COLUMBUS, OH – MARCH 17: Artemi Panarin #9 of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Cam Atkinson #13 of the Columbus Blue Jackets head up ice with the puck against the Ottawa Senators on March 17, 2018 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/NHLI via Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Artemi Panarin;Cam Atkinson
In the NHL Network’s ranking of wingers, Columbus Blue Jackets Artemi Panarin and Cam Atkinson were both ranked far too low.
We are in full-on summer mode as list are released and Mt. Rushmore’s (or Puckmore’s) are debated. The NHL Network continued with their list release with the top 20 wingers. They had Columbus Blue Jackets winger Artemi Panarin at #10 and didn’t have Cam Atkinson ranked at all. You can check out the full list here.
Not to have Cam Atkinson on the list all all is a travesty. Atkinson dealt with an injury and only played 65 games but had 24 goals. He also finished the year on the longest hot streak of any player in the league, scoring 33 points in his final 33 games.
To rank Atkinson behind Brock Boeser (#19) and Rickard Rakell (#17) is laughable. Boeser, and Rakell are all great players but the NHL Network whiffed by putting these two ahead of Cam.
Panarin dragged this team to the playoffs and was consistent all season long. He deserved to be ranked higher than 10th. Sure, 10th best sounds great but it is too low for the Russian star.
In the network’s own rankings last year he was 9th and somehow dropped a spot even though he scored more points this year. That’s also after proving everyone wrong who thought he wouldn’t produce without Patrick Kane on his line. So the network’s argument is that with supposedly less talent on his line, Panarin had a better year statistically, yet is a worse winger.
Based on their play you can easily make the argument that Panarin should have been ranked above Kane. The bread man is certainly a better winger than Jamie Benn, who was ranked one spot above him. Finally, if the NHL Network is looking at all round play, which they were, Panarin should have been ranked higher than Patrik Laine as well.
These lists are for fun and carry no weight whatsoever but it’s almost criminal not to have Cam on this list at all and to put Panarin in the 10th slot. The NHL Network “experts” were just wrong on this one.
What do you think of the rankings? Comment below and let us know where you think the Columbus Blue Jackets wingers rank among the best in the NHL.
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