WHAT’S SHAKING?
TSN’S Bob Mckenzie reported three days ago that the Red Wings had submitted a new offer to restricted free agent Andreas Athansiou. The newest offer (2 years at 1.9 million annually) is around a $400,000 increase on the speculative deal that AA turned down earlier this summer. AA finished second on the team last season with 18 goals, an impressive mark for the sophomore made even more striking by the fact that he played in only 62 games. In the words of John Malkovich’s character Teddy KGB in “Rounders”…
PAY THAT MAN HIS MONEY!
WHY DO WE NEED HIM?
It’s pretty simple, you need to score goals to win games, you need to win games to make the playoffs. The Wings were a goal starved squad last year finishing the season with the fifth lowest goals for in the league. His foot speed is almost unrivaled throughout the league, which leads to many scoring chances for him. In the following video check out the :30, :40 and :54 second marks to see how he uses his explosive speed and smooth hands to close out his offensive opportunities.
Making Space
Of course the Red Wings still need to make space to sign a contract for $1.9M AAV (or perhaps a little more), but between the possibility of Kronwall not being able to go or the chances that the rumors about Riley Sheahan being on the trade block heating up, it’s definitely a workable solution.
Where will Athanasiou end up?
| Detroit | 1307 |
| KHL | 172 |
| Another NHL team | 105 |
| Elsewhere in Europe | 17 |
