Detroit Red Wings: Athanasiou Needs to Remain with Detroit
By Bob Heyrman
The Detroit Red Wings recently re-signed Andreas Athanasiou to a two-year contract extension worth 6 million dollars. A deal worth 3 AAV million per season over the course of the next two seasons is an excellent bridge deal for both Detroit & “AA.”
The Detroit Red Wings who at the moment have a plethora of forwards will be entertaining offers on a handful of players to create roster space in the near future. Andreas Athanasiou’s name has been brought up in a couple of different media outlets as a player Detroit could have on the trading block.
It would be in the Detroit Red Wings best interest to keep Athanasiou along with granting him enough regular ice time to generate more offense consistently. Jeff Blashill similar to Ken Holland, has been loyal to a fault with his inability to rely on younger players to contribute by allowing lesser skilled players who have been in the league longer to play more minutes.
This is the year Andreas Athanasiou should see a significant boost in ice time. Last season playing on average 15:19 minutes a game was able to score 16 goals and add 17 assists in 71 games. Jeff Blashill needs to commit to playing Athanasiou 17-18 minutes a night or more moving forward.
The game has gotten quicker over the years, speedy players like AA are desired throughout the league in today’s game. These skilled players mixed with world-class skating ability have the opportunity to provide dynamic scoring chances if the proper ice time is allocated.
Granted the return for Athanasiou via trade would be more significant than other Red Wings rumored to be on the block, examples being Luke Glendening & Thomas Vanek (when the time comes). Gustav Nyquist may fetch a similar return but only as a rental. Detroit should demand more for AA if trading is what they begrudgingly decide to do. He is under contract control for two more seasons at a team friendly cap hit along with only being 24 years old.
It wouldn’t be in Detroit’s best interest to trade Athanasiou, especially with Henrik Zetterberg‘s future in question. There is no reason we shouldn’t expect Athanasiou to be a 20 plus goal scorer in the immediate future.
Detroit who has struggled at times to find regular goal scoring shouldn’t decide now that they would like to trade a soon to be 24-year-old skilled scorer that has yet to reach his full potential. It would be a foolish move by management and ill-favored among those who follow the franchise regularly.
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It was nice to have a deal done early on in the offseason with double-A, unlike the last offseason which progressed into an “in-season hold out’.” Perhaps the Detroit Red Wings should be embracing of Athanasiou’s skill and potential and considering him as a building block for the future rather than potentially using him as a trading piece.