The Red Wings cannot sign him officially yet because they would be over the cap if they add his salary to their current roster. They will thus have to make a couple moves before he will be able to play for them.
Athanasiou, who has been practicing with HC Lugano for the past two weeks, will leave Switzerland again and return to Toronto. According to McKenzie, he will likely join Detroit next week.
The 23-year-old forward had garnered quite some interest from Swiss and KHL teams alike, after he failed to sign with the Red Wings before the start of the NHL regular season. Athanasiou has appeared in a total of 106 NHL games for the Red Wings, scoring 28 goals and 16 assists.
Last Update: 21 October 2017, 12:18 AM | mso/jcaOfficial amount on AA AAV (see what I did there?) is $1.3875M.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) October 20, 2017
