Toronto Maple Leafs: Give Michael Cammalleri a PTO
The Toronto Maple Leafs should extend a PTO invite to Michael Cammalleri.
The projected Toronto Maple Leafs fourth line centre is Swedish national, Pär Lindholm. While Lindholm had a solid Olympics, it isn’t a sure fire bet that he’ll excel at the NHL level. His signing wasn’t a bad one, but there is no guarantee he’s up for the job.
Miro Aaltonen could have been a solid plan B, but he signed with the KHL club, HC Vityaz this off-season. With Aaltonen off to the KHL, the only centremen in the farm system that could be in line for fourth line duty are Fred Gauthier and Chris Mueller. Gauthier has had a few chances to prove himself at the NHL level, but hasn’t been impressive when called upon.
Similarly, Mueller hasn’t been impressive either at the NHL level. He’s had some chances to prove himself in the past with the Dallas Stars, New York Rangers and the Nashville Predators but wasn’t able to turn heads. Instead of being the fourth line centre for the Toronto Maple Leafs, he’ll likely be a grinder on the Toronto Marlies this season.
If I were Kyle Dubas, I would arm Mike Babcock with a few centremen at training camp for him to evaluate. There is absolutely no risk. A PTO provides the Toronto Maple Leafs with the opportunity to test drive players.
Over the course of the past few weeks, I’ve heard many bloggers suggest that the Toronto Maple Leafs should give Nick Shore a PTO invite. It does make a lot of sense, but I’d also recommend that Dubas look at Cammalleri as well.
Michael Cammalleri
Over the course of his seventeen season career, the Toronto native has played for the Montreal Canadiens, the Calgary Flames, the New Jersey Devils, the Los Angeles Kings and the Edmonton Oilers.
Unfortunately, Cammalleri hasn’t been an offensive rock star since his tenure with the Habs. He has failed to total more than 50 points since his 09-10 season.
Last season, he spent his season with both the Oilers and the Kings. While he wasn’t dazzling eyes, he still had a decent campaign. In 66 games played, he registered 7 goals, 22 assists, 4 power-play points, a 13:46 ATOI and a 47.4 corsi-for percentage. Considering his low minutes per night, he didn’t have an awful campaign.
If the Toronto Maple Leafs front office extended an invite to Cammalleri, they’d be bringing a former first line centre to Toronto. Not only would he be a solid mentor for some of the prospects, but he could also light a fire under Lindholm.
It’s not uncommon for general managers and/or coaches to extend PTOs to veterans to help put pressure on players to strive for success in preseason. Perhaps, Lindholm might thrive under pressure from Cammalleri and prove to be nothing but stellar throughout training camp.
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On the flip side, the 36 year old centre could prove to be worth a one-year deal and the Maple Leafs could choose to keep him for a season. All-in-all, extending a PTO invite to Cammalleri would be worth it and shouldn’t be considered a risk. Instead, it could be a solid under-the-radar transaction for Dubas.
stats from NHL.com and hockey-reference.com