Dust off those Cammalleri jerseys Flames fans.
Cammy’s back.
As word began to trickle out of the TD Garden in Boston Thursday night that Mike Cammalleri had been pulled from the lineup…then sent back to the team hotel…then traded somewhere…on one hand I felt like it was a sure thing. Cammalleri is coming back to Calgary. At the same time though, I was convinced that there was no way that Cammalleri was coming back to Calgary. Within a few minutes, the confirmation came down that in fact Jay Feaster swung the deal shipping Rene Bourque to Montreal for the former Flame.
Meanwhile, the Flames were playing a scoreless game against the Anaheim Ducks. As if the game had a tough enough time keeping everyone’s attention already, as word of the trade started to sift around the ‘Dome via Blackberry’s and IPhone’s you could have thrown four pucks on the ice and no one would have noticed.
Mike Cammalleri spent one glorious season in Calgary. The undersized sniper fired home 39 goals. He led the team in goal scoring. He filled reporters recorders and notebooks. Everyone was happy. Then he was gone. Poof. How could they? Why would Sutter Inc. see fit to let Cammy walk? In hindsight, the team held on to Olli Jokinen, traded and signed Jay Bouwmeester and the team hasn’t seen the playoffs since. So was that the start of the spiral downwards for the Flames? No real answer, but the team hasn’t been the same since.
So what is Cammalleri capable of now? I fear that fans will automatically expect 40 goals and 80 points a season. Seems lofty to me. Maybe expectations will be more realistic, but again…what do Flames fans remember of Cammalleri? Goals goals goals goals. We shall see.
While the initial reaction was that of a resounding win for Feaster and a sound beating for Pierre Gauthier, more and more pundits are viewing this as a risky proposition for the Flames. Why would they sacrifice a second round pick? Why would they take on an additional 3 million dollars in salary. Why would they send out a prospect when they seem to be in need of them as much as any team in the league? All valid questions. Thing is, for fans in this city there has been very little to be excited about this season. Speaking of the TD Garden in Boston…remember what happened there last week? Yea, I thought so. Fans are pumped and can’t wait to get to the rink. I say, “enjoy it”. Maybe it doesn’t work out and maybe they’ll regret it and maybe Patrick Holland turns into Patrick Kane…but right now, the fans are jacked and it’s been a while since this team has really given their faithful a reason to stand up and be proud.
