CBJ of the Day: Cam Atkinson

By William Espy

There are many high tier talents that teams pass on in the draft because of their small size, the teams who are willing to take a chance on them often benefit greatly. League-wide this has been happening for decades Martin St. Louis, a likely future hall of famer, went undrafted because of his small stature. Tyler Johnson the leading scorer in the playoffs was also undrafted for the same reason. Not all of these players go undrafted however and there is a strong example in Columbus who goes by the name of Cam Atkinson.

Atkinson may not seem like the most important player on the Jackets, but his responsibilities far outweigh what his third line role suggests. The past two seasons, Atkinson has spent most of his time with Brandon Dubinsky and Matt Calvert on the third line and both seasons, he was a twenty goal scorer and posted forty points. Throughout the injury plagued season, Atkinson also found himself doing time on the first line with Nick Foligno and Ryan Johansen when Scott Hartnell missed some time. John Davidson and Jarmo Kekalainen would notice the effort and hustle that he put in on a daily basis which would result in him receiving a three year, $10.5M contract extension directly following the trade deadline.

The Calvert-Dubinsky-Atkinson (or CDA if you want it to sound like a dental organization) line has been one of the few mainstays in the Blue Jackets lineup over Coach Todd Richards’s tenure. With Dubinsky’s long term extension and Atkinson’s recent extension al the Jackets need to do is sign Calvert in order to keep this high performance group together.

STATUS: AVAILABLE FOR THE RIGHT PRICE

While this status may seemingly contradict everything I have said to this point, Atkinson has yet to earn an untouchable position. Besides the core players locked up long term, a majority of players on the team share this status. Atkinson’s “right price” however, would likely need to be a massive over-extension in order for the Jackets to feel the deal benefits them. Kekalainen was accepting offers for Atkinson at the deadline, however Atkinson voiced his want to stay in the union blue for the foreseeable future. More than likely “Camsanity” will run wild in Columbus for many years to come.