November 21, 2022 | 7:30pm ET
By Anthony Di Marco, TheFourthPeriod.com
FLYERS HOPE ATKINSON CAN RETURN BEFORE JANUARY
Cam Atkinson, forward
With north of $30 million currently sitting on the sidelines due to injuries, the Philadelphia Flyers may finally be getting some good news in the player’s health department.
According to a team source, the Flyers “hope” forward Cam Atkinson can return to the club before the calendar flips to 2023. The exact timeline is still a little foggy, as the team is unsure if Atkinson is one week or one month away, but the hope and expectation is for him to return to the lineup before January.
Atkinson, 33, has missed the entire season to date with an upper body injury. As I reported last month, the injury was one that made it difficult to determine an exact timeline for and there was speculation whether Atkinson would even play this season. While the latest news is far more positive than a month ago, the Flyers are not holding their breath on a defined date for Atkinson’s return, especially given the team’s luck – or lack thereof – with injuries as of late.
Heading into Monday night’s action against the Calgary Flames, the Flyers are without Wade Allison, Atkinson, Sean Couturier, Ryan Ellis, Scott Laughton, Travis Konecny and James van Riemsdyk due to injury. Collectively, they make up a cap hit of $35.66 million.
Atkinson would be a welcomed addition for an offensively-starved Flyers team that currently ranks 31st in Goals For per game, averaging just 2.56. He also emerged as a leader for the Flyers last season and would likely assume even more of a role in that regard given his history with Head Coach John Tortorella.
He’d also be a welcomed addition to the penalty kill that, after a solid start to the season, has plummeted to 27th in the NHL after a rough stretch of games; it is currently operating at 73.7% on the year.
Should he return, one would assume Atkinson would immediately be a fixture in the Flyers’ top-six, as well.
Acquired in July of 2021 from the Columbus Blue Jackets for Jakub Voracek, Atkinson has two years remaining on his contract beyond this season that carries an AAV of $5.875 million and includes a modified no trade clause.
