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So maybe you're getting a one-season place holder. Could even be gone by the trade deadline.
But since there are no threads here, I thought I'd share with you my thoughts on AA - as probably one of his biggest fans on HFboards.
He is kind of an enigma
Last Year
I want to say throw out last year's stats. Athanasiou had emerged as a 30-goal man the previous year and even played exceedingly well as the Red Wings 2C (Andreas Athanasiou 2018-19 Game Log | Hockey-Reference.com) to end the season.
In his only preseason game, AA smashed into the boards on a highlight-reel goal and hurt his back.
He missed the start of the season.
When he did return in game 3, he was clearly rusty. He centered a line with Glendening and Hirose (a 4th liner and a minor leaguer). It was a line that worked the previous year when AA was skating at full speed. But it didn't work.
AA's icetime was cut. A couple games later, Coach Blashill (Not a big fan of AA) AA was removed from center. Through nine games he was 0-2-2 -11. The rest of the way in Detroit he went 37 games 10-12-22.
Also he was -34.
But make no mistake, though 10-12-22 over 37 games is a decent pace (22-27-49 in 16 minutes a night), AA wasn't the same guy as the year before.
His goals/60 were down. His shots/60 were down. His penalties drawn/60 were down. Over the previous 3 years, AA was a top NHL performer in each of these metrics.
AA continued to struggle in Edmonton.
But when the NHL resumed for the playoffs, AA's explosiveness returned. Unfortunately for AA and the Oilers, it didn't result in goals. But if you look at the other stats - you can see the proof in the pudding.
So the question is why did AA decline?
And there are 2 main reasons. Maybe a bit of both.
1) The lower-back injury hurt his skating. Even when his production returned, you didn't see AA getting crazy amounts of scoring chances like he'd done the previous 3-4 years.
2) He checked out. AA felt like he'd earned that 2C job. Coach Blashill showed zero faith him, took the job away and cut his icetime almost immediately. I'd like to rule this out, but I can't. Because AA kind of did the same thing in in 2017-18. When Blashill cut his icetime, he'd sag.
So I think there's a bit of both to blame for last year.
Goals/60.
To me, AA's best value is his five-on-five goal scoring. He has insane speed and hands.
2015-16 - 1.39. 1st in the NHL, 250 minutes or more. (rookie callup)
2016-17 - 1.27. 14th in the NHL
2017-18 - .87. 88th in the NHL (Contract hold out, missed camp, first 10 games)
2018-19 - 1.22. 17th in the NHL
In 18-19, he was also top 10 in penalties drawn per 60 and 31st in shots/60.
These numbers fell off drastically last year.
But if AA is skating well, even with lesser minutes, I think it's fair to expect 1 to 1.2 goals/60
Last year, Jeff Carter led the Kings with 1.02 goals/60. Toffoli was second at .98.
As good as the offense can be, the best of it comes on the rush. AA isn't great on the cycle.
Defense
Much has been made about Athanasiou finishing with the worst +/- in the league.
Athanasiou is not a good defensive player - which always bothered me with his speed/size.
But last year's +/- issues were caused by two things.
1) Less scoring. The Red Wings scored 2.3 to 2.7 goals/60 with AA on the ice in his first four years. That dropped to 1.58 last year. That's a massive drop - caused by AA's drastic reduction in offense.
2) His goals against rose to 4.63/60. Which is just brutal. But there was a lot of bad luck involved.
If you look at his defensive numbers, AA's shots against/60 actually dropped last year. His CA/60 also dropped last year. But between bad luck (being on the ice when Howard let in a turd, or a defenseman coughed it up, or stepping on the ice just as a goal goes in), AA had terribly bad luck. And these numbers are reflected in AA's awful PDO (second worst to Glendening in the league)
The truth is, AA isn't lazy. You'll see him bust his ass on the backcheck and make great plays.
But he doesn't engage, physically. He could make life rough on the outlet defenseman by skating into him and making physical contact, instead, he just sort of turns away from the play. He doesn't win many board battles. And in the defensive zone, he can get caught napping. He also has a tendency to blow to the zone looking for a breakaway pass when maybe he should just hang on the wall, await the chip up the boards and chip it out.
