Cam Atkinson, who overcame steep odds as an undersized player and a late-round draft pick to become a prolific scorer, will end his career just as it began: with the Columbus Blue Jackets.<\/p>\n
Atkinson, 36, will sign a one-day contract with the Blue Jackets on Oct. 16 and simultaneously announce his retirement after a 13-season, 809-game career with Columbus, the Philadelphia Flyers and Tampa Bay Lightning, according to the Blue Jackets. The team will honor Atkinson before a game that night vs. the Colorado Avalanche in Nationwide Arena.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s expected to join the Blue Jackets\u2019 front office eventually, but a role has not yet been identified.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is home,\u201d Atkinson told The Athletic early this summer.\u00a0\u201cI played here for 10 years, and all three of my kids were born here at Riverside (Methodist Hospital). It\u2019s the community here, the fans, that make it special. I come back in the summer and when I go to get a coffee, I\u2019m always reminded of that. Best fans in the league. You say that everywhere you go, but there\u2019s something special here.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started my career here and I want to end my career here. That\u2019s been the goal from Day 1.\u201d<\/p>\n
Atkinson had offers to sign training camp tryout agreements with NHL clubs this offseason, he said.<\/p>\n
But by late last season, when he cleared waivers with the Lightning, Atkinson began thinking about his second career. It was confirmed late this summer when the passion to get back into hockey-playing mode wasn\u2019t as intense.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy last regular-season game (April 17) was in Madison Square Garden,\u201d Atkinson said. \u201cThe (New York) Rangers were my favorite team growing up. My wife (Natalie) and kids and the entire family came to that game, because I deep-down knew that was it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Atkinson has remained a resident of central Ohio even after his trade to Philadelphia. He is the owner of Battery Hockey Academy, a youth development facility in Plain City, Ohio. He also started the Force Network Fund, which provides financial aid and other support to military and first-responder families.<\/p>\n
Atkinson quickly became a fan favorite when he debuted with Columbus during the 2011-12 season. He also became one of the franchise\u2019s offensive stars.<\/p>\n
In the Blue Jackets\u2019 24-year history, only Rick Nash (289-258-547) has more goals and points than Atkinson (213-189-402). He\u2019s also third in games played (627), third in power-play goals, first in short-handed goals (16), tied for third in overtime goals and second in game-winning goals (42).<\/p>\n
Both Nash (2003-04) and Atkinson (2018-19) share the Blue Jackets\u2019 single-season goal record with 41. Atkinson also had a 35-goal season in 2016-17, the fifth-highest single-season total in franchise history.<\/p>\n
The Blue Jackets traded Atkinson to the Philadelphia for Jakub Voracek on July 24, 2021. After two seasons with the Flyers, he signed a one-year contract with Tampa Bay last summer.<\/p>\n
Atkinson was a sixth-round draft pick, No. 157 overall, in 2008. From that year\u2019s draft class, only Steven Stamkos (582), Jordan Eberle (308) and Adam Henrique (275) have scored more goals than Atkinson (253).<\/p>\n
Only 12 players in NHL history, according to Hockey-Reference, have been drafted No. 157 overall or later and scored more goals: Luc Robitaille (668), Joe Pavelski (476), Theo Fleury (455), Dave Taylor (431), Henrik Zetterberg (337), Pavel Datsyuk (314), Pavol Demitra (304), Steve Sullivan (290), Radim Vrbata (284), Andrew Brunette (268), Patric H\u00f6rnqvist (264) and Donald Audette (260).<\/p>\n
Despite a stellar career at Boston College, Atkinson wasn\u2019t drafted in 2007, his first year of eligibility. And he tumbled down the draft board the following year for one reason: his height.<\/p>\n
Listed at 5-foot-8, Atkinson didn\u2019t shy away from taking on bigger players in puck battles or playing in traffic. Since 2000, when the Blue Jackets entered the NHL, the only players listed 5-8 or shorter who have scored more goals than Atkinson are Martin St. Louis (391) and Brian Gionta (291).<\/p>\n
\u201cI defied the odds,\u201d Atkinson said. \u201cIt was (former Blue Jackets scout) Rob Riley who had my back and took a chance on me. He vouched for me with (former Blue Jackets GM) Scott Howson and (assistant GM) Chris MacFarland to draft me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are guys who paved the way for me: Martin St. Louis, Brian Gionta, Theo Fleury. You\u2019re doubted your whole career, but my mindset was, \u2018If they can do it, why can\u2019t I?\u2019 The doubters fueled my fire. I loved it. I embraced it. I loved being the underdog and hearing what I couldn\u2019t do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cam Atkinson, who overcame steep odds as an undersized player and a late-round draft pick to become a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":287257,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[3110,293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-287256","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-columbus-blue-jackets","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}