Senators GM Murray says Spezza requested a trade
Speaking with reporters at the general managers meetings in New York on Wednesday, Ottawa Senators general manager Bryan Murray confirmed captain Jason Spezza is available, and has in fact requested a trade.
From CBC's Elliotte Friedman:
At GM meetings, Bryan Murray confirms Jason Spezza has "requested we give him a chance to go elsewhere." More later.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) June 11, 2014
Murray suggested that he'd prefer to keep Spezza but can empathize with the forward's eagerness to move on. He confirmed Ottawa Sun reporter Bruce Garrioch's earlier report that suggested the Senators were unwilling to deal Spezza to a rival in the Eastern Conference, indicating a preference to send Spezza "somewhere we don't have to play him every night."
There are, according to Murray, four or five teams interested in acquiring the talented centerman, with two or three of those teams indicating a high degree of seriousness.
Spezza managed 66 points in 75 games this past season, but his two-way game has fallen off over the years. The Senators also have a bevy of young, skilled centerman - Mika Zibanejad and Kyle Turris in particular - who seem ready to step into more prominent roles in Ottawa next season.