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Yup, this for sure. But then, like always, we have others on the complete opposite side of the spectrum as well. "AA sucks", " no big loss if he goes to the KHL", "not an important piece to the future", etc, etc. When the reality is, as of right now, he's a highly skilled player that hasn't yet proven that he can produce regularly in a top 6 role. Will he if given the opportunity? I think so. But until he's given the opportunity, it's still an unknown. I also think it's possible that he could develop into a better player than Nyquist (this coming from one of Nyquist's biggest fans), but to say he already is, is flat out wrong. Athanasiou has a ton of potential. I hope he reaches that potential as a Red Wing.

Wow do people overrate AA. The kid is good, and I believe he has a ton of potential, but from saying he has a ceiling of 90 points to him currently being the 2nd best player on our team, people really do take it to extreme's.

We missed out obviously... Star in the making.

Being somewhat of an artist, I've been getting pestered with requests for a desktop wallpaper for the coming season. So with training camp starting tonight I figured it's time to post my wallpapers for the upcoming 2017/18 season. These are ultra-rare custom wallpapers folks. You can't get these anywhere else, except LGW. After working all summer on these, I have prepared a Home, Away, and Alternate for this season. Check it out... Any feedback is appreciated. If anyone else has prepared some high-quality custom wallpapers like these, please use this thread to share.

Got some images from the preview today here http://wingsarena.tumblr.com

AA basically has 1 asset which is tremendous speed and he is still young enough to maybe witness a deep run in the distant future but the guy doesn't seem to have any defensive abilities so he will never be a reliable 2 way player. Saying he is already better than Nyquist is wrong Nyquist to me is the most dangerous pure goal scorer on the team right now but the league has long adjusted to him so it's much harder to do it regular. The NHL teams also planned for Larkin and he has yet to figure out how to adjust his game, the same is going to happen with AA stopping him is not that difficult keep the guy on the outside and force him to shoot his release is not that good. With that being said this whole saga just proves that the Wings are having the wrong priorities. Can't or don't want to sign him fine the trade the guy and get a pick or else sign him. The days of young guys signing low ball offers are over maybe the Wings front office needs to learn that the hard way.

Besides the goal, Cholo has looked impressive. Really composed with the puck. Doesn't ditch it when he gets pressure on.

Just turned it on. Oh hockey, how I've missed thee. GOAL!!!

I most certainly agree with this. However there is another bad dimension to this, which is that we only have 2-3 guys with more potential than this 'greek lightning', which in a sense brings him up as a prime subject. This was unheard of some years ago but our roster is in such a bad shape that he is one of the hopes for our future when in the past he would have been protected and not eagerly awaited for, albeit clearly noticed for what he might be possibly be doing in the future. He might crack, he might be a bust. But it's what we got. Can't let him go.

Nyquist better than AA....really?? Far better? Good Lord what game do you guys watch? A small scoring forward who can't score is better than AA?? OK I guess you'll be content when he walks and you watch Nyquist do nothing again this year.

At this time, Nyquist is the better player. At the very least, he's the more proven player. The jury is out on Athanasiou. He has a lot to prove.

That's why I wrote the "ifs" in my post.

Wings have been controlling the play. Bad penalty kill and a defensive breakdown is why the'yre down. Pretty impressed by them actually

Saarijarvi looks good getting shots on net on the PP From what I've seen the D looks good at getting the puck out of their end quickly

I think it would all really depend on what AA's 3rd deal would be worth. Your guess of 2.8 seems low to me. But I know you had to put a number under the 3 mill KHL offer to make the argument that he'd make more in the long term by going there for a year. As a guy who score 18 goals in 64 games, that's on pace for 23 over 82. If that's who he is, even without improving, I don't think you're going to get that for 2.8 when he's up for free agency. But, anyway, I think most expect him to improve his game and if he's in line for a 3rd contract around the size of Nyquist or Tatar's then there's no question that he'd make more over the 3 years by staying in the NHL. As for the amount of the bridge deal - depending on whether it's right now as oppose to after a year in the KHL - I think it's very questionable that you grant him an increase of 500 000 thousand in your calculations. Would the Red WIngs really raise the offer based on results of his year in Russia? Not exactly sure, but I doubt it.