Tuesday night saw what, for the better part of roughly 59 minutes, seemed to be yet another showing by the Columbus Blue Jackets in a game ruined by less than smart penalties. But, thanks to the heroics of Cam Atkinson and Boone Jenner, they were able to battle back and grab two points off a very solid Philadelphia Flyers team. This game just continues to show what everyone around the organization already knows: Jenner and Atkinson are the future of the organization.
Boone Jenner and Cam Atkinson Are The Future
It’s clear to see through all of the baseline statistics that these two guys are having great seasons, with both of them having career highs in goals and points. Jenner, with his goal tonight, is tied with Atkinson atop the Blue Jackets with 26 goals apiece to their names. You may look at that and think that it’s good, but nothing worth writing home about, but there’s much more to their scoring than meets the eye.
Firstly, Jenner now has more goals in this season than he did in his first two season combined, in which he was able to rack up a career total of 25 goals. Despite the number last year having an asterisk by it due to his injury issues, that’s still 103 games through two seasons with 25 goals. Those numbers are surely nothing to be excited about, especially for a guy who many didn’t see developing into a top scorer during his career. But it’s almost like the letter being placed on his jersey this year has elevated him to new levels. To say you’ve doubled your career tally in goals in less than a single season is nothing short of impressive and something that surely won’t be ending any time soon for Jenner.
As for Atkinson, he has become a household name in Columbus in terms of production, as this is now his third consecutive season with the Jackets with 20 or more goals. Once again, 20 goals for a season is by no means a prolific number for the league, however, when you look at the fashion in which Atkinson seems to score most of his goals, they start to look more and more impressive with keener eyes. He embodies the mentality and style to which coach John Tortorella wants the team to play and that is why Atkinson is an integral part to the future of this organization.
Lots of these same things could be said for many of the players on the team this year, as Brandon Saad has been great as well and rightly was awarded a spot on at the NHL All-Star Game. You could then take a look further back towards the blueline and talk all day about the improvement of Ryan Murray, which could be attributed to the absence of prior injury issues he’s had. Let’s not forget the newest addition to the organization, Seth Jones, who is also a massive reason to why Murray has improved and has added a much needed composure to the blue line. When you stop and look at all of the players on an individual level, you wonder why this team hasn’t won more than 30 games this season. Yet, among all of these individual headlines and negatives to the standing in which the team currently sits in, Jenner and Atkinson stand out like a shining example of where the Blue Jackets are headed.
John Tortorella has long been known to be a hard-nose and old-school style head coach that loves players that can go end-to-end and play both offensively and defensively, just as effectively at either end. Jenner is a perfect example of the end-to-end, nitty-gritty style of hockey that Tortorella loves from his forwards and his style has seeped into the ones that play alongside him, and resulted in many positives for the team. On the other side, Atkinson is a more offensive-oriented kind of player who isn’t nearly as physical as Jenner, but outskates and outworks nearly anyone he matches up against, despite his less than intimidating stature. So, when you find yourself thinking about who has had the largest impact on the season, don’t let the initial responses of Saad or Joonas Korpisalo overshadow the importance to which Atkinson and Jenner have played on this season and ultimately the future of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
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