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He has been on a steady climb since. Despite everything that went wrong for the Senators a year ago, Turris enjoyed a breakthrough offensive season, scoring 26 goals and 32 assists, with Clarke MacArthur as his left winger. That duo will be together this season. Bobby Ryan, who spent most of last season as a right winger for Turris, will at least begin training camp in that spot.

Coach Paul MacLean says the evolution has been impressive, but he’s not asking Turris to match the point-per-game pace Spezza has delivered in his career.

“The growth of his game has been very exponential,” MacLean says. “We’re not expecting that Kyle Turris is going to be Jason Spezza. That’s not what we’re looking for. We want Kyle Turris to be Kyle Turris.”

MacLean says he’ll be happy if Turris can be as good as he was last year, but considering that players peak in their late 20’s, the coach says, “he’s still young enough that his game can continue to grow.”

The new No. 1 centre is 6-1 and has worked hard to bulk up to 195 pounds, while Spezza is 6-3 and 220 pounds. Perhaps the biggest challenge for Turris will be dealing with the physical toll that comes with playing against the opposition’s top defenders every night.

Again, Turris says the experience of having been through it before – Spezza missed most of the 2013 season with a back injury – gives him confidence.

“It was an eye-opener, I learned a lot,” he says. “I learned about consistency and how tough it can be to go up against top match-ups. It’s something that I’ve been able to experience before and I’m looking to improve upon what I’ve done.”

The opposition will be giving him more attention, but so, too, will Senators fans. He naturally inherits increased expectations. Spezza always said it was part of the package of playing in a hockey market, but the criticism weighed heavily on him.

As Spezza’s understudy, Turris saw all that, too.

“That comes with the territory,” he says. “I like it, because it shows the passion fans have.”