By Canadian Press

Maple Leafs sign veteran centre and Toronto native Jason Spezza to one-year deal

Jul 1, 2019 | 10:42 AM

TORONTO — Jason Spezza is coming home.

The veteran centre signed a one-year contract worth US$700,000 with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday as NHL free agency opened.

Spezza, 36, has recorded 332 goals and 915 points in 1,065 career regular-season games with the Ottawa Senators and Dallas Stars. He’s also added 70 points (25 goals, 45 assists) in 80 playoff games.

A two-time all-star, Spezza registered eight goals and 27 points in 76 games with Dallas in 2018-19. He made $7.5 million each of the last four years with the Stars.

Spezza, who should help replace the veteran leadership of the since-departed Patrick Marleau, led all NHL players who took at least 200 faceoffs with a percentage of 58.2 last season. He added three goals and two assists in 11 playoff games.

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The Toronto native was originally drafted second overall by Ottawa in 2001.

Spezza, who’s made nearly $87.5 million in his NHL career, joins a Leafs’ roster that’s already deep down the middle with Auston Matthews, John Tavares and Nazem Kadri.

Toronto also swung a trade about three hours before free agency opened at noon Eastern, shipping defenceman Nikita Zaitsev and forward Connor Brown to Ottawa for blue-liner Cody Ceci in a six-player deal that should help the salary cap-squeezed Leafs in their efforts to sign restricted free agent winger Mitch Marner.

Zaitsev was on the books for $4.5 million for the next five years, while Brown is scheduled to make $2.1 million in 2019-20. Ceci, an RFA with arbitration rights, made $4.3 million last season and can become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

The Canadian Press