Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports Blue Jackets forward Cam Atkinson is out four-to-six weeks with a broken foot suffered in Saturday night's win vs. Philadelphia.
The injury, which occurred when Atkinson was struck by a slap shot by Seth Jones in the first period, will require surgery, Portzline reports.
If it sounds like this is a broken record, it is. Atkinson is the third prominent Blue Jackets forward to go down in the last two weeks, joining centers Alexander Wennberg and Brandon Dubinsky.
Dubinsky suffered facial injuries when fighting Zach Kassian late in a 7-2 loss Dec. 12 vs. Edmonton, and the team said at the time he would be out six-to-eight weeks. Meanwhile, Wennberg's injury was announced before Saturday's game, though no real details emerged other than the forward was expected to be out for a while.
The Blue Jackets also are without defensemen Zach Werenski and Ryan Murray, though both are expected to be ready to go in the near future. Both have upper-body injuries; Murray has missed 13 games, while Werenski has been out three.
Atkinson's injury continues what has been a rough season for the forward, who had increased his goal total each season before this year. After a career-high 35 tallies a year ago, Atkinson has just six markers and seven assists for 13 points in 32 games thus far this year. His mark of 0.41 points per game is a career low.
So far this year, the team has lost 91 man games to injury.
