Khan, Custance: Red Wings re-sign Athanasiou to 2-year, $6 million contract

Per MLive’s Ansar Khan:

The Athletic’s Craig Custance confirms:

Here’s Khan in text form:

Athanasiou’s salary for 2017-18 was $1.3875 million, when he produced 16 goals and 33 points in 71 games after signing in late October.

Athanasiou, who turns 24 on Aug. 6, has 43 goals and 33 assists in 172 career games.

He will still be a restricted free agent when this deal expires in 2020.

The Red Wings are negotiating contracts with restricted free agents Dylan Larkin and Anthony Mantha, neither of whom was arbitration eligible. Mantha is expected to sign a two-year bridge deal. Larkin might sign a long-term extension, likely no more than five years, after which he would still be a restricted free agent.

Update #2: FYI:

Update #3: The Detroit News confirms:

Center Andreas Athanasiou and the Detroit Red Wings have agreed to terms on a two-year deal for $6 million.

Athanasiou was a restricted free agent and held arbitration rights, so the Wings and the 23-year-old will avoid that process this summer.

At the end of the Red Wings’ season in April, Athanasiou reiterated his desire to remain with the Red Wings. However, he was considered a trade candidate given the Wings’ uneasiness with his inconsistency and defensive lapses over his first three NHL seasons.

“This is one of the greatest organizations in the NHL,” Athanasiou said then. “If I get the opportunity to play here, it’s unbelievable. The main thing is trying to get this team back to a playoff position, so you’re a contender for the Stanley Cup.”

Update #4: The Free Press’s Helene St. James confirms:

Darren Ferris, Athanasiou’s agent, told the Free Press on Thursday the sides have agreed to a contract. Terms were not immediately available.

Athanasiou, 23, made $1,387,500 last season. He produced 16 goals and 17 assists in 71 games. He had a 0.46 points-per-game average and 15:19 minutes per game, compared to a 0.45 points-per-game average and 13:28 minutes-per-game average in 2016-17.

Athanasiou was a restricted free agent with arbitration rights. He had until Thursday to file.

Update #5: The Red Wings now confirm:

Red Wings re-sign Athanasiou for two years

Third-year NHLer tied for third on Detroit in goals in 2017-18

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today re-signed left wing Andreas Athanasiou to a two-year contract.

Athanasiou, 23, completed his third full NHL season in 2017-18 and recorded a career-high 33 points (16-17-33) in 71 games, alongside 16 penalty minutes. The 6-foot-2, 188-pound forward ranked among Red Wings leaders with 16 goals (T3rd), 17 assists (T9th), 33 points (T6th), 170 shots (5th) and 38 takeaways (T4th). He also tied an NHL record last season by scoring six seconds into an overtime period on Jan. 3 vs. Ottawa – becoming the fourth player to ever score an overtime winner that quickly and the first in the NHL’s three-on-three overtime format (later equaled by Toronto’s William Nylander) – which also established a Red Wings franchise record. In 172 NHL games for Detroit since 2015-16, Athanasiou has tallied 76 points (43-33-76) and 49 penalty minutes. He was originally drafted by the Red Wings in the fourth round (110th overall) of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.

A native of Woodbridge, Ontario, Athanasiou spent parts of three seasons with the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins (2013-16) prior to full-time NHL duty and totaled 51 points (25-26-51) and 34 penalty minutes in 83 games, adding 15 points (7-8-15) in 28 playoff games. Before his time with the Griffins, Athanasiou spent four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League between the London Knights and Barrie Colts, registering 221 points (111-110-221) and 125 penalty minutes in 252 games from 2010-14. He was a 2012 OHL Champion with London after establishing himself as an OHL Second All-Rookie Team Member in 2011. Athanasiou has also won a pair of gold medals for Canada Ontario at the 2011 IIHF World Under-17 Hockey Challenge and Canada at the 2012 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament.

 

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, when MLive hired me to work their SlapShots blog, and I joined Kukla's Korner in 2011 as The Malik Report. I'm starting The Malik Report as a stand-alone site, hoping that having my readers fund the website is indeed the way to go to build a better community and create better content.

13 thoughts on “Khan, Custance: Red Wings re-sign Athanasiou to 2-year, $6 million contract”

  1. Nice. One down, two to go.

    I wonder if there is a trade brewing though. Gus on the bus or AA on his way.

  2. Too much money in my opinion, it’ll make him hard to trade now and he’ll have even less motivation to play hard every shift.

          2. Compared to past term/AAV for, as example DDK & Abdelkader (under lower caps), this will probably be a great deal. Medium or less risk compared to past KH efforts.

  5. Well, Im looking for bigger things from AA this season. There may have been some bitterness and communications breakdowns in the past, but now is his opportunity to show the NHL what he’s really got.

    If he has sub-par performance again after signing a 2 year deal, he will be the one looking bad and for work elsewhere. He has a golden opportunity in Detroit to establish a great career and he should take full advantage of it.

    I like his game a lot, he has raw talent… he just needs to reach another level and be the best he can be. That would be optimum for he and the Wings.

    Go AA & Go Red Wings!

    1. Spot on Will.

      With all these youngsters, I hope they spend more time in the gym, conditioning and with specialized hockey trainers to hone their skills to get to the next level then playing in all these international games (even though it helps their development some).

      Frk for example should hire Al Macinnis to learn how to shoot an accurate booming shot.

      This league is a fast league and these kids are getting bigger, but if you don’t have a bite to your game, it doesn’t matter how big you are, you are just taking up space. This game has lost its space due to the speed and the size of these kids. It’s great to have good to great skating skills, but it also takes some tenacity and willingness to run a player over (Ovie) to gain more space for yourself. Many skilled players have been not doing as well in the playoffs as they have in the regular season because they don’t either have the strength or the tenacity to be tough on the puck. IMHO.

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