Columbus Blue Jackets: Seth Jones and Cam Atkinson 2019 All-Stars
The Columbus Blue Jackets will have at least two representatives at the NHL All-Star game in 2019.
The annual NHL All-Star game rosters were announced yesterday. Representing the Columbus Blue Jackets will be defenseman Seth Jones and forward Cam Atkinson. The two will return to California as All-Stars as they did in 2017 when the game was held in Los Angeles. This year’s affair will be held in San Jose.
Every team gets at least one player on the team but this year the Jackets clearly deserved two players. Cam Atkinson is tied for fourth in the league in goal scoring this year with 24 goals. He is third in the league in even strength goals with 19 on the year. His 42 points have him tied for 30th in scoring league wide.
Cam could easily break 40 goals this year if the power play comes close to resembling something close to competent. It would be the first 40 goal season of Cam’s career.
Seth Jones has returned from an early season injury to play at an All-Star level yet again. This is the third straight year Jones has been selected to the All-Star game although last year he was unable to attend due to an illness.
Jones is on a 58 point pace over an 82 game season. Although he wont hit that number due to missing games in October, the 24-year-old should end the year over the 50 point total for the second year in a row.
Jones is also logging significant ice time this year. He is second in time on ice only behind Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty.
Last Man In
Fans will have the option of voting for a player in each division to be the “Last Man In” to the All-Star game. The Columbus Blue Jackets option is captain Nick Foligno. While Nick is having a great season, both Artemi Panarin and Pierre-Luc Dubois are having much better years and would have been better options. PLD is centering one of the top lines in the NHL as a 20-year-old and should be the option fans get to chose from.
The All-Star game will take place in San Jose on Saturday, January 26th.