Atkinson expects to be ready for season opener with Flyers

LEWIS CENTER, Ohio --Cam Atkinson, who missed the 2022-23 season because of a neck injury, expects to be available when the Philadelphia Flyers open the regular season Oct. 12.

"I'll be ready to rock and roll for Game 1," he said Tuesday.

That the game is at the Columbus Blue Jackets against his former team in his adopted hometown will make it even more special. Atkinson was traded to the Flyers by the Blue Jackets for forward Jakub Voracek on July 24, 2021.

"It's come full circle, just being hurt and looking towards coming back," Atkinson said. "I'm going to be pretty excited to play that game no matter what, but obviously it's just a little bit more icing on the cake that it's here in Columbus."

Atkinson is eager to prove he is fully recovered after having neck surgery Dec. 21. It was a long and frustrating process to get to that point. He said he didn't feel right in training camp in September, then had "a couple of misdiagnoses."

"There were a lot of ups and downs," Atkinson said. "At first, I tried to do [rehab] the natural way (without surgery)."

He spent most of the fall in Columbus rehabbing. When the Flyers played at Nationwide Arena on Nov. 10, Atkinson took part in the morning skate and appeared headed for a return to the lineup sometime in December.

However, he suffered setbacks and contacted Dr. Alex Vaccaro, the spine consultant for the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles. Vaccaro is a graduate of Boston College, and Atkinson played there from 2008-10.

"A lot of good synergy there and he pretty much told me and reassured me that if I don't get surgery within the next month or two, I was going to essentially almost be paralyzed in my whole left arm because the atrophy of my left triceps," Atkinson said. "I got the surgery two days later and he told me, 'I'll get you back to your elite level of playing.'

"As soon as I woke up from the surgery the pain was gone. I feel like once I got that surgery it put me over the hump to returning to how I know I can play."

The 34-year-old forward had 402 points (213 goals, 189 assists) in 627 regular-season games for the Blue Jackets from 2011-21. He scored 35 goals in 2016-17 and 41 in 2018-19. In 73 games for the Flyers in 2021-22, he had 50 points (23 goals, 27 assists).

Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner, who's had his share of injuries that have kept him out for extended periods, talked to his former teammate about his recovery.

"It's never easy," Jenner said. "It's the nature of the sport we play and sometimes you're out longer than you want to be. It's tough mentally, but he got through it. He's feeling great."

Even though Atkinson was traded, it wasn't a case of him wanting out of Columbus and he remains beloved by many Blue Jackets fans for his 10 seasons with them.

That was evident when the right wing played in the inaugural Cap City Elite Summer League at OhioHealth Chiller North in suburban Columbus on Tuesday.

A week earlier, the fans packed the facility to cheer Adam Fantilli, the No. 3 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. Now they came to root for Atkinson in the league that features current Blue Jackets players such as Jenner and Sean Kuraly, former Blue Jackets players like Jack Johnson and Gustav Nyquist, current and former Ohio State players and others.

"It's great to see the turnout with all the kids," said Atkinson, who lives in the Columbus area with his wife, Natalie, and three children and is co-founder of The Battery Hockey Academy in nearby Plain City. "I've known this all along how special this place is, and the youth programs keep getting bigger and better, and more and more kids are playing hockey, and it goes to show how much it's grown by how many showed up here on a Tuesday in the summer. What a great hockey town."