RWJC Posted November 11 Posted November 11 (edited) Blackhawks Place Recent 20-goal Scorer Andreas Athanasiou on Waivers November 11th, 2024 at 8:14am CST • By Josh Erickson Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that the Blackhawks will place veteran center Andreas Athanasiou on waivers this week, potentially as early as Monday. The move will leave Chicago with an open roster spot, although it’s unclear what they plan to do with it. Athanasiou, 30, was signed to a two-year, $8.5MM extension in 2023 after a resurgent 20-goal, 40-point showing with the Blackhawks the preceding season. The club banked on Athansiou’s demonstrated ceiling when healthy and his historical status as one of the league’s fastest skaters to help energize their top nine through their rebuild, even with injuries limiting Athanasiou to fewer than 70 games all but three times in his decade-long career. The pending waiver placement underscores how poorly things have gone for Athanasiou in the year-plus since. He missed 53 games last season with a lower-body injury, and while he’s managed to avoid IR this season, he’s still barely played. Athanasiou has no points and is averaging 9:36 per game through five contests, and he’s now sat in the press box for nine straight games dating back to Oct. 22. Even when healthy last season, Athanasiou was limited to two goals and seven assists in 28 appearances. The high-motor pivot has broadly posted relatively solid possession numbers during his time in Chicago, and his ability to slot in at center and on either wing carries some value. Still, he’s not producing enough offensively for his skill set to justify a spot in the lineup or his $4.25MM cap hit. If he was on a league-minimum deal, or close to it, there’s a high chance at least one team would have banked on his past upside as a 15-to-30-goal scorer in middle-six usage. But his struggles the past two seasons mean no team is willing to risk the pickup at such a high cap hit, even if he’s slated to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. Teams interested in Athanasiou will likely wait until after he clears waivers to initiate or accelerate trade talks with the Blackhawks, who could flip him to a club with some salary retained and the newfound flexibility of an AHL assignment. Chicago still has two available retention slots and could make him as cheap as $2.125MM against the cap for an acquiring team, who could bury him in the minors for a $975K penalty, compared to the $3.1MM he’ll still cost against Chicago’s books after he assumedly clears and is assigned to AHL Rockford. https://www.prohockeyrumors.com/2024/11/blackhawks-expected-to-place-andreas-athanasiou-on-waivers.html#ref=home Edited November 11 by RWJC 1 Quote
DrJockitch Posted November 11 Posted November 11 13 minutes ago, Hammertime said: Petey's new winger. They would need to pickup a lot of salary. Quote
NHLer Posted November 11 Posted November 11 4 minutes ago, DrJockitch said: They would need to pickup a lot of salary. Double retention to make it around 1 mill to make it worth it lol Quote
Popular Post Ballisticsports Posted November 11 Popular Post Posted November 11 He can't be Bedards winger and some want him for Petey? Every team cast off on waivers we want Glad we have a competent management 4 2 2 Quote
Popular Post Hammertime Posted November 11 Popular Post Posted November 11 9 minutes ago, Ballisticsports said: He can't be Bedards winger and some want him for Petey? Every team cast off on waivers we want Glad we have a competent management Twas joke. MGMT keep putting Pete with north south guys and it keeps not working. 1 2 1 1 Quote
PureQuickness Posted November 11 Posted November 11 1 hour ago, Hammertime said: Twas joke. MGMT keep putting Pete with north south guys and it keeps not working. I'm gonna sound harsh with this, but he's paid 11.6M. Expectations are going to be very high, if not unreasonable. That said, Pettersson is okay defensively. He's got some kind of physical or mental ailment that is causing him not to be the same type of player he started out with. Hopefully these last couple of games where he scored will be a sign of him picking it up. 2 Quote
Hammertime Posted November 11 Posted November 11 2 minutes ago, PureQuickness said: I'm gonna sound harsh with this, but he's paid 11.6M. Expectations are going to be very high, if not unreasonable. That said, Pettersson is okay defensively. He's got some kind of physical or mental ailment that is causing him not to be the same type of player he started out with. Hopefully these last couple of games where he scored will be a sign of him picking it up. Not harsh at all. It's an entirely fair assessment. Where I'm coming from is we have a bunch of north south guys that drive the middle of the ice in De Brusk, Garland, Dak, Sherwood, Heinen, which is great and absolutely valuable to our teams success. However outside of Pete, Boeser we don't really have any forwards that can successfully complete a cross ice tape to tape pass. I hope Pete can turn it around on his own and I believe that he will. But I don't think we will see him flourish until we find someone who can move the puck east west. 1 1 Quote
Lemon Face Posted November 11 Posted November 11 3 hours ago, Hammertime said: Twas joke. MGMT keep putting Pete with north south guys and it keeps not working. Sorry Hammer but MGMT isn't coach of this team.We have players of any direction needed. Quote
Hammertime Posted November 11 Posted November 11 3 minutes ago, Lemon Face said: Sorry Hammer but MGMT isn't coach of this team.We have players of any direction needed. Do we? Name one playmaker? Quote
