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Edmonton Oilers

Oilers and Athanasiou Likely Looking At One-Year Extension

The speculation that the Edmonton Oilers will look at a one-year deal for Athanasiou after the season ends makes a lot of sense.

According to Bruce McCurdy of the Edmonton Journal, the Edmonton Oilers are looking at a number of in-house free agent contracts that will need to be dealt with before next season. McCurdy suggests the Oilers will deal with many of those deals — deals that could include Riley Sheahan, Matt Benning, Tyler Ennis and Mike Smith before the season resumes. One player not in that group is. Andreas Athanasiou.

While the Oilers expect and would like to have Athanasiou back, there likely won’t be talks about an extension until after the season resumes and the Oilers have had their chance to make a point in the playoffs. For Athansiou, this will be his chance to show that the handful of games he played for the team are not the norm, but the byproduct of an adjustment period.

Athanasious wasn’t terrible, but he wasn’t productive in the few games he played for the Oilers since arriving in a trade that included two second-round picks going to the Detroit Red Wings. The Oilers have invested a lot, and aren’t ready to give up on that investment, but there’s a lot of “show me” left for A.A. before the Oilers feel comfortable offering him the kind of money he’d probably like.

McCurdy explains that the Athanasiou deal will wait until after the season ends (whenever that is) and:

… both player and club turn their attention to the impending playoffs to establish his value. Which makes the following “best guess” a tad premature.

A qualifying offer of a flat $3.0 million is required to keep the player, and that seems a reasonable starting point as a valuation of the former 30-goal scorer. 

A One-Year Deal Makes Sense

McCurdy guess it will be a one-year play for the Oilers and Athanasiou and that makes a lot of sense. In a year where salaries are going to drop, it’s not beneficial for Athanasiou to try and hit the home run now anyways. For the Oilers, anything more than a single season is a risk.

The Oilers are confident the forward will find his stride but they also can’t afford to be lazy with their contract situation or lax in who they give big deals to.

McCurdy figures this will be an easy deal. The harder one may come when Athanasiou plays well over the entire length of a full season.

Related: Hey Patrik Laine, How Do You Like Playing for the Finnipeg Jets?

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