Although the cap situation for the Red Wings is far from ideal as they currently project to be over the cap heading into the season, that doesn’t appear to be a big factor in the lack of progress being made in talks with winger Andreas Athanasiou, notes MLive’s Ansar Khan. Instead, the scribe suggests that it’s their salary structure that may be playing a big role.
While the 23-year-old is coming off of an 18 goal season, this was his only full NHL campaign. Accordingly, while Athanasiou is looking to be paid based off of that type of production, Detroit GM Ken Holland may be hesitant to give the type of money he’s looking for with as small of a track record as he has. There’s no word as to what offers are on the table but Khan speculates that a two-year bridge deal worth around $1.5MM per year may be close to what the Red Wings have put forth.
Yesterday, it was reported that Athanasiou is considering a one-year offer in the KHL. His agent, Darren Ferris, classified the offer as “significant”. Between that and the potential to play in the Olympics, it certainly stands to reason that this could be a bit more than just an attempt at getting some leverage in talks with the Red Wings. If he were to go overseas, Detroit would retain his rights.
More from the East:
- Although he ultimately re-signed with New Jersey, goalie Keith Kinkaid acknowledged to Chris Ryan of NJ Advance Media that he did speak to a few other teams during the interview period leading up to July 1st. Instead of going elsewhere though, he opted to sign a two-year, $2.5MM deal to remain with the Devils. He’ll serve as Cory Schneider’s backup once again this coming season.
- Although Pittsburgh’s addition of netminder Antti Niemi pushes prospect Tristan Jarry back to the number three role, GM Jim Rutherford suggested to NHL.com’s Wes Crosby that Jarry may still get into some NHL action with the Penguins this season. Niemi inked a one-year, $700K deal to replace Marc-Andre Fleury and serve as Matt Murray’s backup but the move also allows the 22-year-old to get another full season of AHL action under his belt before making another push for the number two spot in 2018-19.