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Cam Atkinson

Flyers, Blue Jackets Swap Jakub Voracek, Cam Atkinson

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The Philadelphia Flyers have acquired another big-ticket player acquiring  Cam Atkinson from the Columbus Blue Jackets. In return, the Flyers will send Jakub Voracek back to the Blue Jackets. Atkinson joins Ryan Ellis and Rasmus Ristolainen as the other big names coming into Philadelphia this offseason, really changing the landscape of the Flyers roster. Neither team has retained any salary in the deal.

Atkinson, 32, has four years left on his current contract and carries a $5.875MM cap hit. After scoring 41 goals in the 2018-19 season, Atkinson’s numbers have come down significantly over the last two seasons, but is still one of the most dynamic players on the Blue Jackets roster. After trading Seth Jones, this next move perhaps signals that the Blue Jackets are going to tear out all of the older players on the team and start a rebuild.

Of course, Voracek doesn’t fit into that narrative, as he is 31 and actually comes with an even higher cap hit. The Flyers were clear that Voracek was on the table when they left him exposed to the Seattle Kraken in the expansion draft, as his $8.25MM cap hit limits what they can do with the rest of the roster. Voracek’s deal will expire at the end of the 2023-24 season, and could perhaps even be flipped by the Blue Jackets to make his contract more palatable. Despite his big cap number, the veteran forward doesn’t have any trade protection.

Voracek actually started his NHL career in Columbus, playing three years for the club before going to the Flyers in 2011. He has been a consistent offensive performer through the years, but has never been a big goal-scoring threat. This season, he registered just nine goals, but still had 43 points in 53 games. For the Flyers, it’s mostly just about shaking up a core that had hit a plateau and no longer looked like true contenders. Adding Atkinson gives the team a different look, while also saving the team a little bit of cap space.

In fact, Philadelphia now has a little over $12.4MM in cap space for this summer, with new contracts for RFAs Carter Hart and Travis Sanheim to come. The team actually could still be in the market for some free agent additions, though they’ll have to be careful with how they spend their money. Both captain Claude Giroux and top forward Sean Couturier are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents next summer. If they intend to re-sign them—which certainly doesn’t seem guaranteed after the huge changes recently—handing out any other big-money deals will be tough to work around.

2021 King Clancy Trophy Nominees Announced

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The NHL has announced the 31 nominees for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, annually presented to “the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community.” Last year’s winner was Matt Dumba of the Minnesota Wild.

Each team submits one nominee. This year’s are:

Anaheim: Cam Fowler

Arizona: Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Boston: Charlie Coyle

Buffalo: Jack Eichel

Calgary: Mikael Backlund

Carolina: Jordan Staal

Chicago: Connor Murphy

Colorado: Pierre-Edouard Bellemare

Columbus: Cam Atkinson

Dallas: Esa Lindell

Detroit: Dylan Larkin

Edmonton: Kyle Turris

Florida: Sergei Bobrovsky

Los Angeles: Trevor Moore

Minnesota: Mats Zuccarello

Montreal: Jonathan Drouin

Nashville: Pekka Rinne

New Jersey: P.K. Subban

NY Islanders: Anders Lee

NY Rangers: Chris Kreider

Ottawa: Thomas Chabot

Philadelphia: Scott Laughton

Pittsburgh: Sidney Crosby

San Jose: Kurtis Gabriel

St. Louis: Ryan O’Reilly

Tampa Bay: Alex Killorn

Toronto: John Tavares

Vancouver: Tyler Motte

Vegas: Marc-Andre Fleury

Washington: Garnet Hathaway

Winnipeg: Blake Wheeler

2020 King Clancy Trophy Nominees Announced

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The NHL has announced the 31 nominees for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, annually presented to “the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community.” Last year’s winner was Jason Zucker of the Minnesota Wild.

Each team submits one nominee. This year’s are:

Anaheim: Cam Fowler

Arizona: Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Boston: Patrice Bergeron

