No hard feelings?

One question during the summer, during the aftermath of Michael Cammalleri's arbitration hearing, was whether he would harbor any bitterness and whether he would still be a ``team player.'' Well, given the way the first month of the season have gone, that's no longer a question. I asked Cammalleri if he took any motivation from the arbitration process, which didn't have an official winner or loser even though it tilted heavily in favor of the Kings.

``No, it has nothing to do with that,'' Cammailleri said.

So, I asked, what does it have to do with? Just the natural progression of his career?

``Two years ago, I scored 26, and I had 34 last year,'' Cammalleri said. ``I don't think it's out of the blue. I guess I'm just trying to get better. I just go play the way I know how, and that's it. Nothing that happened during the summer has anything to do with how I play hockey.''

I asked him whether, at age 25, the game is still getting easier for him. Young players talk about the game ``slowing down'' as they get more experience, and I wondered if that still happens for him.

``Yeah, I don't think that will ever change, until you reach your pinnacle,'' Cammalleri said. ``I'm 25 years old and I want to keep getting better and improving in a lot of ways. `Easier' is a funny word when you talk about that. The game is never easy, but maybe you just get more effective as you keep going.''

I asked him whether he feels more attention coming his way. During the trip to Calgary last week, Cammalleri was the subject of a local newspaper story, something that doesn't happen very often to players from L.A.

``On this team, it's not really a case of that,'' Cammalleri said. ``We've got a lot o threats. We've got a lot of dangerous people and it's not going to be a case of just one guy getting all the attention.''

Finally, I asked him about last season, since he had a solid year but didn't seem to get much attention from it. I asked whether he thought it was because he plays in L.A. or because the team won so little last season.

``I think both things are factors in that,'' Cammalleri said. ``If you're playing in Canada and have a year like that, it's going to get more attention, and obviously if the team does well, that's the important thing that's going to bring attention to your success. I think they both have something to do with it.''

I asked Marc Crawford whether he had any concerns about Cammalleri entering the season, whether he feared that the contract strife would negatively impact Cammalleri's play.

``As coaches, we try not to concern ourselves with matters of management,'' Crawford said. ``You're always aware of what's going on contractually with players. You're aware of who's in their final year of their contract. Those things often come into play. With Mike, I can tell you exactly my thoughts. When he went to arbitration, I wasn't too concerned. I was more concerned just with Mike coming back and being in our fold.

``When our side maybe won the arbitration case, I knew Mike was going to... He just wants to score so much and he wants to be a great player. I never felt that there was any concern that he wasn't going to give us anything but his best. He has shown the ability to do that. He's a very determined player. He's determined be a top goal scorer. He's determined to do the things that top goal scorers do. He's determined to show that he's amongst the premier goal scorers in this league. When you've got that type of determination, you just see what happens.

``He doesn't have the biggest frame, he doesn't have the dynamic, maybe, skill set that some of the top producers in the league in the past have had, but he certainly has the determination that great scorers have. He deserves full accolades for how well he's playing this year.''