Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Options Author
Jason Spezza realized to play the professional recreation within the AHL. Now he’s studying the administration recreation there as effectively.
Earlier than Spezza solidified himself as a top-line NHL scorer who went on to play 1,248 video games and ring up 995 factors, he was a second-overall draft choose growing his recreation within the Ottawa Senators group. Spezza made his professional debut with the Grand Rapids Griffins in the course of the 2002 Calder Cup Playoffs, then divided the 2002-03 season between Ottawa and the Binghamton Senators.
AHL Corridor of Famer John Paddock mentored Spezza, then 19, as Binghamton’s head coach and offered the powerful steerage that Spezza now says that he wanted then.
Spezza returned to Binghamton in the course of the NHL lockout season of 2004-05, amassed a league-leading 117 factors and was named the AHL’s Most worthy participant.
The Mississauga, Ont., native retired in 2022, after his third season with the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was there that Spezza first actually linked with common supervisor Kyle Dubas, who had introduced Spezza to Toronto to assist the Leafs pursue a Stanley Cup.
As he began to wind down his taking part in profession, Spezza’s consideration turned towards what is perhaps subsequent. Administration felt like attainable match, and he had somebody like Dubas there for recommendation.
“I can’t think about my life with out hockey in it,” Spezza mentioned.
So after retiring, Spezza went straight into administration as a particular assistant to Dubas. The mandate was to start out studying the administration enterprise. And when Dubas departed for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2023, Spezza got here with him as an assistant common supervisor.
This summer time Spezza added one other function to his portfolio: common supervisor of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
Now that Dubas is in his second season with the Pittsburgh group, lots is new with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Spezza performed a heavy function in hiring new head coach Kirk MacDonald. Pittsburgh additionally acted aggressively this previous summer time to show over its AHL veteran group with a number of free-agent signings. With the NHL staff’s core now effectively into the 30-and-up age bracket, Pittsburgh shall be counting closely on its pipeline to crank out younger expertise to take eventual roles on the NHL roster, and expertise is required in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to help in that course of.
Once more, the mandate is to study. Spezza will stay primarily based in Pittsburgh, however he shall be dealing with all of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s day-to-day affairs and shall be on the town regularly. When Dubas was in Toronto, be it with the Leafs or the Marlies, the AHL affiliate all the time acquired appreciable consideration. Toronto administration acted aggressively to signal high free brokers for the Marlies, which paid off with a Calder Cup championship in 2018. The staff by no means lacked for expertise, a top-notch coaching facility, or every other assets wanted to each develop prospects in addition to to win hockey video games.
That very same formulation has now made its solution to Pennsylvania, stretching throughout the state from Pittsburgh to Wilkes-Barre. The AHL Penguins reached the Calder Cup Finals 3 times of their first 9 seasons, however have only one sequence win since 2016, leaving native followers hungry for a playoff run. And Pittsburgh administration is hungry to see success for its AHL affiliate, with Dubas understanding effectively what it meant for Leafs prospects when the Marlies performed deep into the postseason.
Naturally shifting into this function has taken Spezza again to his personal days as a high prospect making an attempt to ascertain himself with Binghamton. It was the place a younger future Ottawa core started to take form. Antoine Vermette, Chris Kelly, Brian McGrattan and the late Ray Emery have been a few of his Binghamton teammates as a rookie who went on to hitch him as Ottawa mainstays taking part in for Paddock, who ultimately moved on to the NHL membership as effectively.
“It’s a really, very completely different panorama,” Spezza mentioned of right this moment’s recreation. “It was undoubtedly the tough-love period. The AHL was good for me. It actually helped form who I used to be as a participant and made me extra resilient.”
Now he’s following the identical path that Dubas took a decade in the past, when he moved as much as Toronto from Sault Ste. Marie of the Ontario Hockey League.
“He’s an awesome chief,” Spezza mentioned of Dubas. “He’s an awesome communicator. I believe his demeanor is one thing that I actually respect. He’s effectively thought-out. He has glorious course of. He’s in all probability exhibiting me why having good course of is so essential…when you do all of your preparation forward of time, you’re by no means actually stunned by any scenario that may come up. Coming from a participant to a supervisor now, one factor you understand is every day how a lot stuff comes up behind the scenes.
“After which the way in which that he treats folks. I believe he is usually a agency boss. He may be someone that could be very demanding when it comes to his commonplace, however he’s an awesome individual. I contemplate him an awesome pal and actually glad to be working for him.”
Hiring MacDonald was one in every of Spezza’s first main duties. Dubas let Spezza take management of that course of. Because the teaching resumes arrived and gathered, Spezza sifted by means of them, started to pare down his record, after which entered into the interview course of. After which he needed to decide and went with MacDonald.
“It was an awesome course of to undergo,” Spezza mentioned. “I had by no means completed something like that. I believed I realized lots from it.”
With MacDonald in place to educate a stable roster, Spezza is worked up to see what all of it can imply for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton followers. He remembers coming into Mohegan Enviornment as a participant for intense conferences between the 2 rivals.
“I really like the small-town really feel,” Spezza mentioned. “I believe that it’s an awesome hockey metropolis. We’ve put collectively some younger, thrilling prospects that may ignite the fan base. We all know that it’s a deep fan base, a fan base that loves hockey.
“To me, that’s thrilling when it comes to taking on the staff as a result of I’ve seen it at its greatest.”
On the American Hockey League beat for 20 years, TheAHL.com options author Patrick Williams additionally at present covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a daily contributor on SiriusXM NHL Community Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his excellent protection of the league in 2016.
