Oilhawks
Oden's Ride Over Nordland
- Nov 24, 2011
- 26,423
- 45,719
I am not sure how you classify players but I think having a guy like Chisasson as a 4RW is overly harsh. If you look at scoring over the three years between 2016-1017 and 2018-2019 Chiasson sits at #56 amongst RW with 80 points and he's tied for 41st in goals. He's decent defensively as well. So it's pretty safe to say that he is an unspectacular but effective 3rd liner who can play up the line-up when he is going well.
Athanasiou has not yet clicked with the Oilers but he is legitimate top 6 winger on most teams. And I say that even though I was not a big proponent of trading for him. Over the same period as a above he sits 26th in goals for LW with 64 and is 37th in points. At this point the Oiler's forward depth is actually fairly good because some of the less productive bottom 6'er are also terrific pk'ers, and in the case of a guy like Neal or Chaisson you have players who can be contributors on the pp.
Chicago has more pure talent in the bottom half of the forward crew. But the Oilers have done a lot to address their forward depth.
I was basing it off stats but also my subjective feel of the player and where they are at at this moment in time (ex younger players likely to be higher as they develop or get used to the team / systems). I was trying to be a bit harsh in some cases for sake of being conservative in expectations.
I was debating putting Chiasson as “3RW”, on the lower end like you pointed out. I like the player and think he’s been more of last seasons Chiasson the second half of this season.
Agreed with your assessment of Athanasiou, that is my hope at least. He could be a real X factor if he starts to come on offensively.