It's a Sunday game day and the Wings just hit us with some unexpected exciting news. Andreas Athanasiou has been called up to the Red Wings from the Grand Rapids Griffins. Landon Ferraro suffered a sprained knee in Friday's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Andreas Athanasiou will make his NHL debut as a result. This is extremely exciting news! Athanasiou had a great pre-season, tallying 7 points (4 goals and 3 assists) in 5 games played. The Griffins have struggled to get any offense going so far this season and in 8 games Athanasiou has a goal and an assist which puts him 5th on the team in scoring. He'll inject speed, skill, creativity, and offense onto whatever line he's put on. If you didn't plan to watch the game today, you may want to adjust your plans. This could be a very exciting game!

Kyle Quincey was also put on 7 day injured reserve to make room to call Athanasiou up, and Mike Green will make his return to the lineup today. Green was never on IR so no moves needed to be made for him to return. With Athanasiou presumably playing, since it makes no sense to call him up just to be a healthy scratch, we're left to assume Tomas Jurco will be a healthy scratch again and I still don't fully understand why.

We still don't know what the lines will look like today with this late breaking news but a Teemu Pulkkinen - Andreas Athanasiou - Darren Helm line as your 3rd could be killer to watch.

What unexpectedly great news to get on a Sunday morning. Here's the Wings press release for Athanasiou's call up.

UPDATE: Ansar Khan reports that another forward is questionable and that's why Athanasiou was called up, so we may see Jurco and Athanasiou in the lineup.

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DETROIT - The Detroit Red Wings today recalled center Andreas Athanasiou from the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins and placed defenseman Kyle Quincey on seven-day injured reserve.

Athanasiou, 21, has skated in 65 games with the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins since 2013-14, recording 37 points (18-19-37) and 29 penalty minutes. He played his first full professional season in 2014-15 and posted the best point-per-game average (0.58) among Griffins rookies, recording 32 points (16-16-32) in a campaign that was limited to 55 games played due to a broken jaw. The Woodbridge, Ontario, native finished 10th on the club in scoring, while tying for fifth with a plus-17 rating and ranking third with two shorthanded goals. Athanasiou finished fifth on Grand Rapids in postseason scoring, picking up nine points (5-4-9) in 16 postseason games. The 6-foot-2, 200-lb., forward led Detroit this year in preseason scoring and tied for seventh in the NHL with seven points (4-3-7) in five games.

Originally drafted by Detroit in the fourth round (110th overall) of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, Athanasiou spent four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League from 2010-14 prior to turning professional, spending time with the London Knights and Barrie Colts. In 252 career major junior games, he recorded 221 points (111-110-221) and 125 penalty minutes, winning an OHL championship with London in 2012. He ranked fifth in the league in scoring during his final OHL season with Barrie in 2013-14, racking up 95 points (49-46-95) in 66 games. Athanasiou is also a two-time gold medalist with Canada as a member of the 2011 IIHF Under-17 World Hockey Challenge and 2012 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup championship teams.

Andreas Athanasiou, Center
Born Aug 6 1994 -- Woodbridge, ONT
Height 6.02 -- Weight 200 -- Shoots L

Selected by Detroit Red Wings round 4 #110 overall 2012 NHL Entry Draft

--- Regular Season --- ---- Playoffs ----
Season Team Lge GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
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2010-11 London Knights OHL 57 11 11 22 21 6 0 0 0 0
2011-12 London Knights OHL 63 22 15 37 22 11 1 4 5 0
2012-13 Barrie Colts OHL 66 29 38 67 30 22 12 13 25 11
2013-14 Barrie Colts OHL 66 49 46 95 52 11 3 9 12 2
2013-14 Grand Rapids Griffins AHL 2 1 2 3 0 6 0 1 1 6
2014-15 Grand Rapids Griffins AHL 55 16 16 32 25 16 5 4 9 6
2015-16 Grand Rapids Griffins AHL 8 1 1 2 4
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