Andreas Athanasiou

[Pavels Dog]

He's boom or bust for multiple reasons: First because the league is adjusting to neutralizing speed by moving away from big pylon (read Chara) style D-men to more agile, cerebral d-men. Second because his work ethic has been suspect at every level and third because he while he is fast and has a good wrist shot, he lacks a lot of other tools. He doesn't have great vision for making passes, he does have any defensive instincts, and no INTANGIBLES.

So while his g/60 have been good so far, it is very likely (from someone who gets paid for their ability to do stats) that it is sampling error from a low TOI/g, and may not hold as time is increased. Especially as he gets paired against top pairing D-men instead of bottom guys.

NO VISION

LACKING TOOLS! SAMPLING ERROR!



(he needs to work on his consistency a lot, he needs to use his teammates more, but the kid's upside is amazingly obvious to anyone with eyes)

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

NO VISION

LACKING TOOLS! SAMPLING ERROR!



(he needs to work on his consistency a lot, he needs to use his teammates more, but the kid's upside is amazingly obvious to anyone with eyes)

See, that's the issue.

Any player in the NHL can make a play here and a play there. AA will make several more plays than an average guy because he does have plenty of talent and has some unique skills.

BUT, the whole issue with him is consistency. Being an everydayer. Anyone with eyes can see that he's special when he's on. He needs to be "on" far more often than he is.

The consistency is the bugaboo for AA right now. Until he gains it, he's not worth anything more than a third/fourth liner's icetime and/or money. No matter his skill or what he can do once.

If he was consistent, he'd be one of the best players on this roster. He's just not.

Also, I think he's got a 200 ft potential to his game, because he's blazing fast and his stickwork isn't awful. He needs to pull the hockey IQ part into his game as well. He has the raw materials and tools to craft a well-balanced, fantastic game. He needs to build himself a tool box.

 

[tfong]

That being said, from all his issues stemming originally in the draft, I am plesantly surprised hes made it this far. I thought he had a big chance of flaming out and not putting in the extra work on top of his skill (which was the minus on him back then).

 

[Henkka]

No offense but it seems you base players talent overwhelmingly on numbers. They're cool to see, don't get me wrong, but they don't paint the entire picture.

No, I base player talent on my own advanced stats which I do through an eye-test. Just brought out those simple stats that Athanasiou doesn't look at all that bad vs. Mantha, when you exclude the PP time.

 

[Shaman464]

NO VISION

LACKING TOOLS! SAMPLING ERROR!



(he needs to work on his consistency a lot, he needs to use his teammates more, but the kid's upside is amazingly obvious to anyone with eyes)

Did you even read what I said? I said no passing vision. MOD

 

[Oddbob]

Did you even read what I said? I said no passing vision.

In all fairness, the top two examples are him making nice passes.

 

[PelagicJoe]

I'd love to see AA paired up with a legit playmaking setup man. Goals galore.

 

[chris05]

So true....It is a game of support....AA is like a formula 1 car the wings are trying to run on diesel fuel....it might work well with other wing players but it just doesn't work with a player like AA....

 

[jolly roger]

The [mod] crowd is about to get their wish and drive this kid out of Detroit instead of Blabhill . This is a great article on the futility of the bashers and how bad this situation can get real soon:

https://wingsnation.com/2017/08/19/four-reasons-why-an-athanasiou-offer-sheet-makes-perfec

 

[Henkka]

The [mod] crowd is about to get their wish and drive this kid out of Detroit instead of Blabhill . This is a great article on the futility of the bashers and how bad this situation can get real soon:

https://wingsnation.com/2017/08/19/four-reasons-why-an-athanasiou-offer-sheet-makes-perfec

Yeah, typical "sky is gonna fall" -article. And nothing what was speculated there will happen.

But good entertainment on this off-seawon boredom.

The sky is gonna fall!

 

[TheMule93]

The [mod] crowd is about to get their wish and drive this kid out of Detroit instead of Blabhill . This is a great article on the futility of the bashers and how bad this situation can get real soon:

https://wingsnation.com/2017/08/19/four-reasons-why-an-athanasiou-offer-sheet-makes-perfec

lighten up bud, we all know you love AA even calling him the most talented player since Lemieux in one of your older posts. Just because someone isn't as high on him as you are doesn't mean you need to take it personally. We all know AA has lots of potential, we've seen the flashes of talent. Will he put it together or will he not? IDK, I consider this kind of speculation a fruitless endeavor. Lets hope he turns into something special, for everyone's sake.

 

[Mijatovic]

AA should walk. The treatment he gets by this team is outrageous.

 

[Oddbob]

Why do people even mention offer sheets, because they simply don't happen. When was the last one, Dustin Penner?

Even if an offer sheet came in, Detroit would match it and trade Sheahan or someone, to get back under the cap. AA will be signed very soon in my opinion, and probably only hasn't, cause Holland is hoping someone gets hurt, and he can put them on IR.

 

[HIFE]

Yeah, typical "sky is gonna fall" -article. And nothing what was speculated there will happen.

But good entertainment on this off-seawon boredom.