JeremyCuddles Posted November 11 Posted November 11 We traded a "recent 20 goal scorer" for nothing. I think we can safely pass on this guy. Quote
Diamonds Posted November 11 Posted November 11 1 hour ago, Hammertime said: Do we? Name one playmaker? We've been looking for a playmaking winger on this team for a long time (a lot of people were hoping we would sign Parenteau to play with Kesler in 2012). The reality is there are also just not a lot of them in the league right now. There are the top end guys like Marner, Barzal, and Rob Thomas but they would all cost an arm and a leg to acquire. The next tier would probably be Huberdeau (if Calgary retains 50%), Nick Schmaltz, Matias Maccelli, or maybe Gustav Nyquist (and maybe add Drouin). Of all the options Nyquist is probably the most realistic target as a rental. We could also look into Giroux if Ottawa struggles. 1 Quote
BarneyKook Posted November 11 Posted November 11 (edited) 2 hours ago, Hammertime said: Not harsh at all. It's an entirely fair assessment. Where I'm coming from is we have a bunch of north south guys that drive the middle of the ice in De Brusk, Garland, Dak, Sherwood, Heinen, which is great and absolutely valuable to our teams success. However outside of Pete, Boeser we don't really have any forwards that can successfully complete a cross ice tape to tape pass. I hope Pete can turn it around on his own and I believe that he will. But I don't think we will see him flourish until we find someone who can move the puck east west. I have been "hammering" this point for a while now. No East West guys in our line up. Its unbalanced and one reason we cant get odd man rush chances or when we do it seems the puck is a hot potato. Its another reason why our PP looks stagnant all the time. We need an puck possession player/passer that can move around with the puck using their feet and create openings. Petey has the brains and hands for it but not the feet. Garland has the feet and hands but not the brain to see the openings. We have a lot of North/South guys with good shots. Need a distributor to balance the lineup. Someone with the puck possession skills to draw defenders towards them creating openings for others. Of course once in a while a player will make a great pass but how many times do we see those "hopefull" passes that go to no one and result in a give away. Edited November 11 by BarneyKook 1 Quote
Canuck You Posted November 11 Posted November 11 3 hours ago, Bell said: This guy is very fast and that's about it So he's Mason Raymond? Quote
RWJC Posted November 12 Author Posted November 12 38 minutes ago, Canuck You said: So he's Mason Raymond? No maybe a little better because Anthansiou at least plays the game positioned vertically 1 Quote
Hammertime Posted November 12 Posted November 12 1 hour ago, Diamonds said: We've been looking for a playmaking winger on this team for a long time (a lot of people were hoping we would sign Parenteau to play with Kesler in 2012). The reality is there are also just not a lot of them in the league right now. There are the top end guys like Marner, Barzal, and Rob Thomas but they would all cost an arm and a leg to acquire. The next tier would probably be Huberdeau (if Calgary retains 50%), Nick Schmaltz, Matias Maccelli, or maybe Gustav Nyquist (and maybe add Drouin). Of all the options Nyquist is probably the most realistic target as a rental. We could also look into Giroux if Ottawa struggles. I'm pulling for Nyquist as well. 1 Quote
R3aL Posted November 12 Posted November 12 9 hours ago, Hammertime said: Not harsh at all. It's an entirely fair assessment. Where I'm coming from is we have a bunch of north south guys that drive the middle of the ice in De Brusk, Garland, Dak, Sherwood, Heinen, which is great and absolutely valuable to our teams success. However outside of Pete, Boeser we don't really have any forwards that can successfully complete a cross ice tape to tape pass. I hope Pete can turn it around on his own and I believe that he will. But I don't think we will see him flourish until we find someone who can move the puck east west. Miller can but he’s still a north / shouts downhill kinda guy too. i think 1 player of that style would still be good but the other should be a more dynamic east / west player the mik / kuz line did click at times I still think it’s the formula just need it to be higher end maybe Lekkeriamki is that player though in the next 1-3 years 1 Quote
RakuRaku Posted November 12 Posted November 12 13 hours ago, DrJockitch said: They would need to pickup a lot of salary. And take Desharnais too Quote
GrammaInTheTub Posted November 12 Posted November 12 This guys prior stats are no indication of where he’s at now. He’s nearly four times the cost of sprong who we just gave away. I wish him happiness in life but he has no place on this team. Quote
Hammertime Posted November 12 Posted November 12 (edited) 3 hours ago, R3aL said: Miller can but he’s still a north / shouts downhill kinda guy too. i think 1 player of that style would still be good but the other should be a more dynamic east / west player the mik / kuz line did click at times I still think it’s the formula just need it to be higher end maybe Lekkeriamki is that player though in the next 1-3 years Absolutely. That's the hope. We have a good cast to be the 3rd on that line. Edited November 12 by Hammertime 1 Quote
IBatch Posted November 12 Posted November 12 16 hours ago, Hammertime said: Do we? Name one playmaker? Garland. 1 Quote
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