But since there are no threads here, I thought I'd share with you my thoughts on AA - as probably one of his biggest fans on HFboards.
He is kind of an enigma
Last Year
I want to say throw out last year's stats. Athanasiou had emerged as a 30-goal man the previous year and even played exceedingly well as the Red Wings 2C (Andreas Athanasiou 2018-19 Game Log | Hockey-Reference.com) to end the season.
In his only preseason game, AA smashed into the boards on a highlight-reel goal and hurt his back.
He missed the start of the season.
When he did return in game 3, he was clearly rusty. He centered a line with Glendening and Hirose (a 4th liner and a minor leaguer). It was a line that worked the previous year when AA was skating at full speed. But it didn't work.
AA's icetime was cut. A couple games later, Coach Blashill (Not a big fan of AA) AA was removed from center. Through nine games he was 0-2-2 -11. The rest of the way in Detroit he went 37 games 10-12-22.
Also he was -34.
But make no mistake, though 10-12-22 over 37 games is a decent pace (22-27-49 in 16 minutes a night), AA wasn't the same guy as the year before.
His goals/60 were down. His shots/60 were down. His penalties drawn/60 were down. Over the previous 3 years, AA was a top NHL performer in each of these metrics.
AA continued to struggle in Edmonton.
But when the NHL resumed for the playoffs, AA's explosiveness returned. Unfortunately for AA and the Oilers, it didn't result in goals. But if you look at the other stats - you can see the proof in the pudding.
So the question is why did AA decline?
And there are 2 main reasons. Maybe a bit of both.
1) The lower-back injury hurt his skating. Even when his production returned, you didn't see AA getting crazy amounts of scoring chances like he'd done the previous 3-4 years.
2) He checked out. AA felt like he'd earned that 2C job. Coach Blashill showed zero faith him, took the job away and cut his icetime almost immediately. I'd like to rule this out, but I can't. Because AA kind of did the same thing in in 2017-18. When Blashill cut his icetime, he'd sag.
So I think there's a bit of both to blame for last year.
Goals/60.
To me, AA's best value is his five-on-five goal scoring. He has insane speed and hands.
2015-16 - 1.39. 1st in the NHL, 250 minutes or more. (rookie callup)
2016-17 - 1.27. 14th in the NHL
2017-18 - .87. 88th in the NHL (Contract hold out, missed camp, first 10 games)
2018-19 - 1.22. 17th in the NHL
In 18-19, he was also top 10 in penalties drawn per 60 and 31st in shots/60.
These numbers fell off drastically last year.
But if AA is skating well, even with lesser minutes, I think it's fair to expect 1 to 1.2 goals/60
Last year, Jeff Carter led the Kings with 1.02 goals/60. Toffoli was second at .98.
As good as the offense can be, the best of it comes on the rush. AA isn't great on the cycle.
Defense
Much has been made about Athanasiou finishing with the worst +/- in the league.
Athanasiou is not a good defensive player - which always bothered me with his speed/size.
But last year's +/- issues were caused by two things.
1) Less scoring. The Red Wings scored 2.3 to 2.7 goals/60 with AA on the ice in his first four years. That dropped to 1.58 last year. That's a massive drop - caused by AA's drastic reduction in offense.
2) His goals against rose to 4.63/60. Which is just brutal. But there was a lot of bad luck involved.
If you look at his defensive numbers, AA's shots against/60 actually dropped last year. His CA/60 also dropped last year. But between bad luck (being on the ice when Howard let in a turd, or a defenseman coughed it up, or stepping on the ice just as a goal goes in), AA had terribly bad luck. And these numbers are reflected in AA's awful PDO (second worst to Glendening in the league)
The truth is, AA isn't lazy. You'll see him bust his ass on the backcheck and make great plays.
But he doesn't engage, physically. He could make life rough on the outlet defenseman by skating into him and making physical contact, instead, he just sort of turns away from the play. He doesn't win many board battles. And in the defensive zone, he can get caught napping. He also has a tendency to blow to the zone looking for a breakaway pass when maybe he should just hang on the wall, await the chip up the boards and chip it out.
