Friday, April 3, 2015

Mike Cammalleri Jersey Card

There are two former Montréal Canadiens players who are still active in the NHL that I wish were still on the team and/or I miss dearly: goalie Jaroslav Halak, of course, but also super-sniper Michael Cammalleri, who scored against his former team earlier tonight.

As I mentioned back in July, I was surprised when he signed on as a free agent with the New Jersey Devils, but he has thrived while the team has dwindled in the standings - both of which were to be expected, Cammalleri's production being a given at this point (he has 28 goals in 65 games so far this year) and the Devils lacking the depth to contend for a playoff spot.

And that's the surprising part. This is the leader who scored 13 goals in 19 playoff games to lead the Canadiens to the Conference Finals in 2010, and the fierce competitor who called out his Habs teammates for their ''losing mentality'' in 2012 (he was absolutely right, by the way, and unlike the article states, no one could be excused from his assessment at the time, in my opinion).

He made a very good case for wearing the ''C'' in Montréal, and is doing very much the same thing in Newark at this point. The only knock on him is his durability - the only time he's come close to a full season since 2008-09 was the 44 games out of 48 during the lock-out season. Regardless, though, he'll get you your 30 goals, and unlike most very good shooters and top-line left wingers, will do so in 65-70 games instead of 82.

And when it matters most, say against your biggest rival on a celebratory evening, he'll steal the show; he'll be ready for the postseason and will carry the team's entire offense on his tiny shoulders. Yes, he's small at 5'9'' and 185 pounds, but I'd take six forwards like him at any time. Even if I managed a tough team like the Calgary Flames.

I didn't purchase a lot of Upper Deck's 2009-10 SP Game-Used Edition packs of cards, and I wasn't the most pleased with the ''hits'' I did get, so at one point I traded most of them for this one, #AF-MC of the Authentic Fabrics sub-set:
It's a great design, the colours really stand out, he's shown attempting a shot during a pre-game skate (he looks relaxed and like he's aiming for a shot, while in games he can find the top corners with his eyes closed when hitting a one-timer), and it's a two-colour swatch of a game-worn jersey. It's just perfect.

No comments:

Post a Comment