Former Boston College forward Cam Atkinson changed cities in the offseason for the first time in his National Hockey League career. Suffice it to say, it’s gone well so far for both the 5-foot-8 sniper and the Philadelphia Flyers.
Dealt to Philadelphia for Jakub Voracek over the summer, after spending the first 10 seasons of his NHL tenure with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Atkinson (Riverside, Conn.) wasted no time getting acclimated to playing full time in Pennsylvania. He scored six goals and set up two others for eight points in his first 10 outings, as the Flyers went 6-2-2 in that season-opening span.
“The adjustment was relatively easy, knowing a bunch of guys on the team,” said Atkinson in mid-November.
That includes former Columbus teammate and former Philadelphia forward Scott Hartnell, who now covers the Flyers as part of NBC Sports Philadelphia.
“He’s my best friend, our wives are best friends, and our kids are in the same pre-K,” explained Atkinson. “The transition, not only for me but my family, has been really easy.”
Atkinson tallied twice in a 6-3 win over Boston on Oct. 21, including the game-winning goal just under a minute into the third period at Wells Fargo Center. Accepting a pass from fellow forward Joel Farabee, Atkinson redirected the puck past Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman and into the net, just as he was tripped up and crashed into the end boards. Atkinson arose no worse for wear, however, after giving Philadelphia the lead for good.
“We have a solid group, and when we play the right way, it’s going to be hard for any team to come and beat us,” said Atkinson. “We’re already a close group, which is very important in a long season.”
The shoot-first winger displayed more of his scoring prowess when the Flyers made a western Canada swing the following week. In a 5-3 victory at Edmonton on Oct. 27, Atkinson again scored two goals, including the game-winner, as the Flyers handed the high-flying Oilers their first loss of the 2021-22 season.
With time winding down in the first period, Atkinson took a puck off his skate and then zipped it past 6-foot-7 goaltender Mikko Koskinen with one second left on the clock to put Philadelphia up by a goal. Later on, just minutes into the final frame and with the score tied at three, Atkinson worked a give-and-go with Derick Brassard on the right side, then slapped the puck past Koskinen from the right circle to put the Flyers back on top for good.
"With Cam, his highlight reel is pretty endless," said Farabee, a former Boston University forward, to NBC Sports in early October. "He had been a really good player in Columbus for a long time."
To say the least. Atkinson, 32, registered six seasons of 20 or more goals while with the Blue Jackets. He also had two 30-goal winters, including a career-best 41-goal, 69-point campaign in 2018-19, the same year that Columbus won its first-ever Stanley Cup playoff series by sweeping the Presidents’ Trophy champion Tampa Bay Lightning.
Prior to his trade to the Flyers, Atkinson had compiled 213 goals and 189 assists for 402 points in 627 regular-season appearances. In 35 Stanley Cup playoff games, all with Columbus, the two-time NHL All-Star Game participant has added 10-16-26 points.
Atkinson has proven his ability to score at every level of hockey. In three years at Avon Old Farms in his native Connecticut, he scored 69 goals in 80 games, including back-to-back 20-goal campaigns in his final two seasons.
“Cam has achieved All-Star status in the NHL, which speaks for itself," said John Gardner, the longtime Avon coach who has also mentored the likes of Brian Leetch and Jonathan Quick. "He (Atkinson) certainly is a dynamic, game-changing player who became an icon in Columbus, and who has quickly been embraced by the Flyer fans because of what he does on and off the ice.”
Atkinson has devoted much of his off-ice time to charity work, which included helping to create the Battery Hockey Academy training center in Ohio during his tenure with the Blue Jackets. He was on hand with other members of his new NHL team at the 2021 USA Hockey Warrior Classic in Voorhees, N.J., in early November to support and congratulate the Flyers Warriors squads, players with military backgrounds who swept the Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 championships at that tournament.
“My foundation (Force Network Fund) gives back to the military and first responders,” explained Atkinson. “We’ve already given out a bunch of tickets to military personnel, men and women, who served or are serving. The reason why I started the foundation is I wanted to give back to those men and women who allow us to do what we do on a regular basis and have our freedoms.”
