By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Brady Calla got to play hockey against men this spring, and he loved every minute of it.
Now he’s getting paid like them, too.
Calla, a Kamloops Blazers right winger who turned 20 on March 14, has agreed to terms on a three-year contract with the NHL’s Florida Panthers. The deal, which was negotiated by Vancouver-based Kevin Epp of Titan Sports Management, was concluded last week and announced by the Panthers on Tuesday.
Told the he had made the headlines at nhl.com, Calla responded: “Right on! Cool!”
“It went really well,” he said of the negotiations. “We got something awesome and it’s really exciting.”
In all probability, Calla has played his last WHL game. He finished this WHL season with the Blazers, who acquired him from the Moose Jaw Warriors on Nov. 7, and then joined the Rochester Americans, the Panthers’ AHL affiliate.
“Personally, I felt like I was playing the best hockey of my life,” said Calla, who had two goals, two assists and was plus-3 in six regular-season games with the Americans. “I just felt confident. And it was a lot of fun . . . the game was fun again.”
Calla, a third-round pick by Florida in the NHL’s 2006 draft, came over from the Warriors in exchange for defenceman Keaton Ellerby, whom the Panthers selected in the first round of the 2007 NHL draft. Ellerby also signed with the Panthers last week.
Calla finished the WHL season with 40 points, including 12 goals, in 66 games, during which he was minus-22. With the Blazers, he had 30 points, 10 of them goals, in 52 games and was minus-20.
A strong defensive player, Calla excels in preparing for practices and games and admitted he was worn out and stale by the end of his fourth WHL season, especially with the struggling Blazers concluding their run by losing 18 of their last 19 games.
When he joined the Americans, then, he looked at it as a chance to start over.
“I went there and didn’t know what to expect,” he said. “I took everything in on and off the ice and I learned a lot of stuff. it was almost like going to school again every day.”
He especially enjoyed the opportunity to play with and against older players in a highly structured situation.
“Playing with men was a new challenge. You have to be on edge every second out there,” he explained. “In a sense, it was almost easier to go play there . . . in the team concept. Guys think the same way. They read off you; you can read off them. It was awesome.”
Going in, he thought he might struggle a bit in the strength department but found that not to be the case.
“It wasn’t that bad,” the 6-foot-0, 190-pounder said. “Surprisingly, I thought it was going to be tougher but it wasn’t that bad, Obviously, I have a lot of work to do this offseason but strengthwise I felt I fit in pretty well. I feel like I’m a strong guy in (the WHL) and (in the AHL) it wasn’t too bad.
“But I can always work on tons of things — shooting and releasing the puck, things like that. Those guys are so much faster and quicker.”
Where he has spent the last two summers in Calgary, Calla has a different plan this time around.
“This summer,” he said, “I’m going to stay home, hang with my family a bit and keep training as hard as I can.”
And, come late August, he will attend the start of Blazers’ training camp in advance of making his first serious attempt at cracking an NHL roster.
“Yeah,” he said, “I’ll be at the Blazers’ camp. Hopefully, I can show up there and inspire some guys to move on, too.”
