It’s not breaking news since his last media availability was back in April, however this is somewhat of a reminder that Cam Atkinson should be stapled into the opening night roster for the Philadelphia Flyers and his impact will be felt almost immediately.
Near the end of the season and into the early parts of the offseason, there was a lot of doubt in relation to Cam Atkinson’s return for the Flyers. The veteran missed all of last season with a neck injury and was raring to get back into game action by the end of the year but was held out for precautionary measures. The severity of the injuries really piled up for Philadelphia and as someone who has never fully recovered from herniated discs, it’s a long road ahead.
However in saying that, I am at 75%-80% of what my back used to be like, I never opted for surgery, nor did I have a medical staff on hand keeping tabs of my injury and recovery. In other words, players like Atkinson who have succumbed through these tremendously difficult injuries, will be able to bounce back in quick order – Jack Eichel is a good example of that.
If it wasn’t doubt that populated Atkinson’s name than it was pessimism mixed in with the notion that the Flyers, who were knee-deep in a rebuild, should be gutting their roster and tearing down the foundation, brick by brick. With the new front office that is now in charge of this organization, veterans like Atkinson are going to be needed for however long they see fit; that also includes Sean Couturier, Scott Laughton, and Travis Konecny.
They could all very well be moved within the next year or so but for the time being Daniel Briere and John Tortorella are comfortable and happy with where things stand and with who has been subtracted from the roster to date.
It hasn’t been fun for a while in Philadelphia, and it can be argued that the last time there was consistent success was at the start of the 2010 decade. Ever since then it’s been up and down, alternating between making and missing the playoffs, and then once that stopped it has just been getting worse by the year with the postseason being nothing but a foolish pipe dream. This was an organization that missed the playoffs only 8 times between 1967 and 2012 and that includes 5 consecutive seasons in the late 80s to early 90s.
From 2012-13 to 2022-23, they’ve almost matched the previous number as the Flyers have missed the playoffs 7 times, including the last 3 seasons. While that number is most likely going to increase over the next 2-3 seasons, there’s at least a new voice, direction, and purpose within the confines of the Wells Fargo Center. There’s actually some excitement for the first time in what feels like a very long time and part of that excitement comes from the impending returns of Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson.
There was a lot of buzz when the Flyers initially acquired the now-34-year-old winger from the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for Jakub Voracek on the 2nd day of the draft. He had spent the previous 10 seasons in Columbus, collected 213 goals and 402 points in 627 games along the way, and built himself a reputation of being a great teammate off and on the ice.
The Flyers were looking for leadership, accountability, and a shoot-first winger and they received all 3 in the form of Cam Atkinson. Between 2015-16 and 2018-19, Atkinson scored 127 goals and 230 points in 308 games, including season tallies of 27, 35, 24, and 41 respectively. In the next 2 seasons combined – COVID-interrupted and COVID-shortened – he scored 27 goals and 60 points in 100 games, capping off a John Tortorella led era with 154 goals and 290 points in 408 games with 1,298 shots, ATOI of 18:30, and more takeaways than giveaways.
He came to Philadelphia the next season and scored 23 goals and 50 points in 73 games and led the team in goals up until the final day of the season when James van Riemsdyk usurped his total by 1. He was only a minus-2, had fired 215 shots, averaged 18:15 TOI, and registered 37 takeaways to 28 giveaways. He also skated for 128.3 minutes while shorthanded and 195.4 minutes on the power play, where he tallied 3 shorthanded goals and 5 power play points.
He started off the season with a blistering pace of 6 goals and 7 points in his first 5 games. Went the next 17 games with just 2 goals and 6 points before Alain Vigneault got fired and then scored 7 goals – including a hat-trick – and 15 points in Mike Yeo’s first 14 games as interim head coach.
Leading into Claude Giroux’s final game as a Flyer, Atkinson – his linemate – scored 7 goals and 18 points in the following 24 games. Without the captain, he ended the season with 1 goal and 4 points in his final 13 games and his season was cut short due to injury.
All things considered, he had 15 goals and 37 points in Yeo’s first 44 games before going without a point in his final 7 games. It was a successful season all things considered and with another important off-season ahead, he was definitely one of the brighter spots heading into a new season.
The Flyers then hired his former coach in John Tortorella but the veteran forward suffered a neck injury that kept him sidelined the entire season. He underwent season-ending neck surgery in December of 2022 but tried to make it back in time for the final few games of the season.
