Number:13
Age:31
Birth date:June 5, 1989
Birthplace: Riverside, Conn.
Height, weight: 5-8, 175
Stats: 44 GP, 12-14-26, 2.9 point shares, 52.06 xGF% at 5-on-5 per Natural Stat Trick
Contract:Signed through 2024-25 season (Five years remaining before UFA status)
It just goes to show you no one quite knows how the NHL draft is going to go.
When Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson took a flier on a high-scoring, talented but diminutive goal scorer named Cam Atkinson in the sixth round of the 2008 draft, it wasn't the kind of thing that made waves.
Atkinson had just posted 63 points in 28 games at the Avon Old Farms prep school in his native state of Connecticut, but he hadn't even been to Boston College yet, where he'd become just one in a line of smallish but talented wingers to become a star. With the Eagles, Atkinson became a true goal-scoring force, going from seven to 30 to 31 goals over his three seasons playing in the Conte Forum.
He then turned pro and made the Blue Jackets coming out of camp in 2011, playing in the opener along with David Savard to now make the two the longest-tenured Columbus players. Since then, Atkinson has skated in 571 games, scoring 198 goals and posting 368 points. All three of those markers are second in CBJ franchise history, behind only Rick Nash.
It is funny, in a vacuum, how the only player Atkinson remains chasing in team history is someone who went No. 1 overall the NHL draft (and that most of those right behind him in team annals were also first-round picks) while 156 players were chosen ahead of Atkinson back in 2008. But being a sixth-round pick has always seemed to push Atkinson, who seems to be at his best when doubted.
Entering the season:Coming off a record-tying 41-goal season, Atkinson entered the campaign fired up to answer those who said much of his scoring was related to spending the previous two seasons on a line with Artemi Panarin. Either way, he was counted on as one of the key offensive drivers of play on a team that had suddenly lost a few of those, and the hope was for at least another 30-goal campaign out of a player who had done nothing but improve throughout his Columbus career.
Season recap: Atkinson scored the Jackets' first goal of the season in the opener vs. Toronto, but he soon found goals hard to come by.
Twenty-seven games into the season, a player who had scored in every other game the year before had a total of four tallies to go with 11 assists for 15 points. Head coach John Tortorella was critical of Atkinson, saying it appeared the top-line winger lacked energy, and removing him at times from the team's top power-play units.
Eventually, things started to come together, though. Atkinson scored in a Dec. 5 loss to the New York Rangers, then two games later had a pair of goals in a big win at Washington. He then scored twice in the next two games, but in a Dec. 19 game vs. Los Angeles, having tallied five times in the previous seven games, he tweaked his ankle and had to leave, suffering a high ankle sprain that knocked him out of action for the next month.
He returned just as on fire as he had been when he left, scoring in his return game Jan. 16 vs. Carolina then tallying twice two days later in a win vs. New Jersey to give him a total of eight goals in 10 games and 12 points in 11 games. But just a few games later on Feb. 8 vs. Colorado, Atkinson tweaked the ankle injury and was out for the next month, planning a return March 12 when the NHL went into its coronavirus pause.
When Columbus returned for the postseason, Atkinson said his goal was to show the regular season was an aberration after his 12 goals -- or 0.27 per game -- was his lowest output since 2013-14.
"I have a lot to prove personally I think after the start I had, so I couldn't be more excited to be back and get the opportunity to showcase myself and help the team win and do what I do and that's score goals," Atkinson said. "I'm just looking forward to that first game, that's for sure."
Atkinson proved it, scoring in that first game of the postseason vs. Toronto on the way to turning in an impressive playoff effort. He posted a 3-5-8 line in eight games to score a point per game in the team's postseason run while also missing two games because of injury.
