Michael Cammalleri

Michael Anthony Cammalleri (born June 8, 1982) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played 15 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for five different teams.

He played in the 1996 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with the Toronto Red Wings.

Cammalleri was selected by the Ontario Hockey League (OHL)'s St. Michael's Majors in the OHL Priority Draft, but chose not to play in the OHL in order to preserve his American college eligibility.

Instead, he joined the Junior A Bramalea Blues of the Ontario Provincial Junior Hockey League (OPJHL), where he was named the league's rookie of the year as a 15-year-old in 1997–98.

He was named an all-star the following season and was selected as the Ontario Hockey Association's top draft prospect after scoring 103 points in 41 games.

At age 15, Cammalleri committed to attend the University of Michigan on a full hockey scholarship.

He took an accelerated course schedule and graduated from The Country Day School in King City, Ontario, at age 17.

He then moved on to Michigan, where he studied sports management and communications.

Cammalleri joined the Michigan Wolverines men's ice hockey program in 1999, scoring 13 goals in 39 games as a freshman.

He led the team with 29 goals as a sophomore in 2000–01, and was named a first-team Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) all-star.

He was selected in the second round, 49th overall, by the Los Angeles Kings at the 2001 NHL Entry Draft.

Representing Canada internationally on four occasions, Cammalleri won bronze and silver medals at the 2001 and 2002 World Junior Championships respectively.

An all-star in college and the American Hockey League, Cammalleri played in the "Cold War", an outdoor game that set a then world attendance record in 2001.

He has also been recognized for his involvement in charitable efforts supporting children and the military.

Cammalleri was born in Richmond Hill, Ontario, and was raised there in a secular household (he described his upbringing as "non-denominational"), but his family background is half-Italian and half-Jewish.

His father, Leo, is Catholic and of Italian (Sicilian) descent and his mother, Ruth, is Jewish.

He has one sister, Melanie.

His maternal grandparents, from Poland and Czechoslovakia, were Holocaust survivors.

He said, "It's a family of deep-rooted closeness and unity coming from very desperate times. It is who I am as a person."

Cammalleri's best sport as a youth was soccer, while he also played baseball and golf.

His passion was hockey, and he played most of his minor ice hockey with the Toronto Red Wings organization of the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL).

Michigan reached the 2001 Frozen Four, where it lost the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) semi-final game to Boston College.

He was also voted to the NCAA west second All-American team.

The Los Angeles Kings selected Cammalleri in the second round of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, 49th overall.

He chose to remain in college, rejoining a much-younger Wolverines team as an alternate captain and expected to be the team's offensive leader.

Early in the season, on October 1, 2001, he played in the "Cold War" against Michigan State University, an outdoor game that set a then-world record attendance for a hockey game at 74,554 fans.

Though he nearly missed the game due to a hip-flexor injury, Cammalleri figured in all three of Michigan's goals as the game ended in a 3–3 draw.

With 23 goals and 44 points in 29 games, Cammalleri led the Wolverines to the CCHA conference championship in 2001–02.

He was named a CCHA second team all-star and an NCAA first team All-American.

At the West Regional tournament, Cammalleri was named both an all-star at forward and the most valuable player as he led Michigan back to the Frozen Four.

The Wolverines again lost the national semifinal, this time to the University of Minnesota.

Cammalleri made his NHL debut with the Kings in 2002.

He was named the tournament's best forward in 2002.

Cammalleri chose to forgo his senior year of eligibility, signing a contract with the Kings ahead of the 2002–03 NHL season.

In September 2007, he scored the first regular season goal ever scored in an NHL game played in Europe.

He won a gold medal at the 2007 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships.

After playing with the Calgary Flames for one season in 2008–09, he joined the Montreal Canadiens, with whom he scored the 20,000th goal in franchise history in 2009 and tied a franchise record for goals in one playoff series in 2010.

He returned to the Flames in 2012 following an unusual transaction in which he was traded in the middle of a game.

After the expiry of his contract in 2014, Cammalleri signed a five-year contract with the New Jersey Devils, but was bought-out just three years into the deal.

In the subsequent free agency period, he signed a one-year contract to return to the Kings, opting for a second tenure with a team for the second time in his career.