In this ten-part series, I will be dissecting ten different careers thus far. The series is fully called “Players aged 28 and younger who will end up in the Hall of Fame.”  Feel free to argue a selection or the rankings at the end of the series.

If you are a Toronto Maple Leafs’ fan about to get drafted, what is the one team you probably would not like to get drafted by?

The Ottawa Senators, right?

Well, I guess that means Jason Spezza ought to be pissed that he was drafted by the team he hates the most, right?

Wrong.

Starting his life off as a baby model, Jason Spezza seemed destined to be a model throughout his life.  Hockey was just a hobby.  It was only at age 15 that Spezza realized that he had a chance to play pro hockey.

“All my time and effort was put into being a hockey player.  At 15 or 16, I knew I was going to have a chance to play pro hockey.”

He played in the OHL for the Brampton Battalion, and averaged over a point per game as an underaged player in 1999.  That year, he became the third player in history to represent Canada at the World Juniors at age 16, following Wayne Gretzky and Eric Lindros.

Then came the big day.  He was drafted second overall in 2001 by the Ottawa Senators, behind Ilya Kovalchuk.  However, he did not get a chance to play hockey right away.

His first game in the NHL came in the 2002-03 season. He played 33 games that season, and recorded 21 points.  After playing the next year in Ottawa and putting up 55 points in 78 games, the NHL had their lockout.  Spezza played in the AHL for the Sens’ affiliate, the Binghamton Senators, and led the league with 117 points in 80 games.  The next year, now back in the NHL, Spezza broke out, scoring 90 points in 68 games.

Spezza now plays on a line with Daniel Alfredsson and Dany Heatley, who was also a finalist for this list of players.  Spezza has recorded 116 goals, 229 assists, and 345 points in 322 games in the NHL as a Senator.  He has helped get the Sens to the Stanley Cup finals against the Anaheim Ducks in 2007, and is destined for great things in his future.

Spezza is number ten on my list for players 28 and under most likely to be in the Hall of Fame, because of his unbelievable skill on the ice, and his uncanny ability to get the puck to his teammates.

www.wikipedia.org