Detroit Red Wings: It’s time to trade forward Andreas Athanasiou

One of/ if not the most valuable asset the Detroit Red Wings have at the trade deadline is Andreas Athanasiou, and lately, he has been on a tear. If Athanasiou continues this tear, there is absolutely no reason not to trade him and recoup any return of draft picks that General Manager Steve Yzerman can get.

The Detroit Red Wings need to start selling off the assets as the February 24th trade deadline continues to get closer and closer.

Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman needs to identify what is happening with Andreas Athanasiou and move him now while his value is reaching a high point at the perfect time. Lately, Athanasiou has been lighting the lamp more and is very apparent in the Red Wings minimal amount of offense.

In his last ten games, Athanasiou has five goals and one assist for six points. He has played in nine of those games since returning from an injury sustained just before the calendar flipped over to 2020.  Keep in mind; the Red Wings have only scored seventeen goals in those ten games; with Athanasiou scoring five, he has accounted for thirty percent of the teams scoring in the last ten games.

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On the season, Athanasiou has played in a total of forty-five games scoring ten goals and tallying fourteen assists for twenty-four points. The downside of Athanasiou’s game is that his minus-forty-three rating on the season is among the leagues worst, which is populated by plenty of Red Wings players. But with Athanasiou’s recently raised level of play, the team needs to move him as soon as possible to ensure they get a quality return for him.

With his plus/minus rating being as terrible as it is, some may not knock his defensive skills, but Athanasiou is a top-six scoring forward that could add to a team’s offense. He carries an offensive zone-start rating of 53.9%, meaning that Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill tends to deploy him offensively, obviously. His Corsi rating is 44.6%, which is 1.5% below the team’s rating, so the team technically is being shot on more with Athanasiou on the ice, but given his scoring, it has paid to have him on the ice in recent contests.

His analytics may not be the prettiest, but on this Red Wings team, it is still easy to identify the positives when looking at his stats and overall player makeup. Athanasiou has been hot. Lately, he is versatile in terms of being able to play wing or centerman for a team who needs to pick up some offense at the deadline.

Especially, with the 2020 trade “rental” class being light across the National Hockey League, Yzerman needs to act on this and make sure he gets something for Athanasiou to better the organization.