Senators Artcles: Paddock pushes center to be league's top player
April 16, 2005

Posted by: Bob Howard
Credit: Scott Lauber of Press Connects.com

Paddock pushes center to be league's top player

BY SCOTT LAUBER

Press & Sun-Bulletin

SYRACUSE -- In the final week of October, John Paddock phoned Jason Spezza's agent.

The season was five games old, and Spezza had scored only one goal and two assists. In the fifth game, on a lazy Autumn day in Bridgeport, Conn., he was nearly invisible, and Paddock needed to know if his center was serious about honing his talent in the minors during the NHL lockout or just wasting everyone's time.

"So, I had a short talk with his agent," Paddock, the Binghamton Senators' co-coach, recalled this week, "just to let him know he had to pick it up a little."

What followed was a two-goal and two-assist clinic against the Norfolk Admirals, the first of four 4-point games in a season for the AHL history book. Thirty-one goals and 79 assists after Paddock placed his call, Spezza can call himself the league's Most Valuable Player.

Spezza, 21, is the fourth Binghamton player to cop the Les Cunningham Award as AHL MVP, and the first since the Rangers' Don Biggs in 1992-93. The league doesn't divulge results of the voting by players and media.

The numbers are overwhelming. Entering Friday's game here, Spezza had doled out 81 assists, 18 more than any other player and eight short of the single-season league record set in 1953-54. His 113 points were the most in the AHL since 1995-96. He had 34 multiple-point games, and his active 18-game point streak was the longest the league had seen in seven seasons.

After humbling so many opponents, Spezza called the MVP nod "humbling" and "the best individual honor I've ever received." He got the news in the morning, moments before the game-day skate, and said he was eager to phone his parents in suburban Toronto.

"This is the best league in the world right now," Spezza said, "and for people to think I'm the best player in this league, it's definitely an honor."

In reflecting on the most complete season yet of his still-budding, three-year professional career, Spezza acknowledged his -- and concurrently, the Senators' -- sluggish start and evoked several early-season chats with Paddock aimed at getting him focused on playing in the AHL.

Spezza handled the disappointment of the labor dispute and the eventual cancellation of the NHL season better than many of his other locked-out teammates. He would've been the Ottawa Senators' top center, but instead of dwelling on the on-again, off-again negotiations, he became more well-rounded by improving his faceoff skills and assuming a penalty-killing role.

As Binghamton's best player, he's also dealt with being a marked man and regularly facing the opposition's top defensive center. After being shut down by Hershey Bears center Eric Perrin -- and going minus-5 -- in a Dec. 29 loss, Spezza adjusted his game enough to score two goals and two assists one month later in Hershey.

Most pleasing to Paddock and Ottawa general manager John Muckler is that Spezza has taken and relished the responsibility of being a team leader. He doesn't wear the letters of a captain, but he has developed one of the most influential voices in the dressing room.

And he doesn't turn 22 until June.

"The big thing with Spez is that he wants to be the best, and he's always wanted to be the best," said Paddock, who routinely challenges his top player to be better by lifting his team like NHL stars Joe Sakic, Mike Modano, Steve Yzerman and Peter Forsberg. "He's our go-to guy, and he's made a lot of progress in a lot of little areas."

Spezza views his role with the Senators as that of a playmaking center, and just like he distributes the puck to wingmen Brandon Bochenski and Chris Kelly and power-play partner Denis Hamel, he dished out credit to his teammates for helping him to win the MVP.

He has developed a greater rapport with Bochenski, a first-year pro out of the University of North Dakota, than anyone. They've played alongside one another since training camp and Bochenski has made a habit of finishing everything Spezza starts except his sentences.

"With Spez, the numbers speak for themselves," Bochenski said. "He has been the most dominant player in the league. He makes sure the whole team can feel like they've had a part in what he's done. I'm definitely excited for him."

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Jason Spezza is the fourth Binghamton player to win the Les Cunningham Award as the AHL regular-season MVP.

* Ross Yates, Whalers, 1982-83: 41 goals, 84 assists, 125 points in 77 games.

* Paul Gardner, Whalers, 1984-85: 51 goals, 79 assists, 130 points in 64 games.

* Don Biggs, Rangers, 1992-93: 54 goals, 84 assists, 138 points in 78 games.

* Jason Spezza, Senators, 2004-05: 32 goals, 81 assists, 113 points in 78 games.