It was yet another tale of a strange injury plaguing the Flyers because it did seem like Atkinson was very close to making the opening night roster. He didn’t play in any of the preseason games but he was skating regularly and trying his best to speed up the process.
He was dealing with an ailment that even he didn’t know the entire story about. He finally found out that it was a herniated disc in his neck and that it required surgery as soon as possible.
“It’s just the emotion of, like, not being told what the hell is going on when I know I’m not feeling good and that was the crappy part.”
“Where do I start? Just wasn’t feeling well at the start of training camp. Got a couple of different MRIs and a couple misdiagnosis. Finally, I saw someone that told me that I had a herniated disc in my C6-C7 and that I needed to get surgery right away.”
He wasn’t overly enthused about the idea of neck surgery so he went back to Columbus to get an opinion from people he trusted. That was something that the media almost made it seem like Atkinson didn’t trust the Flyers medical staff – a staff that had dealt with it’s fair share of scrutiny over the previous seasons.
He tried rehabbing it naturally and it was actually working for a little bit as he then started to eye a return in December. It didn’t get any better and they decided to take matter in their own hands with surgery that was observed by Philadelphia Eagles spine consultant, Alexander Vaccaro. He convinced the veteran that it was the best and most logical route for him to take, especially if he wanted to return to the ice.
“Thought that I could kind of return to play in December when we went on that road trip to Vegas, Colorado, Arizona, and then New Jersey, I believe, and just the process of the return to play. I just, I couldn’t get through a practice by myself.”
“He pretty much reassured me that if I don’t take care of my atrophy in my left triceps, that I probably wouldn’t be able to play again. So, I got surgery three days later. I woke up and felt unbelievable. All the pain that I couldn’t sleep was gone.”
How does he feel now? Back in April, Atkinson made mention that he felt better, suffered no setbacks, that he was looking forward to the off-season and 2023-24, and that he wants to put this “crazy” 2022-23 season behind him.
“It just was a crazy year. I’m just looking forward. I’m glad selfishly that the season’s done, so I can focus on the summer and doing what I need to do to get back to that elite shape and form that I know, and everyone knows that I’m capable of doing. Like I said, I haven’t had any setbacks at all. I feel really good.
“Seeing these young guys obviously, some guys take a huge step forward, it only fuels me to push myself and push the young guys. I don’t think we’re as far off as people think. Especially if guys are healthy and certain things happen this offseason.
“I know this is a huge summer for me and I want to be part of the solution. I’m going to push myself more than ever. Seeing these young guys take a step, some guys take a huge step forward, it only fuels me to push myself and push the young guys.”
The Flyers have made several changes since the last time Atkinson suited up in the Orange and Black. Kevin Hayes, James van Riemsdyk, and Ivan Provorov are no longer on the team, Tony DeAngelo was brought in with Nicolas Deslauriers, Garnet Hathaway, Ryan Poehling, Marc Staal, and Victor Mete, Sean Couturier should be back in the lineup, and the young players in Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett took massive leaps last year.
Barring any setbacks this offseason, Atkinson will return to the lineup and should feature in all situations once again. With John Tortorella behind the bench, a head coach who knows firsthand what Atkinson is fully capable of delivering, look for him to have a huge comeback season. He will feature as a main fixture on the power play, penalty kill, 3-on-3 overtime session, and within the top-6.
For a team that lacks goal-scoring, Atkinson will be looking to add to his totals as he comes into the 2023-24 season with seven 20-goal seasons, including 35 in 2016-17 and 41 in 2018-19. A lot of his goals have come while playing even-strength hockey, which is something else the Flyers desperately need. Out of his 213 goals, 155 of them have come at even-strength with 42 on the power play and 16 while shorthanded.
With how Travis Konecny and Scott Laughton featured as a dynamic duo on the penalty kill, look for the Flyers to be even more offensively minded down a man with Couturier and Atkinson reprising their roles.
The Flyers only had 4 players hit the 200+ shot threshold over the last 2 seasons with Atkinson reaching that mark in 2021-22. He has reached that mark 7 times in his career and was well on his way there in 2019-20 and 2020-21 but missed the mark due to the shortened seasons and injury.
The prospects of rolling out with a top line that features Travis Konecny, Sean Couturier, and Cam Atkinson with Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost, and Owen Tippett rounding out the top-6 should make for some fun hockey heading into 2023-24. The team as a whole is still expected to struggle but who says you can’t enjoy the season otherwise?
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