Rumor Report: Could the Vancouver Canucks offer sheet Andreas Athanasiou?

23-year-old Red Wings forward Andreas Athanasiou is now deep into August without a contract. The youngster impressed in 64 games last season, racking up 18 goals while averaging around just 13 minutes of ice time.

An article from the blog CanucksArmy.com suggests the Canucks could look at sending an offer sheet to the speedster. Offer sheets in this day-and-age of the NHL are very rare, but the Red Wings are facing Salary Cap trouble and it appears Athanasiou may be undervalued in Detroit.

In the blog, author J.D. Burke argues the Canucks could certainly be a team that tries to pry him away from Detroit. He points out the Canucks have just under $7.4-million in salary cap space and are looking to add youth and depth into their lineup. It's also pointed out that there are only 12 players to best Athanasiou’s even strength goal rate of 1.36 per sixty minutes over the last two seasons. He's clearly capable of being very productive wherever he's slotted and would be a great addition to any team's roster.

If a team were to offer a contract to Athanasiou and he signed the offer sheet, the Red Wings would have seven days to match the contract offer and keep him or else he goes to the team that gave the offer sheet.