Buffalo: Jack Eichel

Calgary: Travis Hamonic

Carolina: Jordan Staal

Chicago: Jonathan Toews

Colorado: Gabriel Landeskog

Columbus: Cam Atkinson

Dallas: Tyler Seguin

Detroit: Justin Abdelkader

Edmonton: Leon Draisaitl

Florida: Sergei Bobrovsky

Los Angeles: Trevor Lewis

Minnesota: Matt Dumba

Montreal: Carey Price

Nashville: Pekka Rinne

New Jersey: P.K. Subban

NY Islanders: Matt Martin

NY Rangers: Henrik Lundqvist

Ottawa: Brady Tkachuk

Philadelphia: Kevin Hayes

Pittsburgh: Sidney Crosby

San Jose: Evander Kane

St. Louis: Ryan O’Reilly

Tampa Bay: Alex Killorn

Toronto: Mitch Marner

Vancouver: Alexander Edler

Vegas: Marc-Andre Fleury

Washington: Garnet Hathaway

Winnipeg: Blake Wheeler

Minor Transactions: 02/16/20

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The Colorado Avalanche’s opportunity to take over first place in the Central Division came up short Saturday night at the Air Force Academy in Colorado at the Coors Light Stadium Series outdoor matchup. The Los Angeles Kings got a hat trick from Tyler Toffoli, who likely raised his trade stock, and helped the Kings knock off the Avalanche, 3-1. Instead of moving into first, Colorado fell behind the Dallas Stars Saturday, who came back from a 3-0 deficit to the Montreal Canadiens to win in overtime, to move into second place. To make matters worse, both St. Louis and Dallas play Sunday, while Colorado has the day off, giving both teams a chance to extend their lead on the Avalanche. As the playoff race intensifies, teams will continue to make roster moves to strengthen their teams. Check back to see the roster moves throughout the day.

  • The Columbus Blue Jackets announced Wednesday that forward Cam Atkinson would miss the next two to three weeks with a high ankle sprain. Now the team has placed Atkinson on injured reserve, retroactive to Feb. 8. The team will replace him on the roster with forward Kole Sherwood. The 23-year-old has appeared in three games with Columbus so far this season with no points, but has only averaged 6:38 of ATOI, as he tries to earn the trust of head coach John Tortorella.
  • The Vegas Golden Knights announced they have assigned forward Nicolas Roy to the Chicago Wolves of the AHL after being recalled on Saturday with Jonathan Marchessault questionable. However, Roy was not needed as Machessault did play, so the team returned him. Roy has six points in 19 games with Vegas this season.
  • Speaking of players who got assigned Saturday, the Winnipeg Jets announced they have recalled forward Andrei Chibisov from the Manitoba Moose of the AHL after sending him down the previous day. Chibisov is still looking to make his NHL debut. The 26-year-old, signed out of the KHL last June, has seven goals and 24 points in 48 games with the Moose. It’s expected that Chibisov will make his debut Sunday.
  • The Toronto Maple Leafs announced they have brought up two young prospects in forward Egor Korshkov and Mason Marchment from the Toronto Marlies of the AHL. The 6-foot-4 Korshkov, the team’s 31st pick in 2016, finally came over from Russia this summer and has fared well in the AHL, scoring 14 goals in 35 games, could make his NHL debut if he gets into a game. Marchment has appeared in three games for the Maple Leafs, but has been on a tear since the team returned him to the AHL on Jan. 14. He has eight goals in the past five games with the Marlies. With the recall of two players, CapFriendly reports that Toronto placed Andreas Johnsson on long-term injured reserve. Johnsson was deemed to be out for the next eight weeks on Friday with a knee injury.
  • The Ottawa Senators announced they have recalled defenseman Andreas Englund from the Belleville Senators of the AHL. Englund has been up and down all season. The 24-year-old has two assists in 12 games for Ottawa, but is actually scoreless in 22 games with Belleville.
  • After acquiring Andy Greene in a trade from the New Jersey Devils, the New York Islanders have sent Sebastian Aho back to the minor leagues. Greene will join the Islanders on the road in Arizona where they face the Coyotes tomorrow.
  • The Colorado Avalanche have recalled Hunter Miska, just a few days after signing him to an NHL contract. Miska will likely serve as backup for Pavel Francouz after Philipp Grubauer was injured last night.

Cam Atkinson Out 2-3 Weeks With Sprained Ankle

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4:30pm: The Blue Jackets have recalled Liam Foudy once again under emergency conditions. Foudy made his NHL debut on Monday night but had to be returned to the OHL following the game. He is still not a long-term option, but could play Thursday for the Blue Jackets.

10:42am: The Columbus Blue Jackets have lost another key player for the next little while, announcing today that Cam Atkinson will be out for two to three weeks with a sprained ankle. Atkinson already missed a dozen games earlier in the season with a high-ankle sprain. Though he hasn’t been officially put on injured reserve, when he does he’ll join a group that already includes Seth Jones, Brandon Dubinsky, Alexander Wennberg, Ryan Murray, Josh Anderson, Alexandre Texier and Dean Kukan (though some are approaching a return). The team has also been without Joonas Korpisalo since the end of December, though he never made it onto IR.

Even with the never ending injuries, the Blue Jackets remain one of the hottest teams in the NHL. An overtime loss to the Lightning on Monday made them 7-1-2 in their last ten games, a period in which they’ve only allowed 15 goals against. That stingy defensive strategy will hopefully get them through the next few weeks, though Jones’ will be out much longer than that.

