The Detroit Red Wings made a good move with Athanasiou’s contract
By Ash Thompson
The Detroit Red Wings and Andreas Athanasiou agreed to a two year, $6 million contract this week. That is a good deal relative to the market for a player of his caliber.
Andreas Athanasiou signed a two-year contract with a $3 million AAV earlier in the week. This is a good signing for a good number by the Detroit Red Wings. That is about the going rate for a player like him. Athanasiou is a 23-year-old forward coming off two seasons with goal totals in the mid to high teens, and point totals in the area of 30. An example of a similar contract is that of the Edmonton Oilers Ryan Strome. That deal is a two year, $3.1 million AAV for a player that is two years older than Athanasiou, and therefore more likely to have plateaued as a player.
Elite speed, a trait that grows more important as each year passes, is Athanasiou’s trademark. Collecting speedsters has been the theme of the Red Wings offseason thus far. They are building the ice-bound and knife shod version of a track team. Prior to last year, he had a very high shooting percentage to go along with that speed. With more ice time in 2017-18, his lethal accuracy disappeared. In 2016-17 Athanasiou’s scored on 15% of his shots. That dropped to 9.4% in 2017-18. Moving up in the lineup ended with two fewer goals on 50 more shots.
It is that potential for more that intrigues the Red Wings. It is also the bait for trades that GM Ken Holland may still be looking to make. The Red Wings need a long-term answer between the pipes. He also needs a long-term solution in his top four defensemen. Teams need to increase their speed, and they need players that can produce some points in 13-15 minutes per game as a third line forward without much in the way of power play time.
The Wings didn’t lock themselves in long-term. It is a short deal with a very tradeable player and at this ticket, there is little downside to this signing. They are not counting on Athanasiou to step up into a greater role to justify his cap hit. The Wings have signed this player at an appropriate number for his current production. If he never gets better, this is still a decent deal.
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Athanasiou is at an age where players start to truly define what they are. If he is able to regain some of his shooting acumen to go with the greater ice time he is seeing, he could become the type of player that the Red Wings wouldn’t dream of trading. Ken Holland made a good move this week.