Red Wings make huge change to their line up centered around Andreas Athanasiou.

Big change from the Red Wings.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 5 years ago
Red Wings make huge change to their line up centered around Andreas Athanasiou.
David Kirouac/CSM/Zuma

The Detroit Red Wings made a big time trade in the late hours of the night on Sunday.

The Red Wings moved forward Gustav Nyquist, largely considered to be one of their very best offensive talents, to the San Jose Sharks in a deadline deal. There were reports for weeks that Nyquist could be traded but indications over the last several days had indicated that Nyquist would not waive his no trade clause and had a desire to remain a member of the Detroit Red Wings franchise. That being said though, and credit to general manager Ken Holland, the Red Wings managed to convince him to waive to go to San Jose, allegedly leveraging his friendship with Sharks star Erik Karlsson to help make the deal a reality.

As you would expect however losing a core player like Nyquist could have a significant impact on the Detroit Red Wings offense and it seems like we are already seeing some of the shifts in the Red Wings offense already. According to a report from Detroit Red Wings beat writer Max Bultman of The Athletic, the Detroit Red Wings have just made a massive change to their line up and it is all center around winger Andreas Athanasiou. Athanasiou, who is listed as a natural center, is now expected to take on a centerman's role with the Red Wings from now until at least the end of the 2018 - 2019 National Hockey League regular season.

That is of course exciting news for the Red Wings as having Athanasiou develop into a quality center at the National Hockey League level would be a big deal for their current roster, and things continue to get even more interesting from there. It sounds like Athanasiou will get the chance to create arguably one of the most dynamic Red Wings lines in some time with his line mates expected to be Red Wings' forward Tyler Bertuzzi and Red Wings rookie forward Filip Zadina

Both Bertuzzi and Zadina are in positions to be long term assets for the Red Wings moving into the future and should they find success with Athanasiou at center this newly formed line could prove to be a potent weapon for the Red Wings and for head coach Jeff Blashill.

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