Former NHL star will make his debut on Hockey Night in Canada tonight!

There have been some major changes to the hockey night broadcast over the past several months, perhaps major cutbacks would be a more accurate way of describing things, but it sounds like fans of the National Hockey League are actually in for quite the treat on Saturday night. 

Although there has not been any kind of official announcement regarding this situation, Sportsnet's National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman provided a major hint today about his new broadcast partner on Hockey Night in Canada this evening. Friedman published a picture on his instagram account and in that picture we see former NHL star Mike Cammalleri sitting between Hockey Night in Canada regulars Ron MacLean and Kelly Hrudey.

Now it is unclear at this time whether or not Cammalleri will be a new regular member of the broadcast but Friedman did call his appearance this evening his "debut" on HNIC. It's worth noting as well that Cammalleri has made headlines recently due to his work in sports nutrition, with his company recently being acquired by Canadian giant Canopy Growth Corporation. That news was announced just this week so it seems reasonable to speculate that he may be appearing as a guest on the show specifically as it pertains to that major announcement, an announcement that the NHL is no doubt paying very close attention to given that it could have implications for player health moving forward. 

Needless to say though if this is the start of a regular appearance for Cammalleri on the broadcast it will no doubt be an extremely popular decision given that the long time NHL veteran was an extremely well-respected presence on the ice throughout his 900+ game career in the league. Additionally given that this is specifically for the Canadian broadcast, it is hard to think of a more fitting player for the job given that Cammalleri has played in several Canadian markets throughout his career. The former NHL forward spent time with the Montreal Canadiens, Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers over his lengthy career and made a name for himself in each of those markets before moving on. Cammalleri has of course since stepped away from the game with his final season coming during the 2017 - 2018 NHL season as a member of the aforementioned Oilers, and this would certainly be a very interesting new chapter in his hockey career.

Either way, we wish him nothing but the best moving forward.