- Harvey Fialkov of the Sun Sentinel: Bruce Garrioch said that Jason Spezza would waive his no-trade clause for 10 teams, including the Panthers. Spezza is the prototypical center that GM Dale Tallon craves. The need for a center is low on the team’s priority list as they have Aleksander Barkov, Nick Bjugstad, Vincent Trocheck, Brandon Pirri and Drew Shore. They could use a scoring winger like a Matt Moulson, Jussi Jokinen or Thomas Vanek.
- Andy Strickland: The Blues are high on Jason Spezza’s wish list, but there may be some concerns about his health issues over the past few years.
- Hope Smoke: Darren Dreger: “I do believe Spezza will embrace a change. He’s in a place now, where a trade is likely to happen”
- Hope Smoke: Elliotte Friedman: “I believe Spezza is getting traded.” … “The biggest debate right now is, is Spezza your #1 C or your #2 C. He’s easier to move bc cap hit is $7 but cash is $4.” … “The team I heard was really in on him was Anaheim” … “Anaheim has a chance to go to the 3rd round and I don’t know if they still consider themselves part of this market ” … “I don’t know if you want Spezza being your #1 guy. There’s a big debate about that right now.” … “If you have Getzlaf as your 1 & Spezza as your 2 though, that’s pretty good” … “I wonder if Calgary would be interested . Calgary is looking for offense now, do you take a 1 year flyer on that guy?” … “I think St. Louis is definitely in on that . They’re desperately looking for offense and so is Nashville” … “I think St.Louis is the most intriguing one because I think they’re going to be doing things for offense this year” … “I think Ottawa will be looking to extort a lot. They made a deal for Ryan and they gave up a lot.” … “I wonder if the Sens open a window allowing teams to negotiate” … “The question that comes to me is: is there a market for this guy?” … “The thing about Spezza is, there sure is. If Murray says he’s on the market there will be teams throwing themselves at him” … “#1 or #2 centres are hard to find” … “Hard to find a guy that put up 82 points a few years ago. Will be a lot of competition” … “A lot of teams need offense, St.Louis/Nashville, the price will be high ” … “The only thing that can limit Ottawa is that Spezza has a NTC.” … “If the Sens are giving up Spezza they’ll look for youth because that’s the way they always go. They’re not a cap team” … “I think the Sens look for offense because they questions about Hemsky staying. Also looking for a defensive D”