Edmonton Oilers: Grading the Andreas Athanasiou trade

The Edmonton Oilers are in the playoff race and have added some important offensive depth. Here’s a grading of the Andreas Athanasiou trade.

The Edmonton Oilers have been getting flack from the entire league for years because they were unable to surround Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl with proper offensive depth. Then today, Ken Holland traded for Andreas Athanasiou from the Detroit Red Wings and the team has become a legitimate threat. They also got forward Ryan Kuffner in the trade.

Meanwhile, the Red Wings are getting two second-round picks and Sam Gagner. This is a great move for the Oilers as they have addressed a problem and have brought in a very talented player to play with McDavid. Athanasiou has a cap hit of $3 million this season and will be a restricted free agent after this season. He is 25 years old.

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This season, Athanasiou has 10 goals and 14 assists for 24 points in 42 games. Last season though, he had his first career season with at least 30 goals, finishing with 30 goals and 54 points.

Athanasiou is fast, has plenty of skill, and has finish. He would fit very well on McDavid’s wing and is the player that can finally keep up with the superstar center.

While he is notorious for being a poor defensive player, it shouldn’t be a problem as the Oilers have a solid defense and reliable goaltending. Besides, blocking shots for a team in playoff contention is drastically different from blocking for a team with just 15 wins on the season.

This is a great move by the Oilers as they add some much-needed offensive depth for a very low cost. With Athanasiou being 25 years old and in the last year of his two-year contract, he is a good candidate to be resigned by the Oilers.

He has plenty of potential and his skill set is a fit with the way Edmonton plays. Holland now has the final stretch of the season and potential playoff games to properly assess him and see where to go from there.