Cam Atkinson has been a Blue Jacket long enough to know that this season was markedly different.
The 2016-17 campaign was historic for both the club and for Atkinson, who posted a new career high in goals (35) and was named to the NHL All-Star Game for the first time. Columbus won 50 games and racked up 108 points, only to set itself up for a first-round clash with the defending champions after stumbling to a 1-6-0 mark in the final two weeks of the season.
Pittsburgh taught a lesson to this young Blue Jackets team, a team that found itself able to score at will in the regular season but not so much in the playoffs. The Penguins’ five-game series victory did not sit well with the Blue Jackets, who were bounced once again by their biggest division rival and felt their breakout season was ended prematurely.
And unlike previous seasons that Atkinson would like to soon forget, he wants to remember the feelings of Game 5 and use those emotions to help push the club another step forward in 2017-18.
"We need to come in with a little arrogance and realize we haven’t accomplished anything, really, and use that as motivation.”– Cam Atkinson
It starts this summer, he said, and then in training camp and onto the regular season which sets the best teams up for their postseason runs.
“It takes a little bit of time to let it all sink in and get back to reality, and realizing that you don’t have another game in the next day or two,” a reflective Atkinson said on exit day at Nationwide Arena. “It is what it is. Now we have to focus on what we can do to get better as a group, and go from there.
“I think we definitely have taken some good strides in the right direction. We did a lot of great things this season – in the regular season – 50 wins, 108 points. That’s obviously great for the club, but it’s tough to make the playoffs and to have success.”
Atkinson said the words of veteran forward Scott Hartnell, who addressed the team in the dressing room after the Blue Jackets were eliminated in Game 5 on Thursday, were meaningful. Hartnell told his teammates about how close he’s come over the years, and how they would be foolish to assume that another opportunity will arise next season.
The message: it’s up to you, and no one else, to put yourself in this position again.
“You can keep saying ‘next year is our year,’ but…it’s only going to get harder and tougher,” Atkinson said. “Hartsy’s been in the league for 15 years and he’s never won (a championship). Before you know it, your time’s up and you’re out of the league. We need to come in with a little arrogance and realize we haven’t accomplished anything, really, and use that as motivation.”
Atkinson has never had an issue with motivation; not only was he told repeatedly that he wasn’t big enough or strong enough to be a professional hockey player, but he was passed over 156 times in his draft year. He’s one of the longest-tenured Blue Jackets, and is fully aware of what happens when things get taken for granted.
“As a player, I’m probably my biggest critic,” Atkinson said. “It was a great year scoring goals and getting points, but I still feel like I can crank it up a whole ‘nother level. That’s what keeps me and my engine going.”