In a such a tumultuous season, one can bet that John Tortorella will be getting plenty of votes for the Jack Adams trophy should the Blue Jackets end up in the playoff picture. To do it, he’ll need Atkinson back and healthy as soon as possible.

Blue Jackets Notes: Recent Surge, Bjorkstrand, Wennberg

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No team in the NHL is hotter than the Columbus Blue Jackets in the new year. Columbus is 8-2-0 in their past ten games, which includes three shutouts and a pair of wins against the Boston Bruins. The team has now crept their way into the top wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, jumping ahead of the likes of Philadelphia, Carolina, and Toronto. Even more impressive is that the Blue Jackets have made this run while missing many of their best players: starting goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, top scorer Cam Atkinson and fellow forwards Oliver Bjorkstrand, Josh Anderson, and Alexandre Texier, and defensemen Ryan Murray and Dean Kukan. With those players on their way back to health – Atkinson made his return on Thursday – one would think that Columbus has a chance to not only sustain their success, but possibly even improve upon it.

Yet, the question then becomes whether the team can really buy in to this season after the events of 2018-19. Last year, the Blue Jackets went all in, trading away Anthony Duclair, two top forward prospects, a first-round pick, two second-round picks, and three additional picks to load up with rentals Matt Duchene, Ryan Dzingel, Adam McQuaid, and Keith Kinkaid. The team also opted not to move their own impending free agents in Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky. Although Columbus stunned the Tampa Bay Lightning with a first-round sweep, the first playoff series win in franchise history, they fell in the second round and lost each of those six free agents in the off-season. If the Blue Jackets are again in a position only to battle for a wild card spot down the stretch, can the team risk another season of lost prospects and draft capital? Only time will tell how long the team can continue this dominant stretch and what position they may be in by late next month, but another active trade deadline would be a difficult hit to the team’s pipeline.

  • Columbus’ best bet may be to depend on their internal options to get healthy and play to the best of their abilities. The team announced a step in the right direction today, as Bjorkstrand has been activated from the injured reserve and will return to action for the first time since December 22. Bjorkstrand is actually returning earlier than his expected four-to-six week timeline, healing quickly from broken ribs. Bjorkstrand was on pace for a career year prior to his injury, with 23 points in his first 36 games. The 24-year-old winger was embracing his increased responsibility and Columbus has to hope that he can continue to excel in his elevated role the rest of the year. With Bjorkstrand back, Kevin Stenlund is the odd man out, reassigned to the AHL.
  • If the Blue Jackets are to lean on their existing roster this season for a playoff run, another intriguing situation will be the trade status of Alexander Wennberg. Wennberg has been on the trade block since early last season and in the minds of many hockey pundits remains a player that Columbus would like to move. The young center has not lived up to the long-term extension the team signed him to back in 2017, which carries a $4.9MM cap hit for three more years beyond this season. However, as opposed to last season when Wennberg recorded only 25 points and was scratched a handful of games, Wennberg too has embraced his increased role in the wake of free agent departures and injuries this year. The 25-year-old has played in all but one game for the Blue Jackets, recording 20 points. This puts him on pace for 34 points on the year, a sharp uptick from last season. It also makes him a top-six scoring forward for the team so far this year. Can Columbus afford to move out a player in such an important role this year for only salary cap purposes when they are trying to make it back to the postseason?

Minor Transactions: 01/15/20

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You never know what’s going to happen in the NHL as the Vegas Golden Knights proved this morning. The team fired head coach Gerard Gallant just before they take on the Ottawa Senators tomorrow night. The whole league will be watching that game to see how Peter DeBoer changes things, but tonight they have some interesting games to view as well. The Montreal Canadiens and Chicago Blackhawks are both markets that some have suggested coaching changes in, but they’ll try to grab a win tonight to continue their individual streaks. Later, the St. Louis Blues welcome in the Philadelphia Flyers for a chance to extend their Western Conference lead even further. As those teams and the rest of the league prepare, we’ll keep track of all the minor moves.

  • The Florida Panthers have recalled Sam Montembeault under emergency conditions, a quick trip back after only being sent back on Monday. Montembault’s presence suggests that Sergei Bobrovsky still isn’t ready to return for the Panthers, after being called “questionable” earlier this week.
  • The Columbus Blue Jackets are starting to get healthy, meaning the roster needs some cleaning up. After activating both Cam Atkinson and Andrew Peeke today from injured reserve, the team has assigned Peeke, Gabriel Carlsson, Matiss Kivlenieks and Ryan MacInnis to the AHL. Veini Vehvilainen has been recalled.
  • The Arizona Coyotes have called up Michael Chaput from the minor leagues, not for the first time this season. Chaput hasn’t played a game yet in the NHL, but has been recalled on three different occasions as injury insurance.
  • Brian Lashoff is on his way back to the minor leagues, assigned to the Grand Rapids Griffins by the Detroit Red Wings. The 29-year old has split time between the two teams, but isn’t much more than an injury replacement at this point in his career.