A throwback of sorts to an earlier era of college hockey, Atkinson did not play juniors in Canada, or in American leagues like the NAHL or USHL, but instead went right from the prep ranks to NCAA Division 1. As a freshman at BC in 2008-09, fresh out of Avon, Atkinson joined an Eagles squad that was coming off a national championship. He posted seven goals and 12 assists for 19 points that season, but BC didn’t qualify for the NCAA tournament.
Things took off for BC and Atkinson the next year, though, as he personally led the Eagles with both 30 goals and 53 points. BC finished 29-10-3 overall, won the Hockey East tournament, and claimed its third national title in 10 years with a 5-0 win over Wisconsin in Detroit. In the championship contest, Atkinson backhanded home a pair of goals in the third period to break open a one-goal game before a record crowd of 37,592 at a converted Ford Field, home of the NFL’s Detroit Lions.
“To win a national championship and have that banner in the rafters is something that will live on way past when I’m gone,” said Atkinson. “The (championship) ring is also something that you’ll have forever that they can’t take away from you, and you’ll always remember those games.”
The next year, he again led BC with 31 goals and 52 points as the Eagles won a second straight Hockey East title, topping Merrimack by a 5-3 count in the championship game at TD Garden as Atkinson tallied two goals. BC fell to Colorado College in an NCAA regional semifinal in St. Louis, though, to end the year — and Atkinson’s college career, as it turned out, even as he earned All-Hockey East and All-America first-team accolades.
Atkinson signed with Columbus shortly afterward in late March 2011, having been drafted 157th overall by the Blue Jackets three years earlier, just after he had completed his career at Avon. In 117 total appearances at BC over three seasons, he registered 68-56-124 points, including 22 power-play goals and seven shorthanded tallies.
Atkinson's former college head coach also wasn't surprised by his success at the pro level, following his back-to-back 30-goal campaigns on the Heights.
"Cam was an incredible player here at Boston College," said the legendary Jerry York (Watertown, Mass.) in early November. "His work effort and team-first mentality set a high standard in our program. His professional career has placed him in the All-Star category, and all of us here at BC are extremely proud of him."
After playing in 56 games with Springfield (AHL) over his first two pro seasons, and then splitting time between Columbus and Springfield during the 2012-13 season, Atkinson has been in the NHL to stay since the 2013-14 campaign. In Philadelphia, he has been reunited with former BC teammate Kevin Hayes, who was a freshman with the Eagles when Atkinson was a junior during the 2010-11 season. Atkinson was also roommates at BC with Hayes’ older brother, Jimmy, who also made the NHL and who died unexpectedly in August.
“It definitely was a huge shock, losing Jimmy, and he was one of my closest buddies,” said Atkinson. “I knew him since I was 7 years old. He was a family man, a dad and a brother, a best friend to a lot of people, and it still hurts to this day.”
Atkinson also spoke about playing with Kevin Hayes (Dorchester, Mass.) again, and the support system that the younger Hayes has in Philadelphia, both with the organization and with the players.
“Everything happens for a reason,” said Atkinson, “and there’s a reason why we’re all here to support Kevin.”
Hayes, who won his own NCAA title with BC in 2012, also has worn No. 13 over the last several NHL seasons with the Rangers and Flyers, the same digits that Atkinson sported during his time with both BC and Columbus. Hayes apparently proposed surrendering the number to Atkinson, who instead donned No. 89.
“Kevin offered to give the number up, but secretly I wanted to change to No. 89,” admitted Atkinson. “It’s my birth year — and I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing that makes me look old — but I was No. 89 at the World Championship and had some success, and I think it suits me well.”
Atkinson represented the U.S. at the 2012 IIHF World Championship in Finland and again at the 2018 World Championship in Denmark, the latter where he scored seven goals and added four assists in 10 games. The Americans earned the bronze medal that spring with a win over rival Canada in the third-place game.
“It’s always a huge accomplishment, to win any sort of medal,” he said.
With the new NHL campaign fully underway after two COVID-shortened seasons, the work of getting the Flyers back to the playoffs and challenging for a league championship has commenced.
“I think every player for the most part has personal goals for himself, and I’d like to keep them internal,” said Atkinson. “As far as team goals, we obviously want to win a Stanley Cup and try to give our best effort day in and day out, just to make the city proud.”
