Cam Atkinson Can Be The Flyers Next Goal Scorer

Photo Credit: Jamie Sabau/NHLI via Getty Images

Cam Atkinson comes into Philadelphia looking to fill a need that has been left vacant since Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne. Outside of Scott Hartnell and Brayden Schenn, who didn’t exactly fill this role properly, this organization has lacked a player with a shoot first mentality. Finally, after several years former 40 goal scorer, Atkinson, comes into town looking to make his mark in the goal scoring department. Not only has the club missed a true goal scorer, but Claude Giroux, who is one of the leagues best playmakers of the modern era, has not had a shoot first type of player on his line, since his early career season playing with both Carter and Gagne. Over the years Giroux has had a carousel of players cycling around him looking to fill the void of the goal scorer to compliment his pass first mentality. Sure, Sean Couturier, Wayne Simmonds, and Travis Konecny have done an admirable job in the recent past filling that void, but none would be considered a pure shooter. Yes, the club has three young guns waiting in the wings to take that reign with Joel Farabee, Wade Allison, and Tyson Forester, but they don’t want to rely on young players to play a top line role. Even though Farabee already looks prepared to take on a top 6 role nightly, why risk it?

Cam Atkinson comes with a long pedigree of producing goals at all levels of play and while he hasn’t always been a consistent 30-40 goalscorer he has shown that when played with an elite puck possession passer, he has been able to lock into his finishing mentality. With a strong, accurate shot and hands that can score in around the paint, Atkinson has shown countless times that he will not hesitate to pull the trigger when given the opportunity. The Flyers teams of the recent past of shown themselves to be gun shy when it comes to taking the shot. Countless times Flyers fans had to watch a 2-1 offensive break disintegrate away, as the team flush with playmakers, just couldn’t help but make that one extra pass and not score a goal.

Not only can Atkinson score, but he scores in all situations even strength (5v5), shorthanded, and on the powerplay which are areas that last season’s club needed help with, especially when it came to special teams. In the playoffs he elevates his play even further has he boast very strong statistics, with 10 goals 16 assists in 35 games in his career. Even more impressive considering he has never been a true playoff contender contender. If the Flyers choose to play Cam Atkinson with Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier, we might see one of the most potent offensive lines this team has had in a long time. In this case, it’s not just an issue of talent, that has always been there, it’s a case of having the right mix. Can the Flyers make their own version of Boston’s Perfection Line? Well they should definitely try. It’s important to see how Atkinson can fit in, and play the right role with the right combination of line mates. Maybe, just maybe, the Flyers found their next leading goalscorer.

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