Improved health is a big bullet point for those who believe that the Ottawa Senators might just take a step up from what seemed like an overachieving 2013 season. Getting both Erik Karlsson and Jason Spezza back to full strength is key, so it’s great to hear that Spezza is recovering nicely from knee surgery.
That’s what he told the Ottawa Sun on Wednesday, at least.
He said that the late-May surgery required four or five weeks of rehab, but that it didn’t really hold him back that much in his offseason training regimen.
” ... No problem. A pain more than anything,” Spezza said. “My back has been really good. It was nice for me to play those games in the playoffs even though I wasn’t 100 percent. To play, helped me get confidence going into my training. I’ve been training really hard here all summer. It has responded pretty well. I’m pretty enthused with how it feels right now.”
The 30-year-old is also very “enthused” about helping new acquisition Bobby Ryan get the best out of his considerable abilities.
“He’s very excited and we’re excited to have him on our team,” Spezza said. “Maybe he felt like he was the odd man out there in Anaheim and he’s going to have a chance to be the go-to guy here. To have a guy of his talent, and he’s scored a lot of goals in his career, bodes well for our team.”
Even if it’s shocking that Daniel Alfredsson won’t be a part of that group.
(H/T to Rotoworld.)