The sky is gonna fall!

By your reply it's fairly obvious you didn't read the entire article. This wasn't an angry doomsday prediction. He concludes the chances of an OS are highly unlikely.

I think it was well written and thought provoking. AA is underappreciated- 11 minutes average TOI and no room for him in the top 6. 3.2 sounds steep as an offer but what if a team sees something we don't and are willing to roll the dice for a 2nd rounder? Holland would have to do more than juggle to match.

Offer sheets do happen. In 11 years there's been 8 drawn up, though the last was 4 years ago (ROR). Again nothing to lose sleep over but it's an interesting argument.

 

[Shaman464]

I don't want to drive him out. I like him as a player, I just am not nearly as optimistic about his career arch. That doesn't mean I don't see him as a complementary piece to a competitive team, because I do. I have been pretty consistent in saying I see him mostly fitting in the middle 6 on a good team. For a 4th round pick that's a pretty great upside. And as I have said before I could see him reaching the 500 point mark before it's all said and done.

 

[Pavels Dog]

Did you even read what I said? I said no passing vision.

And I showed him making passing plays? He can pass the puck. He'll never be Datsyuk or Thornton, but if he can score 30+ goals (his numbers so far indicate such potential) he doesn't need to be a 50 assist player to be effective. He's shown an ability to pass the puck, his weakness is much more about his tendency to not pass it rather than an inability to actually do it.

 

[Heaton]

And I showed him making passing plays? He can pass the puck. He'll never be Datsyuk or Thornton, but if he can score 30+ goals (his numbers so far indicate such potential) he doesn't need to be a 50 assist player to be effective. He's shown an ability to pass the puck, his weakness is much more about his tendency to not pass it rather than an inability to actually do it.

Agreed. AA reminds me of Grabner.

 

[TCNorthstars]

AA should walk. The treatment he gets by this team is outrageous.

To where? The KHL?

 

[Number1RedWingsFan52]

AA should walk. The treatment he gets by this team is outrageous.

How did that work out for Trouba last year, Unless AA wants too play in Europe or the KHL how does walking make any sense we still own his rights regardless.

 

[njx9]

It'd probably be better for his development to get actual time in the KHL over getting benched inexplicably for worse players who make bigger mistakes on a nightly basis. But hey, at least we made sure a bunch of intangibles were out there losing games, instead of any semblance of actual talent.

But I'm sure Blashill is actually a secretly incredible coach/developer and that he's making all the right moves with AA.

All that said, I hope in the next lockout, the players negotiate out the endless years of team control.

 

[The Old Master]

Why do people even mention offer sheets, because they simply don't happen. When was the last one, Dustin Penner?

Even if an offer sheet came in, Detroit would match it and trade Sheahan or someone, to get back under the cap. AA will be signed very soon in my opinion, and probably only hasn't, cause Holland is hoping someone gets hurt, and he can put them on IR.

as a circling vulture, it only takes one. why take the chance? trade him to us [pen's] don't want to rip anybody off and might be willing to overpay a little.

 

[Shaman464]

And I showed him making passing plays? He can pass the puck. He'll never be Datsyuk or Thornton, but if he can score 30+ goals (his numbers so far indicate such potential) he doesn't need to be a 50 assist player to be effective. He's shown an ability to pass the puck, his weakness is much more about his tendency to not pass it rather than an inability to actually do it.

A couple gifs don't prove he's a great passer and watching him has shown that he's not a great passer. Vision isn't just about making a couple highlight reel plays, but is making plays in all zones and doing so both in Houdini like fashion and the ones that look unspectacular. From what I have seen he is much more of the type to throw the puck away into the offensive zone then chase it then to make a simple pass that will retain position for a zone entry.

 

[jolly roger]

Here's the latest from Vancouver:



https://canucksarmy.com/2017/08/22/the-canucks-should-offer-sheet-andreas-athanasiou/

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

Please, tell me how the Wings have handled AA SO terribly.

He's had games where he slacks. He's faced benching because of it. He has clear holes in his game right now. If he were fantastic and consistent, the Wings would pay him 4M+ and be thrilled about it. However, for as much skill as he has, he's also got a long way to go to be a consistent, complete player.

Teams "play hardball" with RFAs all the damn time. A couple super exceptions in McDavid, Draisaitl, Klefbom, Johansen, etc. don't change that. Teams have leverage on RFAs and it is beyond stupid to not get the best deal you can.

Right this second, there is no team in the league running to trade a second round pick for and extend AA on a 3.2M bridge deal. He simply is not worth it with the consistency issues he's shown.

It honestly makes me angry to read "Oh, that team, they're so horrible to this player" when what they're doing is literally par for the ****ing course when dealing with an erstwhile skilled player who is good but not elite. The Wings haven't done anything untoward with AA or Mantha, for that matter.

 

[Ezekial]

Here's the latest from Vancouver:



https://canucksarmy.com/2017/08/22/the-canucks-should-offer-sheet-andreas-athanasiou/

Pretty terrible article, we'd easily match 1.9 million.

Not surprising, the dude thinks we're on the hook for all of our over cap money right now.