With training camp opening Thursday for the Philadelphia Flyers, Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson confirmed they are healthy after missing the 2022-23 season.
From a Flyers’ perspective, the news is refreshing, considering the setbacks both veteran forwards have faced in their attempts to return to the ice. Couturier hasn’t played a game for the Flyers since December of 2021 due to a severe back injury plaguing the former Selke winner. The penalty-killing stalwart had two back surgeries in 2022, his first in February and his most recent on October 27, 2022.
Atkinson hasn’t faired much better regarding his injury luck. The 34-year-old also had neck and back issues to begin the 2022-23 season before the option for surgery to repair a herniated disk in his neck on Dec. 21, 2022.
Time will tell if Couturier and Atkinson can remain healthy as the upcoming season begins. Their availability for the Flyers will significantly boost Philadelphia’s forward core. Both seem to think their play and health being underestimated this season should act as motivating factors to make an impact and return to their prior form.
“They have their reasons to question or doubt, but I know what I’m capable of, the kind of person I am, and the character that I have,” Couturier stated. “Not only to them but to myself. I want to prove that I’m able to be the player I was, if not better, so that’s always a little extra motivation when you hear some doubters.”
“My whole life, I’ve had to prove people wrong, and I’ve used that to fuel my fire, to shove it in your face,” Atkinson said. “I’ve got to prove it to myself even more so this year, and that’s why I think I prepared better than I ever have this offseason.”
The Flyers appear to be an organization looking to prove their detractors wrong this season as a collective. Several projections have listed the franchise to finish in the bottom five of the NHL in 2022-23. In a media availability on Wednesday, general manager Daniel Briere addressed these thoughts and relayed a comparable line of thinking to both Couturier and Atkinson.
“I’ve read the predictions, I see where everybody’s picking us to be last or bottom three in the NHL,” Briere said. “I hope the players use that as a motivation. We hope and we believe that they’re better than what the predictions are out there.”
Briere made other noteworthy comments, specifically that the Flyers are not looking to tank this season despite being focused on their youth and developing their young players.
“We expect the same thing this year. We’re not tanking any games. We’re not trying to lose on purpose,” Briere said. “We’re going to do things obviously for the future. But at the same time, we expect these guys to go out and win every game.”
“We’re not trying to lose, we’re trying to develop our guys in hopefully a winning culture and an environment where they leave everything on the ice every single night,” said Briere.
Briere’s insistence the team is not looking to tank places an emphasis on the Flyers’ focus on internal player development and the culture surrounding their team. The returns of Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson should provide added stability to the Flyers forward group that assists with management’s overall goals of developing younger players in a more favorable environment.
Owen Tippett, Morgan Frost, Noah Cates, and Joel Farabee spent considerable time matching up with top-line caliber players last season. Adding Couturier and Atkinson to the lineup will allow for these young forwards to slot in more appropriately this year.
More must-reads: