"I'm a loyal guy, but at some point it gets to a point where losing isn't fun for anyone. It's not fun to come to the rink and be a part of that, no matter how old you are or the leadership role you're in. Who knows how the Blue Jackets are going to do this year? It's pretty obvious what they're trying to do right now. I've seen all my best buddies leave that was tough to say the least. We can talk about the Flyers and how they're making a lot of changes as well, but it seems like they're making changes to bring in veteran presence, leaders, older leaders who know how to play the right way."
These words might not hold that much weight had it been from someone like Matt Duchene who stopped in for merely a minute during a playoff run or even an Artemi Panarin who was never going to be a long term piece of the puzzle for the Blue Jackets, but Atkinson is far from either of those examples. Drafted in the 6th round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, Atkinson has been a full time NHLer with the Blue Jackets since the 2011 - 2012 seasons and there's no doubt that his words carry a good deal of weight here.
