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The winner of the Cam Atkinson-for-Jakub Voracek deal is clear |
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For the exception of one thing, and one thing alone differs the two: goal scoring.
The trade that shook that draft floor between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Philadelphia Flyers, two Metropolitan Division rivals, was a one-for-one deal involving the two veteran forwards that were traded for each other, played with each other, and both drafted by Columbus. Cam Atkinson, at $3M dollars less with an extra year on his contract was moved the more expensive Jakub Voracek, and both complete their new roles with their new teams to a tea.
Cam Atkinson, after years of speculation with a reunion with the Boston Bruins, was moved to Philadelphia; where he claimed in their first meeting he was born to be a Flyer. Atkinson is a pure goal scorer, with a size seen as small in the NHL, would be looked as not a Flyer at the height of 5 foot, 8 inches. He currently leads the Flyers in goals with 23 and points with 50; but only trails Travis Konecny in assists with 27. His goal scoring has helped Columbus not rely on just former captain Claude Giroux to keep up goal scoring, but with him moved off to Florida, he is the lone goal scorer.
Atkinson was part of a full buy by the Flyers in the summer, joining other veterans in Derrick Brassard, Nate Thompson, Gerald Mayhew, and Patrick Brown on offense; Rasmus Ristalonen, Keith Yandle, Adam Clendenning, Ryan Ellis, and Kevin Connauton on defense; and Martin Jones in net. However, this team is not where they expected to be, moving Giroux, Brassard, and defenseman Justin Braun at the deadline.
The Philadelphia Flyers currently sit 22-37-11 with 55 points in 70 regular season games, and a goal differential of a -69. For a team that thought they were contending, this seems to be a full call of weakness. Granted, there were lots of injuries to their top half of the roster. Depth has been eroded since Chuck Fletcher arrived, and the bashing of former GM Ron Hextall has continued all season. With their current plan to be playing the kids, they’re using the prospects Hextall brought into Philadelphia for a last game look. Don’t know what is going on with Broad Street, but seems to be an unknown road at this point, with 12 games left.
Philadelphia has lost 2 of 3 games to Columbus, being outscored 6-3 in those two games. In their last game, last night, their two goals from forwards Nicolas Cates and James van Reimsdyk. For Cates, it was his first career goal; JvR earned his 18th this season. The assists came from rookie Ronnie Attarrd, Patrick Brown, and Kevin Hayes. Carter Hart allowed 3 goals on 29 shots for a 0.897 save percentage.
Columbus got goals from forwards Brendan Gaunce, Carson Meyer, Justin Danforth, and Sean Kuraly. Gaunce opened the game with scoring his 5th, with Meyer getting his first career point, and Eric Robinson getting the secondary assist. Meyer scored his first career goal after that, with Zach Werenski getting the primary, while Robinson got his second secondary. Danforth got the game winner, with his 8th career NHL goal; Jake Bean and Kuraly got the apples. Kuraly’s goal was an empty netter for his 12th with Columbus; Cole Sillinger and Gustav Nyquist had the final assists. Elvis Merzlikins had 47 saves on 49 shots for a 0.959 save percentage.
Jakub Voracek has been rocking his first season back with Columbus, going from helping the kids in Sillinger and Chinakov, to being the wingman for the other wingers on the Jackets. With 46 assists, he has been helping Patrik Laine, Boone Jenner, Gustav Nyquist, and Oliver Bjorkstrand fill the net throughout the entirety of the regular season. His weak spot has been 5 goals, and being a -12. His defense isn’t there with his playmaking abilities, while his age and experience has put him already at over 1,000 regular season games at the age of 32. The Czechia forward has also not played a full regular season since 2017-18, when he has a career high 85 points.
Thoughts on the Flyers, Jackets, and year one of the deal? More to come…
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