Talk about a lunch bag letdown -- at least for some of us who ate up this story last spring.

Andrew (The Hamburglar) Hammond received his "free for life" card from McDonald's Tuesday night, but it didn't exactly come as advertised. Rather than a lifetime card, as the fast-food giant had stated it would give the Senators goalie during his historic run down the stretch, he was handed coupons worth $1,000.

Not by any stretch was Hammond complaining, however.

"Hey, they didn't need to do anything," said Hammond, who played along with the popularity of his nickname by having The Hamburglar -- a cartoon character dreamed up by McDonald's decades ago -- drawn on his mask. "In fairness, (the art) was put on in all good fun ... if there was a copyright or trademark, I don't even know, but if they wanted to they could put up a big stink, and they've been great about it.

"They gave fans free McDonald's (burgers) last year so what else can you ask for?"

Hammond was presented an additional gift from the "seven or eight" McDonald's owners attending a Senators corporate event.

"It was a framed card, and the picture of me holding up the burger from last year," he said. "So they kind of had a little bit of fun with it too. It's funny they went the extra way and did that."

And not even a little bit chintzy that he doesn't get to flash a card for free food as long as he lives, after all the publicity he gave McD's?

"Not at all," said Hammond. "I don't see the difference between lifetime and $1,000 anyway."

-- Don Brennan