Michael Cammalleri
Michael Cammalleri had a career that players in the Ontario Junior Hockey League dream of. The Richmond Hill native had a distinguished 15-year run in the NHL playing in over 938 games. He scored 294 goals and accumulated 642 points with five teams (Los Angeles Kings, Calgary Flames, Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils, Edmonton Oilers). But first, Cammalleri starred for the Bramalea Blues in what’s now the OJHL for two seasons. A year after being named league rookie of the year, he recorded 103 points (31 goals/72 assists) in 41 games for the Blues in 1998-99. The Blues went on to win the Buckland and Dudley Hewitt Cups that season and also played in the 1999 Centennial Cup. Cammalleri then played three seasons at the University of Michigan. A CCHA first team All-Star and NCAA West second team All-America in 2001, he was the team's assistant captain and was named CCHA first team and NCAA West first team All-America in 2002. He decided to forego his senior season and completed his three-year collegiate career with 131 points in 110 games. He was the leading goal-scorer at least once on three of the first four NHL teams he played for. He led the Kings with 26 goals during the 2005-06 season; led the Flames in goals with 39 goals in 2008-09 and 26 in 2013-14 with 26; and topped the New Jersey Devils with 27 goals in 2014-15. Cammalleri has the unusual distinction of being traded in the middle of an NHL game. He was pulled off the ice midway through the Canadiens' game against the Boston Bruins on Jan. 12, 2012, after Montreal and the Calgary Flames worked out a trade. Before he said au revoir to Montreal, Cammalleri tied a franchise playoff scoring record shared by Maurice Richard, Jean Beliveau, Bernie Geoffrion, Guy Lafleur and Marcel Bonin. He did it during the second round of the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs, when he scored seven goals in a seven-game series against the Pittsburgh Penguins to lead the Canadiens into the Eastern Conference Final. Cammalleri finished the 2010 playoffs leading all scorers with 13 goals. A second-round selection (No. 49) by the Kings in the 2001 NHL Draft, Cammalleri represented Canada internationally, winning gold at the 2007 World Championship and silver at the World Junior Championship in 2001 and 2002. Cammalleri, who retired in 2018, coached youth hockey in Vaughan at the time of his induction into the OJHL Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Richmond Hill Sports Hall of Fame in January 2025.