After giving away their game against the New York Rangers, it makes sense that a lineup shakeup is expected. It is made all the more interesting with Columbus Blue Jackets forward Cam Atkinson being activated from IR.
It is always a plus when a team can add a 30+ goal scorer to the lineup. It is made even better when looking at his underlying numbers and realizing that Atkinson has been underperforming thus far and could be due for a bump up.
He is winning the shot differential battle relative to his teammates and his PDO is a little under the all-important marker of 100. But that doesn't mean anything if he isn't with the right players in the lineup.
Looking at lines from the past few games, there seems to be consistency in the top-nine but the bottom line has no one anchoring it. No one is consistently performing so it can't get any ice time. Does the return of Atkinson mean that young forward Pierre-Luc Dubois moves down to the fourth line? Or could a more seasoned player move down and allow the fourth line to see the ice more than ever before?
The fourth line is consistently averaging under 10 minutes a game meaning the spread in ice time is much worse than last year. Including power play time, players from the fourth line saw in upwards of 13 minutes on the ice on a regular basis.
Regardless, it feels like Zac Dalpe will be the odd man out in all of this for taking an elbowing penalty in the third period. There is no confirmation as of now on the lineup but given the yo-yo nature of his time in the lineup, this feels like an easy decision.
Providing more options is never bad. Just by inserting Cam Atkinson back into the lineup, the Blue Jackets have a lot to choose from and the timing of his return couldn't be any better.
