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If Michael Cammalleri had his way last summer, he wouldn’t be the man spearheading the Canadiens’ inspirational playoff run.
He’d still be a Calgary Flame. Fact is, just 11 months ago, the NHL’s playoff scoring leader was busy working the phone with hopes GM Darryl Sutter would somehow find the money to keep him in Alberta.
The little big man so enjoyed his year in Calgary, he called Jarome Iginla last spring to let him know he’d take less money to stay.
Knowing the Flames captain is one of the only people in the world to have Sutter’s ear, Cammalleri asked Iginla to call the GM to let him know he’d consider foregoing unrestricted free agency in exchange for a reasonable offer.
However, while Sutter did offer the sniper a deal, the GM had his sights set on addressing the team’s defensive deficiencies and spent all his extra cash acquiring Jay Bouwmeester for $33 million over five years.
Cammalleri ended up getting slightly less — $30 million over five years — from Montreal GM Bob Gainey and is now the talk of the playoffs.
Bouwmeester’s three goals were 36 short of the total Cammalleri scored in Calgary a year earlier, which has a lot to do with the scoring woes that cost Calgary a playoff spot.
Just another (haunting) thing for the Flames owners to chew on as they appear to be in a stalemate over whether to proceed with the current management.
Now, more notes, quotes and anecdotes from a sports world wondering how it would be possible for any team to beat the Russian hockey juggernaut assembled at the Worlds.
Around the horn
In light of the Flames run of 2004, the Oilers run of 2006 and the current Habs run, maybe — just maybe — Darryl Sutter was right when he suggested all you have to do is make the playoffs to be a Stanley Cup contender. Or, maybe all you have to do is have a goalie piecing together the string of a lifetime … As if Graham James wasn’t hated enough, now we learn he’s working for an internet marketing firm. Surely, professional spammers rank only slightly ahead of pedophiles in terms of popularity … Nobody has summed up the dramatic attitude change concerning NHL hockey in Winnipeg as well as Winnipeg Free Press scribe Randy Turner: “Now, all of a sudden, it’s closing time at Coyote Ugly and everybody’s staring at Winnipeg wearing beer goggles.”
Parting gifts
Springtime rioting in Montreal is as predictable, cliche and embarrassing as golf fans who yell “you da man” after every shot … Hard to blame Willie Mitchell for expressing his disappointment over the way the league ignored the hit that ended his season, as Vancouver might have given Chicago a better fight had they not had to play with liabilities such as Shane O’Brien and Andrew Alberts on their blueline … Pregame.com lists the odds of LeBron James signing with the Knicks as a 6-1 proposition behind the Bulls (7-2) and the Cavs (1-to-1). I want some of that Knicks action as there’s no better place for a man of his skill set to take over as the league’s highest-paid athlete … Still giggling over the advice Earl Woods apparently gave Tiger: “I want you to concentrate 100% on golf. Screw everything else.” Turn that into a commercial, Nike.