sit back and relax. We like winning hockey games. We want to win games. We don't make too big of a deal about it afterwards. I think that's kind of an attitude he's brought. Maybe brought a little bit of an edge to our dressing room and to our team.

Q. You were talking about getting to play the western teams. This week you've got the Kings coming in. They've had a pretty impressive season so far. Do you get to see much of them, given the time difference and all? Is there really that much of a difference as there used to be between the western and eastern teams in terms of style?

JASON SPEZZA: I don't think there's too much of a difference. I think LA does have a great team. We get to watch them, get to check them out usually afterwards. You come home, the game is still on. You can catch the third period or second period. That's probably all we see of them, really. You don't watch them quite as closely because you only play them once a year. We're looking forward. You take notice that they are doing real well. They have some great players. It's another challenging game to play against a team that's doing well in their conference. We got a tough schedule coming up. We have to be prepared for it.

Q. Last year in the AHL, you got sort of a preview of some of the rule changes. How much has that helped you going into this year?

JASON SPEZZA: It's helped a little bit. I think some things are a little bit different. We played with wider blue lines, some other stuff. I think the changes they've made to the game here have been really well accepted. I think with no red line, moving the offensive zones, makes them a little bit bigger, I think that stuff's definitely helped out. It's made the game more fun. Just the clutching, grabbing, the rules, that being changed, has opened up the game a whole lot. I think it's a lot more exciting product for the fans and it's fun for us to play, too.

Q. From a player's perspective, a lot has been talked to about whether the fans were going to be coming back strong or not. When you're on the ice, what is the perspective you see on that?

JASON SPEZZA: I think in Ottawa, we've sold out pretty much every game except for maybe one or two. I think they're expecting to sell out the rest of the home games we have. Our fans here have been great. It's been received well here. I think with the excitement we're bringing to the city, it's been really well accepted. On the road we've had some good crowds. We like to think we're a team that can draw. We like to have fun when we play, and we score a lot of goals. I think the game has been received well by the fans and the changes have been good.

Q. There's not many forward lines that stay together in the National Hockey League any more. You usually get a center and one winger, they're trying to find somebody else. Does that make it a huge advantage? Now you're seeing all the other teams' best defensemen.

JASON SPEZZA: Yeah, definitely, because the three of us are playing together, we do see the other team's top pairings most nights. On the road we see their checking line. At home we try to play against their top line. We know we have to play well because they played us together or we won't stick together if our line doesn't contribute. It's just one of those things where we found some chemistry early on. But it's a long year, we have a long way to go. We hope we can keep playing together because we seem to be getting better and better as the games go on.

Q. Do you have any tattoos or does Ray (Emery) have all the tattoos?

JASON SPEZZA: Ray has all the tattoos. No tattoos for me. I let him do all the work on his body.

Q. You don't have a good enough body for tattoos?

JASON SPEZZA: No. I'll keep my body covered, I guess (laughter).

Q. Does the start of the season, 18-3, with the number of goals you scored, raise the ante on the expectations for this team through the regular season and into the playoffs?

JASON SPEZZA: I don't think so. I think we have high expectations and we expect to keep this pace going. It's been that way since day one I think. This team has had high expectations of themselves. We expect to do well. Yeah, we may have gotten out there in the open, people may have taken more note of us because of our start. But this is what we expect to do. We know in order to be a team that wins the Stanley Cup, you have to be consistent. That's what we're trying to do. There's going to be ups and downs during the season. It's not all going to be rosy. But we know that we have to battle through those times and win as many hockey games as we can.