Why Jared Cowen Must Be Cringing At The Thought Of A Jason Spezza Trade

If I am Jared Cowen, more than anyone else I am cringing and cowering at the thought of Jason Spezza getting traded.

Why, you may ask?

Because if the past couple of seasons are any indication, Cowen is poised to take over a title from Spezza that nobody wants, and I don’t mean the Captaincy.

Cowen will be poised to join the list of names that includes Alexei Yashin, Alexandre Daigle, Wade Redden, Daniel Alfredsson and Spezza.

That is the list of previous “whipping boys” that the Senators fans have had. Those are the players who get the finger pointed at them when things go wrong, whether they were responsible or not. This list is, rightly or wrongly, usually a label that, with the exception of Alfredsson, sticks on a player for the duration of his tenure in Ottawa once it is applied.

Granted, sometimes it is earned, particularly in the case of Yashin, but more often than not it is unwarranted and the fans just look for someone to blame and regardless of their performance these players will feel the wrath.

It already started last season for Cowen, who despite the fact that the whole Senators blue line struggled, not to mention the goaltending, was singled out as the main reason on almost a nightly basis. For whatever reason (contract, draft position) the expectations heaped on Cowen continue to grow and people tend to forget he is still just a 23 year old player who has missed most of 2 seasons of development with major injuries.