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There is some irony in the fact that Jason Spezza was finally traded on Canada Day. After all, there had been weeks of speculation that the star centre wasnt enamoured with the idea of playing in a Canadian market. But a few hours after the trade, Spezza wanted to make it clear that he wasnt leaving Ottawa because he couldnt stand the pressure and scrutiny that came with playing in the nations capital. “I dont think thats accurate," Spezza told TSN.ca. "My biggest motivator for a trade was to win. It will be portrayed however they want it to be portrayed, but the last thing I was worried about was coming out and doing interviews in front of my stall.” During the past month, it was widely reported that Spezza put the other Canadian teams on his no-trade list and that his desire was to go south of the border, where he would face less scrutiny. However, Spezza said the fact that most Canadian teams are struggling right now was the biggest reason why he put them on his no-trade list. He is never one to shy away from microphones and says he would welcome playing in a Canadian market again down the road if the opportunity arose. “It was more circumstance than anything of why those (Canadian) teams were on my list. I have one year left on my deal and I wanted to go someplace where I could win a Cup,” Spezza said. The troubling trend for Senators fans, however, is that Spezza is the latest superstar to have a somewhat messy departure from their city. In the summer of 2009, Dany Heatley demanded a trade and ultimately forced the clubs hand into trading him to San Jose. Last summer, Daniel Alfredsson and the organization had a sudden and bitter divorce, prompting the long-time captain to sign with Detroit as a free agent. Now that Spezza has been shipped to Dallas, it only adds to the growing perception that superstars have a short shelf life in Ottawa. But Spezza says the fans in Ottawa arent to blame for a number of players wanting to leave in a short window of time. “Its a fine market for stars, but just like any hockey market, its tough when youre not winning. All three situations are unique. I didnt make my decision because of Alfie and Alfie didnt make his decision because of Heater,” Spezza explained. “We all had our own reasons. There were some similarities, but in the end, each was a unique case.” In some ways, this does appear to be different than the Alfredsson saga from last summer, when the captain abruptly ended his tenure with the club. Spezza appeared to have a more calculated, long-term approach – far less emotional than the course Alfredsson seemed to take. But there is a striking similarity between Alfredssons comments last summer and the ones made by Spezza today. In each case, the captain felt like he had a better chance to win a Stanley Cup with a different organization. “All I can say is my goal is to win a Cup. I think Ottawa has a good chance. They have a good core of young players and a good nucleus. But for me right now, I just felt like Dallas was a great fit,” Spezza added. Spezza said he had discussions with Bryan Murray towards the end of the season and alerted the front office that he likely wasnt going to re-sign a contract extension beyond 2015. And rather than make it awkward for everyone during the 2014-15 season – constantly answering questions about his future – he felt it was best for all parties involved to make a preemptive move this summer. “I didnt have any interest in signing an extension and that kind of hinted to them that maybe it was time to move on. I met with Bryan and had some really good and frank discussions. And I was being honest with them when I said it was best for me and best for them if I moved on,” Spezza explained. Spezza was asked if he knew the regular season finale in Pittsburgh on April 13 would be his last game in a Senators jersey. He scored a brilliant goal in the shootout to secure a Senators 3-2 victory and he admitted, “It wasnt lost on me that it could have been my last goal with Ottawa.” Spezza said he stayed quiet for the past few weeks out of respect for the process, but once Murray told reporters at the NHL GM meetings last month that Spezza had indeed requested a trade, he knew the writing was on the wall. “Once Bryan went public, I knew it was probably done for me there,” he said. (Spezza also went out of his way to point out that he still has a terrific relationship with Murray and holds the Senators general manager in the highest regard). Spezza isnt sure how the crowd at Canadian Tire Centre would react to his appearance when he makes his return to Ottawa on January 29, 2015 in a Dallas Stars jersey, but he does want Senators fans to know that he does not hold a grudge against them – even though he was often seen as a lightning rod for criticism by the fan base. “My time in Ottawa was fond and I know a lot of people are upset," Spezza said. "I would have loved to have the storybook career, where you spend your whole life in one city and play for one team, but thats part of the hard decision we had to make. This didnt just happen overnight and I woke up one morning and said ‘I want to leave. There was a lot of thought put into this.” Offcial Jerseys ... maybe even more than that. Maybe all season I have to take a few blows. Cheap Jerseys From China . While the pair of Spain internationals return, midfielder Xavi Hernandez will not be included in the squad after failing to recover from a muscle strain to his left leg. https://www.cheapjerseysjustwholesale.com/ . -- The Orlando Magic finally are showing the patience in critical moments that coach Jacque Vaughn has been waiting for all season. MLB Jerseys . Compared to what hes gone through in recent weeks, that seemed like a breeze. Speaking to The Associated Press on Friday at an NBA Cares event, Silver said hes thrilled that the leagues attention can be on the championship series between the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs -- and not, as it was for so much of the post-season, on the off-the-court matters involving the banishment