George here on the late shift, and I feel the need to identify myself because I'm going to get a little "snippy" here:

If Dion Phaneuf played a little less like Mr. Heavyfoot on the Maple Leafs' blueline, Jason Spezza and "potential" intersected a little more regularly, their teams wouldn't have conveniently floated the, "These guys are available" lines when just enough teams have been or are about to be eliminated from playoff contention to drum up some significant interest (I'm starting to believe that Thomas Vanek is more modern-day Ray Sheppard--i.e. a "finisher" who doesn't have great individual skills--than a free agent prize, but that's another story).

The fact that Phaneuf's 29 and was just signed to that massive 7-year, $49 million contract extension (per Capgeek), and that Spezza's entering the final year of a contract with a $7 million cap hit (though his salary's only $4 million in real-world dollars next year) at 30 also play into the equation, as do suggestions that, at their respective ages, the players may be in fact at the age where "diminishing returns" fare into overpaying to acquire their services (and if we are to believe what we read, both teams plan on moving said players to Western Conference teams).

Accoring to the Ottawa Sun's Bruce Garrioch, Spezza's drumming up significant interest. Garrioch believes that Spezza will probably be moved at or around the draft in Philadelphia (on June 27th and 28th), and he reports that several Eastern Conference teams and one with-division team are interested in Spezza: