Michael Cammalleri is back in the city where he started his NHL career, after signing a one-year deal with the Los Angeles Kings on July 1. Ten years ago, though — almost to the day — Cammalleri and the Los Angeles Kings sat on opposite sides in a five-hour arbitration hearing.
Just one year into his tenure, Dean Lombardi successfully argued against the enormous raise Cammalleri was demanding, landing the Kings’ top scorer at $6.7 million overall on a two-year deal. And for a while, it was business as usual. The Kings were still pretty bad, but a (presumably) very motivated Cammalleri was still pretty dang good, potted ten goals in his first ten games of the new season.