Injury Notes: Glass, Atkinson, McDonagh

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After a horrible spill in which many feared that Vegas Golden Knights rookie Cody Glass might have suffered a significant knee injury Saturday against St. Louis, The Athletic’s Jesse Granger reported that he’s heard from multiple sources that Glass suffered a bone bruise and is not expected to require surgery.

The 20-year-old suffered a similar injury last season with the Portland Winterhawks in the WHL, but this injury is the opposite knee. The forward could still miss a significant amount of games, but there is no ACL/MCL tear, which means Glass should be back when they need him, at the very least. Glass has been a fixture on Vegas’ third line as he has five goals and 12 points in 37 games.

  • NHL.com’s Jeff Svoboda reports that Columbus Blue Jackets forward Cam Atkinson is a 50-50 proposition for playing on Monday against the Los Angeles Kings. The veteran has been out since Dec. 19 with a high ankle sprain. Atkinson did practice today and was on the top power-play unit, suggesting he might be ready. The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline adds that high ankle sprains are tricky and there is a big difference between practicing and games. Atkinson said that he still feels a high ankle sprain to his left ankle that he suffered several years ago.
  • The Athletic’s Joe Smith reports that Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh will miss Sunday’s game against Carolina with an upper-body injury. The veteran defenseman went down Saturday and left the game. There is no report on the severity of the injury, so more could come on Monday. McDonagh has had a tough season after a 46-point campaign last year. He currently has just one goals and 11 points in 40 games.

Minor Transactions: 12/26/19

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The NHL returns to action tomorrow with an 11-game slate, meaning 22 teams will have to shake off the rust of a three-day break from both game play and practice. In preparation for this return, a few teams have made small moves today, within the limits of what is allowed during the league’s Holiday Roster Freeze. Follow along here:

  • The Buffalo Sabres announced that forward Curtis Lazar has been returned to the AHL’s Rochester Americans. Lazar, who signed with the Sabres as a free agent this summer, has only played in eight games with the team versus 18 with Rochester. While his AHL production has been good, Lazar has been limited to just one point with Buffalo. The Sabres continue to seek offense, but clearly don’t feel that Lazar is a solution.
  • Cam Atkinson is headed to the injured reserve and the Columbus Blue Jackets have recalled Jakob Lilja to replace him on the roster for the time being. Columbus also called up center Ryan MacInnis and defensemen Gabriel Carlsson and Adam Clendening on an emergency basis, implying that Atkinson’s is not the only absence that the team is expecting when they return to action. As for Atkinson, his IR placement is retroactive to December 19th, making him eligible for activation on Sunday. However that won’t be the case, as the team added that the expected timeline for his recovery from an ankle sprain is two to three weeks.

Eastern Notes: Cooper, Sabourin, Atkinson

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With the recent firing of Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock, many eyes have turned to the Tampa Bay Lightning who are also struggling in the Atlantic Division. The Lightning are currently in seventh place, even behind the Ottawa Senators. They are only ahead of the Detroit Red Wings.

Regardless, in his most recent mailbag, The Athletic’s Joe Smith (subscription required) suggests that while Toronto general manager Kyle Dubas didn’t hire Babcock in Toronto, that isn’t the case in Tampa Bay, where Julien BriseBois did hire Cooper to be his AHL coach years ago and now the team’s NHL coach. The two have a long-standing relationship and won an AHL championship together, much like the relationship between Dubas and newly promoted head coach Sheldon Keefe.

The scribe writes that because of the long-standing relationship between BriseBois and Cooper, a poor start to the season won’t change things.

  • The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch reports that Ottawa Senators forward Scott Sabourin returned to the ice Saturday for an informal skills development session, but there is still no timetable for his return. Sabourin suffered a concussion, broken nose and an ugly cut near his eye when he was knocked out in a significant collision with David Backes on Nov. 2. Garrioch writes that Sabourin isn’t expected to return to the lineup anytime soon, but he has been skating on his own recently.
  • The Athletic’s Aaron Portzine (subscription required) gives first quarter grades out for the Columbus Blue Jackets, who are in sixth place in the Metropolitan Division with a 9-8-4 record. While the scribe has lots of praise for some of the young players and goaltenders, the veterans weren’t as lucky. He is quick to criticize the play of Cam Atkinson, who has struggled offensively with just four goals and 13 points this season. Atkinson, however, is known to be a streaky scorer, so the veteran could find a way to bounce back and return as one of the team’s top scorers. However, Atkinson would likely have given himself a worse grade as he admitted that he is “embarrassed” by his recent play.

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