Veteran forward Cam Atkinson was originally expected to be a big part of the early days of John Tortorella’s tenure with the Flyers as someone who played under him for the entirety of his residency in Columbus. He was supposed to be the bridge of communication when it came to translating Tortorella to English. Then he ended up missing the entire season with a neck injury and subsequent surgery, spending months away from the team for recovery.
When Atkinson returned to action for the start of the 2023-24 season, it didn’t look like he missed a step. He scored a goal during the first game of the season, and posted eight goals and 12 points in his first 16 games. But as the season went on, he became less and less effective. He followed that up with a 20-game goalless drought (and counting) with just five assists in that time.
Atkinson, who will turn 35 in June, still has one year left on his contract at a $5.8 million cap hit.
The Flyers have stuck with the same 12 forwards for a vast majority of the season, and haven’t seen voluntary change since Noah Cates went down with an injury around American Thanksgiving.
27-year-old Rhett Gardner has recently been serving as the 13th forward, replacing top prospect Olle Lycksell, who sat in the press box for two weeks in early December. Gardner has just 40 games of NHL experience to his name. He’s serving more as a placeholder than a real option, but the Phantoms are full of prospects that could be getting integrated into the NHL lineup in place of Atkinson.
Lycksell led the AHL in pretty much every offensive stat when he was recalled in early December and is just shy of a point-per-game pace over the last season-and-a-half in Lehigh Valley. He played just eight shifts for six minutes of time on ice on the fourth line in a game against the Coyotes on December 7 during a last-minute illness to Ryan Poehling. He didn’t play again and was demoted back to the Phantoms with his return coming on December 21.
Tortorella called it a “reward” for Lycksell to sit in the pressbox after earning it with his play in the AHL, but openly refused to make roster changes to incorporate the winger. Ignoring the fact that this argument from Torts makes absolutely no sense, with Atkinson’s continued struggles, there is growing reason to bench him, thus opening a top nine spot and deploying Lycksell in a real role giving him an opportunity to finally stick at the NHL level.
Banished young vets like Wade Allison and Tanner Laczynski have also both been performing very well, while rookie Samu Tuomaala has been an offensive force for most of the season. Even veteran Cooper Marody could be a better option at this point than Atkinson.
Sitting the 34-year-old in favor of players looking to get their feet wet in the NHL during a “rebuild” should be one of the bare minimum strategies being deployed this season, but Tortorella has remained stedfast in the very clear line between the have and have nots when it comes to prospects.
Noah Cates isn’t expected back for another few weeks at the earliest. So there’s no reprieve coming any time soon, and if we learned anything from the early days of the season, it’s probably going to be either Morgan Frost or Bobby Brink to get scratched to accommodate Cates’ return, not Atkinson.
The Flyers are going to have to address the status of Cam Atkinson during the summer. Whether it comes via buyout or trade. But for now, he’s the obvious weakest link when it comes to the top nine and Tortorella and the front office need to pivot away from the veteran forward in favor of giving someone else a chance and actually living up to the “rebuilding” that is supposed to be happening.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: Getty Images
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