With some spots to fill among the forward ranks, the Tampa Bay Lightning signed veteran forward Cam Atkinson to a one-year, $900,000 contract on Tuesday. The 35-year-old winger was recently bought out by the Philadelphia Flyers making him a free agent. The seven-year contract was originally signed in Columbus and carried a $5,875,000 cap hit.
In 70 games with the Flyers last season, Atkinson put up 13 goals and 15 assists, with only 2 of those goals coming on the power play. Julien BriseBois continues to look for the magic combination to boost the Lightning’s 5v5 scoring.
Those numbers on the chart above are his three-year numbers, which included his time in Columbus. If you look close enough you’ll notice that there is no data from the 2022-23 season included. The simple reason is that Atkinson sat out the entire season as he recovered from neck surgery.
If last season was a bit of an aberration, a recalibration as he adjusted to life post-surgery, there is a chance that the Lightning could benefit from a bounce back to the way he played with Columbus and his first season with Philadelphia where he scored 23 goals in 73 games. In his career, the 12-year veteran has 249 goals in 770 games.
Do the Lightning need him to score 20? No, not really, but they could use 10-15 from him, especially if they come during 5v5 play. Much like Jake Guentzel, Atkinson is adept at scoring in front of the net. He also can add some offense off of the rush, something that the Lightning might be trying to emulate from the Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers.
Despite clocking in at 5’8″, he is willing to stand in front of the net and make some things happen on deflections and rebounds.
He’ll likely be in the mix for a spot on the second line, at least at the start of the season. Last season he found himself in and out of the line-up and playing on the fourth line as the Flyers tried out some younger players as they worked on their rebuild. Wherever he ends up in the line-up the Lightning are going to get a hard worker who is willing to get to the front of the net to earn his goals. Whether he has anything left in the tank after a long career is another question that has yet to be answered.
