Detroit Red Wings: Jeff Blashill should consider adjusting the top line

The conclusion and final thoughts:

Octopus Thrower site expert Bob Heyrman wrote a while back that he thought moving Athanasiou up to the second line center position would boost his production as well as the Detroit Red Wings. I would be okay with settling for this if Blashill won’t put all three together, but to me, the numbers analytically just scream that they need to be put together.

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I would like to see Blashill test the line out in games, let them play together and see what happens because analytically, all signs point to them being able to produce, and being able to help the Red Wings win.

This whole opinion is based merely off of analytics and personal bias, I understand that there is more to hockey than just analytics. Take Mike Green, for example, I recently wrote about his impact on the ice being able to help the Detroit Red Wings win, and when I looked at the analytics, they did not really back that statement up.

Analytics and personal traits are two vastly different things, and in terms of Green, his veteran presence is what helps the Red Wings win. In this case with Athanasiou, Larkin, and Mantha it seems like they can really develop as players individually as well as a line for the immediate future. It appears that this just shows how analytics are extremely helpful when they’re used correctly.

Also, if you would like to see any of the stats yourself, they are in the links above, as well as here where I combined the stats I looked at onto one spreadsheet page.