Danny McCloskey
At last year’s NHL Draft, the Ottawa Senators acquired Jordan Spence from the Los Angeles Kings for a 2025 third round pick, and a 2026 sixth round pick. At the time, Spence was coming off his second full season in the NHL, scoring 28 points in 79 games as a bottom pairing defenseman with the Kings. He was heading into the second year of a two year deal that came with a $1.5 million cap hit. Now, Spence is closing in on the end of his first season with the Senators. The next step for Steve Staios and the organization should be clear- it’s time to extend Jordan Spence. Let’s dive into the details.
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Jordan Spence by the Numbers
Here are Spence’s numbers as of today:
- 67 games, 6 goals, 28 points, 18:27 time on ice/game
Spence has hit a career high in goals, he’s tied his career high in points, and he’s playing more than ever before. That is especially true recently. Here are Spence’s numbers since Nick Jensen went out with injury March 11th:
- 13 games, 2 goals, 9 points, 23:38 time on ice/game
During this time, the Senators have seen 12 different defensemen in their lineup. They’ve been without Chabot and Sanderson for much of that stretch. Spence has stepped up in the biggest way. In back-to-back nights, he played 26+ minutes as the Senators beat both the Rangers and Red Wings in low scoring games. Two days later, he played a career high 27:48 against the Penguins. That career high didn’t last long, though. With Kleven going down with an injury against the Sabres this week, Spence played 30:48.
Mischaracterization of Spence’s Game
Let’s put it bluntly- The Los Angeles Kings were wrong about Jordan Spence. To add to that, Travis Green was wrong about Spence at the start of this season, when Spence was a healthy scratch for nine games early in the season. Spence was pigeonholed into a specific role- the undersized, puck moving, depth defenseman. Standing at 5’11”, 188 lbs, Spence was essentially seen as being good enough to play in the NHL, but not good enough, or big enough, to play big minutes. From a Senators perspective, think of how Chris Wideman was used when the Senators made the Conference Finals in 2016-17.
Early in the season, Spence’s game seemed to fit the narrative- he scored five points in his first five games, but he was also bodied off the puck late in a game against the Islanders when Anders Lee scored the game winner. Once he showed that he should be in the lineup every game, Spence showed that he was by no means a soft player. He battles hard and is willing to play a physical game. He has 2.47 hits per 60 minutes this season. Artem Zub, by comparison, is at 2.53. Both players will throw a hit here and there, but they mainly win with intelligence, hard work, and angling the player off the puck.
Spence’s Next Contract
Spence will be a restricted free agent this summer. I think working out a long term deal would be challenging for both sides. I would hope that the Senators would not want to settle for a short term deal. Spence could become an unrestricted free agent in 2028. That leaves a four or five year deal as a realistic middle ground.
When Artem Zub signed a four year extension in December of 2022, it took up 5.51% of the cap. Zub had averaged just over 20 minutes per game with the Senators through 142 games to that point. Obviously, that gives him a longer track record as a top four d-man than Spence.
5.5% of next year’s projected cap would be $5.7 million. That’s a bit high, given that Spence has mainly been a bottom pairing d-man. If the Senators believe in Spence as a top four d-man, something like this makes sense:
- 4 years, $20 million total, $5 million per season
Senator Comparables
Remember back when the Senators traded Erik Karlsson to the San Jose Sharks? A throw-in to that trade was Dylan Demelo. Demelo then proceeded to play really well for a year and a half here, before Pierre Dorion traded him to the Winnipeg Jets. It was during a rebuild, with Dorion feeling like he should acquire as many picks as possible. It was very obvious that Demelo was undervalued at the time. He was traded for just a third round pick. He’s gone on to play six plus seasons with the Jets as a top four defenseman most of the time.
Around that same time the Senators took a chance on Artem Zub out of the KHL. Zub, like Spence, was a healthy scratch to start his time with the Senators. Like Spence, he quickly showed that he should not have been a healthy scratch. He’s now in year six as a top four d-man with the Sens.
My point is this. Every now and then you receive a gift. The Senators were gifted Dylan Demelo, but then gave him away to the Jets for a lacklustre return. The Senators were also gifted Zub, who was a complete unknown in the NHL when he came over from Russia. They’ve now been gifted Jordan Spence, thanks to the LA Kings opting to sign Cody Ceci to play on their right side instead.
Final Thoughts
The Senators Jakob Chychrun for Nick Jensen trade did not work out, with Jensen regressing this year. They apparently looked into trading for the likes of MacKenzie Weegar and Rasmus Andersson, among others. As it turns out, the top four right shot d-man they were searching for was here all along. Jordan Spence has shown himself to be a capable all-around defenseman. He deserves a new contract, and the Senators should be thankful that an offseason trade for a so-called depth d-man has worked out so heavily in their favour.
