Photo Credit: Zack Hill
The Flyers were without the services of Sean Couturier, Ryan Ellis (Season), and Cam Atkinson for the season. However, back around December/January Atkinson was set to come back, “It’s obviously good to be back with the team. It’s definitely getting closer,” Atkinson said. “It’s good to be back with the guys, battling, and going through a lovely Torts practice,” he said with a smile.
“I’m cleared for everything (To play too). I’m day to day, no where near helping this team, but I’m closer than not.” – Cam Atkinson
At that point, the Flyers were decimated with injuries up front. The depth of the system was once again being tested, as Nic Deslauriers and then Zack MacEwen both earned new roles within the top six at times mainly due to injuries.
Then a week later Atkinson was ruled out for the rest of the season with season ending neck surgery. Voila, the thoughts of Atkinson returning and helping this club evaporated with one single shocking message by then former Flyers General Manager Chuck Fletcher. At that point the only information that was shared in regards to his injury was it was an upper body injury, although no specific details were given in terms of the neck surgery for Atkinson’s protection. With everything that was going on injury wise with Ryan Ellis over the course of the past few years. It was understandable for some fans to be worried that this was an Ellis 2.0 situation.
“He’s definitely a guy who can score goals, and makes a lot of plays,” Joel Farabee said. “He’s someone we need offensively.”
Atkinson Talks about his injury
“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. At the time, I really didn’t want to get surgery because it kind of freaked me out a little bit, going through the neck, and I was being told differently. Obviously, went through the process of trying to rehab naturally. I went back to Columbus for a little bit to see some people that I trust and I know, and came back here feeling pretty good. 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. So anyway, I felt like I needed to do something. I saw a different doctor, Vic Carroll, who was a BC guy, Boston College guy, and one of the Eagles’ surgeons and has worked on a lot of professional athletes, and 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. Just started the process of rehabbing. I don’t even know why I’m getting emotional, but just a tough year. Feel good. Feel good, and I know this is a huge summer for me and I want to be part of the solution, and I’m going to push myself more than ever.”
More on Cam’s injury, “Talking to guys that obviously got similar surgery. I talked to Eichel a little bit, obviously Farabee. I did a different procedure than those guys. I did the old school kind of take bone and stem cells off my hip and went through the neck, replaced the disc with that. They fused my C6-C7. I think those guys got our artificial disc. I read a lot of different books that are mental toughness books throughout my whole college career and kind of going back to what keeps me in a positive mindset. A lot has happened this year, obviously my wife gave birth in January. You can imagine the roller coaster. I got the surgery a week before that. It’s just talking to other guys around the league that have got different injuries, but it’s a process with any injury, right? I knew I wasn’t gonna play this season after I got the surgery, so I kind of put my mind on just getting better, take the time that I need to get back to myself and feel good. I feel pretty good right now.”
Cam Atkinson continued, “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. Not to get too sappy, but that’s been my year. But I feel great. I feel the best I’ve felt in a long, long time, and it’s nice to be able to shoot the puck the way that I’ve been able to shoot the puck in the past. Like I said, just looking forward to starting next season.”
*I feel this was the best way to clear the air on his injury, hearing it from Atkinson himself. That way things are misconstrued with me or anyone else in the media.*
The good news is Atkinson should be cleared next week for contact, and then he can fully train and prepare over the course of the Summer for the rigors that lie ahead at Training Camp in the Fall, “Gonna get cleared hopefully next week,” Atkinson said. “Been skating a lot the last three weeks. Training hard. No setbacks. Just looking forward to obviously getting cleared for contact and having a really, really good summer training. Revving it up even more than I ever have and obviously, itching for next season to start already selfishly.”
Circling back it is great to hear that Atkinson will be able to return to play the sport he loves and craves. The sport that he grew up playing throughout his childhood. It’s tough when you suffer through something, and you can’t control what happens next. In this case, there appears to be a happy ending for Atkinson and his family at least.
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