Spezza has been a marquee player virtually since he was born. At the age of 1 he became the poster boy for a Broadway musical called "Baby" that was playing at a theater in Toronto.
That morphed into a child modeling career in which Spezza was chosen at the age of 4 for a Minute Maid television commercial, and at the age of 6 for clothing ads for Woolco and Kmart.
Spezza has been a marquee player virtually since he was born. At the age of 1 he became the poster boy for a Broadway musical called "Baby" that was playing at a theater in Toronto.
That morphed into a child modeling career in which Spezza was chosen at the age of 4 for a Minute Maid television commercial, and at the age of 6 for clothing ads for Woolco and Kmart.
Spezza's hockey career has followed a similar path.
He began his junior career at the age of 15, scoring 71 points in 67 games as an underage player for Brampton of the Ontario Hockey League.
A year later, when he made his World Junior Championship debut, Spezza joined Wayne Gretzky and Eric Lindros as only the third 16-year-old to make Canada's WJC roster.
It wasn't the last time Spezza stood out from the crowd.
Rated the top Canadian Hockey League prospect ahead of the 2001 NHL Draft, Spezza was selected with the No. 2 pick by the Ottawa Senators.
After being named MVP of the American Hockey League while playing with Binghamton in 2004-05, Spezza made his first impact with the Senators, setting a franchise record with 71 assists during the 2005-06 season.
That season was the first of two in which Spezza hit the 90-point mark in Ottawa, and he went on to produce four seasons of 30-plus goals, the first coming in 2006-07. Spezza scored 34 goals that season and tied for the League lead with 15 assists and 22 points during the 2007 playoffs when the Senators reached the Stanley Cup Final.
Spezza helped lead the Senators to the playoffs four more times over the next six seasons and he was named the Senators eighth captain on Sept. 14, 2013. But Spezza's captaincy was short-lived as he was traded to the Dallas Stars on July 1, 2014 and signed a four-year contract extension on Nov. 21, 2014.
The contract came less than two weeks after Spezza put his name in the record books yet again, this time by becoming only the second player in NHL history to score his 700th career point in his 700th career game.
Prior to Spezza hitting that mark on Nov. 8, 2014 with an assist against the San Jose Sharks, only Ilya Kovalchuk had accomplished that feat.
NOTES & TRANSACTIONS
- OHL All-Rookie Team (1999)
- AHL All-Rookie Team (2003)
- AHL First All-Star Team (2005)
- John P. Sollenberger Trophy (AHL - Top Scorer) (2005)
- Les Cunningham Award (AHL -- MVP) (2005)
- Played in NHL All-Star Game (2008, 2012)
- Signed as a free agent by Rapperswil (Swiss), September 19, 2012.
- Traded to Dallas by Ottawa with Ludwig Karlsson for Alex Chiasson, Alexander Guptill, Nick Paul and Dallas' 2nd round pick (later traded to New Jersey -- New Jersey selected Mackenzie Blackwood) in 2015 NHL Draft, July 1, 2014.
- Signed as a free agent by Toronto, July 1, 2019.
