Chuck Fletcher and the Flyers entered into this offseason knowing that there were major changes in store for the team. After a down year and facing a difficult cap situation, the organization knew high priced fan favorites would have to be moved to address scoring and defensive depth. One of the top priorities for the team was to add a shoot-first winger to play a top six forward role. Turning to a familiar trade partner, the Flyers traded Jake Voracek for Cam Atkinson in a rare one for one deal.
The acquisition of Cam Atkinson highlighted some of the priorities that the Flyers had for their offseason shopping list: leadership, ability to play 5-on-5 and special teams, and a focus on shooting. Before the two Covid shortened seasons, Atkinson averaged 20+ goals per season. His career high came in the 2018-2019 season when he scored 41 goals to go along with his 28 assists. Pairing a player like Cam Atkinson with a talented passer like Claude Giroux can help both players point totals for the upcoming season. In the same 2018-2019 season Giroux tallied 63 assists. Columbus will hope that Jake’s passing skills will help with their talented young forward Patrick Laine. If both players can revert back to their pre-Covid form it will be a deal that can benefit both teams.
It’s crazy to believe that the Flyers were one of the last teams to score a short-handed goal last season and their special teams often struggled. Atkinson can fill gaps in both the power play and penalty killing units. This will help take some of the pressure off of forwards such as Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier who are tasked with playing on both units as well. Atkinson has been a prolific short-handed goal scorer in his career, amassing 16 goals in 10 years. Last season he matched a career high with four short-handed tallies.
Besides his talents on the ice, Atkinson was brought in as a veteran leadership presence. He was an Alternate Captain with the Blue Jackets and is familiar with a lot of the players on the Flyers roster. He will be another teammate that young players like Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Wade Allison can draw inspiration from. The Flyers can hope that forwards like these can contribute in multiple areas of the game like Atkinson.
Atkinson is also very involved in charity, having started the Force Network Fund which benefits military and first responders and the Battery Hockey Academy which helps children get on the ice to play hockey. Cam Atkinson has bought into the Flyers already, his introductory press conference included a Gritty T-Shirt and his Grandma Marge is making the rounds on social media wearing his jersey. He will continue to support the Columbus community and bring his passion to the Philadelphia area.
Of the Flyers offseason acquisitions, Cam Atkinson is one that I am looking forward to watching immensely. The Flyers have lacked a scoring wing since Jaromir Jagr played with Claude Giroux. As a versatile player, Atkinson can pair well with any of the Flyers top 3 centers and bring the scoring punch the team could have used last year.
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