of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling and now the looming sale of that franchise. Wholesale Jerseys . - Chelseas 1-0 win at the Etihad, spoiling Manchester Citys perfect home record continues to be the talking point of the week.EDMONTON - Being in the Western Conference doesnt make life easy for the Edmonton Oilers.Craig Smith had a pair of goals as the Nashville Predators bounced back from their first regulation loss of the season, defeating the Oilers 4-1 on Wednesday.Taylor Hall scored the lone goal for the Oilers (4-5-1), who have yet to defeat a fellow Western Conference team this season.We are in the west and we have to find a way to beat the western teams, said Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. A lot of the western teams play a different style than they do in the east, but we are not getting out of this conference and we dont want to. I know we can play with them and we just have to find a way to beat them. There is no need to panic right now.Its unfortunate we cant beat teams in our division, added Hall. We get zero points and they get two and get a leg up on us. Its tough. Tonight wasnt really an effort that deserved two points, but at times during the game it was there to be taken. Unfortunately, we gave up a lead and couldnt get it back.Shea Weber and Taylor Beck also scored for the Predators (6-1-2), who started a six-game road trip off on solid footing.We came in here and did a pretty good job, Weber said. Thats a hot team, they had won four in a row. We knew we had to be ready. We didnt get a call early on and we stuck with it. The second period wasnt our best, but we got a couple of goals there and were able to get one early in the third and put them out of it.Smith said his line was influenced by the return of Matt Cullen to the Predators lineup.I think our line played well and I think our unit was able to create some turnovers and use our speed to make plays, he said. Cullen getting back in the lineup, I thought he was outstanding tonight, moving his feet well, I didnt think he missed a stride. I thought we played well tonight and were able to get a win.Edmonton caught a huge break just a minute-and-a-half in as Nashville had a goal waved off — the third time in the past five games an Oilers opponent has had a goal disallowed. Nashvilles Smith poked a puck into the net from under the glove of Oilers goalie Ben Scrivens, but the ref was quick to call the goal off, and the decision stood up after video review.The reasoning I got was that in the referees view the goaltender had made a save and when Craig came in with the second push, he was in the process of blowing the whistle, said Nashville coach Peter Laviolette. So I think it was because in their view the original save was made and he was blowing the whistle on that. Its not like it was loose puck.Nashville also came close five minutes into the opening period when Anton Volchenkov rang a shot off the post.The Predators controlled the bulk of the play in the first period, with 11 shots on Scrivens to Edmontons three on Pekka Rinne in the Nashville net.Video review was called upon again 19 seconds into the second period when Edmonton fans thought that Nugent-Hopkins had scored from the top of the circle on Rinne, but it was quickly determined he had hit the crossbar.dddddddddddd.Smith finally broke the scoring open for Nashville six minutes into the second period as a rebound landed on his stick and he tucked it in the net for his second of the season.The Predators made it 2-0 a minute-and-a-half later as Colin Wilson spotted Beck get away from defender Brad Hunt and hit him on the fly for a goal into a wide-open net.Webers rocket from the point added to Nashvilles lead just 24 seconds into the third period. The play was set up when a turnover in the Oilers zone went back to Weber.The Oilers tried to get back into the game a couple minutes later as Justin Schultz blazed into the zone and attempted a wrap-around, but Rinne was quick to get across and make the save.Hall ended Rinnes shutout bid with 11 minutes left to play. A big rebound on a Nugent-Hopkins shot came to Hall, who buried his sixth of the season.The Predators regained their three-goal cushion with just under eight minutes to play as Cullen made a perfect pass on a two-on-one to Smith for his second of the night.The Predators win was punctuated by a monster hit on Hall by former Windsor Spitfires teammate Ryan Ellis, who caught him trying to split the defence.I dont know what I was doing there, Hall said. He had probably seen me do that a bunch of times in junior. I should know better than to try that on him. I havent been hit like that in a long time.The Predators next game is on Friday in Calgary against the Flames. The Oilers conclude their season-high seven-game homestand on Saturday against the Vancouver Canucks.Notes: It was the first of three games between the two teams this season, with the other two scheduled to take place in Nashville…. Edmonton swept the three-game series last year and has had a fair amount of success against the Predators in recent years. The Oilers came into the game having gone 9-4-1 in their last 14 games against Nashville… The game was the start of a six-game road trip for the Predators as they vacate town for the annual hosting of the Country Music Association Awards. Nashville went 2-4-1 during last seasons CMA trip… The game marked the seasonal debut of Predators forward Matt Cullen, who missed the first eight games of the season with an upper-body injury. He will play left wing on a line with centre Derek Roy and right wing Craig Smith. Cullen, 37, is in his second season with the Predators, scoring 10 goals and 29 assists after signing with Nashville as a free agent last season. To make room for Cullen on the roster, Rich Clune was assigned to the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League… Oilers defenceman Nikita Nikitin missed his second straight game with back spasms… Edmontons 2014 third overall draft pick Leon Draisaitl played his 10th game, activating the first year of his entry level deal. ' ' '