Proposal: A.Athanasiou (DET) for M.Granlund (NSH)

Sep 28, 2017
6,510
6,620
Grand Rapids, MI
That San Jose game is why you keep AA around. He’s a game breaking talent when he’s skating. I’ll take the inconsistency... not every player is perfect. Everyone wants him gone and I just don’t understand why.
 

Henkka

Registered User
Jan 31, 2004
31,077
12,076
Tampere, Finland
That San Jose game is why you keep AA around. He’s a game breaking talent when he’s skating. I’ll take the inconsistency... not every player is perfect. Everyone wants him gone and I just don’t understand why.

Gone in a team-benefitting trade for another position/need.

Of course not gone just for the sake of gone.
 
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Hen Kolland

Registered User
Feb 22, 2018
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Ok I'm not going to die on this hill but I'll defend it once just to clarify, although I know you're going to accuse me of cherrypicking stats and there is admittedly subjectivity involved.

Since '08/'09:

- In G/GP AA is #5 behind Hossa, Franzen, Datsyuk, Mantha. For context, the first 3 got to play with each other on a much better team, and the latter got to play typically with much better playmakers and a lot more PP time.

- In EVG in a single season, AA is #2 with 27 behind only Hossa, with #3 having only 23 (15% fewer).

Look, I already know your arguments. Of course I'm not saying he's better than any of those guys, and of course I understand that he has flaws in his game.

I probably shouldn't have said specifically second to Hossa because there's subjectivity in my argument. But he is clearly in elite company in goalscoring ability alone, ignoring other factors.

My main point to takeaway if you forget about the nitpicking is that AA isn't just a good goalscorer. What he has accomplished -- with little icetime compared to other 1st liners, and with mostly mediocre linemates (and terrible D for that matter) -- is rare, and the fact that so many fans are so quick to throw him under the bus has always annoyed me.

I understand where you are coming from, but I don't think anyone is confusing Athanasiou as a legitimate goal scorer; it just happens that he's one of the best odd man rush creators in the game. That's a great skill to have because it tilts the production in your favor if you have anything that resembles puck skills or a decent shot. Darren Helm is very similar in his ability to create a breakaway or a 2 on 1 in the blink of an eye, but with hands made of stone, and being not much of a shooting threat, Helm has capped his goal production at 15.

When I think of a true goal scorer, I just don't think of a player like Athanasiou. I think of Ovechkin or Pastrnak or Kucherov. The perfect deployment for Athanasiou is similar to how the Penguins were using Phil Kessel for a while. They had enough depth to let Crosby drive the first line, Malkin drive the second line, and then let Kessel exploit the matchups on the third line. And this isn't to say Kessel wasn't a top 6, or first line caliber player in terms of his skill and ability, he was a matchup nightmare. I don't think it's unrealistic to say that if in a few years time (and good fortune be upon us) the Wings could deploy Athanasiou with some combination of Veleno, Rasmussen, Perlini, Berggren, Hirose, etc. on the third line and have it be dangerous as all hell because they are able to slot in Byfield, Fabbri, and Zadina on the second line and tilt the matchups to favor that third line.

Now that's super optimistic and requires a hell of a lot to go right between now and then. Obviously things will change. Maybe one of those things involves Athanasiou's future; he's one player that I don't see as a bona fide first line winger, and if he's not going to be that, he has to be considered available for the right price.

And that price, bringing this back on topic, is not Granlund.
 

wingerdinger

Registered User
Oct 21, 2018
1,091
986
i for one hope he's around for when/if this team gets competitive again. he plays a lot like Kessel and he definitely gave pittsburgh an extra dimension.
 

MBH

Players Play
Jul 20, 2019
13,497
7,298
SE Michigan
redwingsnow.com
No. That’s the crux of the discussion, bud.

If AA is “the best goal scorer since Hossa” that means he’s better than every name I listed. Which he’s not. And I don’t think it’s close.

I would rather rely on ANY of those players as goal scorers over Athanasiou, and it’s not really much of a discussion. Athanasiou is not a traditional goal scorer, and has required a substantial amount of odd man and breakaway chances.

I know you read my post, you know what my point is. Don’t play dumb.
 

Ghost of Ethan Hunt

The Official Ghost of Space Ghosts Monkey
Jun 23, 2018
8,733
5,092
Top Secret Moon Base
Athanasiou for Barrie tho? I’d take that in a heartbeat
I'd be inclined to make that trade, but Barrie may want $7-8M+, which is a no for me, that's Krug territory. At $5-6M he's probably good value, assuming he's at least an avg. #3 defensively. With Seider likely up next season, our right side would be set for the entirety of Barrie's contract barring a trade. Does anyone know if Barrie can play LHD? If not, can Seider play LHD?
 

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