Sports is all about capitalizing on windows of opportunity.
When the Senators traded Jason Spezza in July of 2014 to the Dallas Stars, it left many Senators fans cursing the organization for selling low on their captain and not cutting bait years earlier when the playmaking centre originally expressed an interest in a change of scenery.
After Bryan Murray’s attempts at trading Spezza to Nashville, a team that was not on Spezza’s list of teams that he could be traded to, for a package similar to what the Penguins received for James Neal, Murray essentially had to acquiesce to Dallas’ offer of Alex Chiasson, prospects Alex Guptill and Nick Paul, and a 2015 second round pick.