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AA, Larkin Share 30-30 Vision

March 19, 2019, 6:54 PM ET [7 Comments]
Bob Duff
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Andreas Athanasiou and Dylan Larkin are seeking to gain entrance into a club that’s gone without new membership for a decade.

No Detroit Red Wings player has ascended to the 30-goal plateau since 2008-09, which also happened to be the most recent season that the Wings played in the Stanley Cup final.

With 10 games left in the season, Larkin (27 goals) and Athanasiou (26) sit on the cusp of being 30-goal men as the Wings prepare to tangle with the New York Rangers Tuesday at Madison Square Garden.

“That’s definitely a milestone,” Athanasiou said. “I think that’s a lot of goals for sure. If I could do that, obviously, it’d feel good.

“I think it’ll feel better if it comes with wins in these last games. That’s all I really look for.”

Larkin agreed with the latter half of Athanasiou’s assessment.

“It would be a bittersweet feeling because the team is not where we want to be and individually you make a goal for yourself and you hit it, but it doesn’t feel as good as it would if we were in a playoff hunt and scoring a big goal to get us in the playoffs,” Larkin said.

Marian Hossa (40), Johan Franzen (34), Pavel Datsyuk (32) and Henrik Zetterberg (31) all went over 30 goals for the 2008-09 Wings. Tomas Tatar, with 29 goals in 2014-15, has come the closest to joining them since then.

While it’s uncertain whether Larkin or Athanasiou will get to 30 goals, it’s a certainty that Larkin will be Detroit’s No. 1 center next season and for years into the future. The No. 2 center slot is wide open, though, and Athanasiou is currently auditioning for the spot the remainder of the season. He seems to have found chemistry playing in the middle of Tyler Bertuzzi and Luke Glendening.

“I think I’m getting more and more comfortable with every game, every shift and every faceoff I take,” Athanasiou said. “I think you definitely mature as a player and grow into the position a little more.

“I think every game I’ve grown a little bit.”

Wings coach Jeff Blashill doesn’t appear to be as comfortable with the notion of Athanasiou down the middle. He has issues with Athanasiou’s commitment to the defensive side of the position.

“Some nights I like it and some nights not,” Blashill said. “I didn’t like it in Tampa at all, or against Tampa at all. What I do like is that I showed him a number of D-zone clips from the Tampa game and he went out and was way better at it (Saturday against the New York Islanders).

“The thing about playing center, as him and I talked, a couple things - you have to stop in your own zone and compete like crazy, otherwise you play nothing but D-zone, and you have to slow yourself down on breakouts and you have to be underneath the puck.

“If you don’t do those things, you can’t be a center long term.”

Athanasiou talks a good game when he discusses how to play the defensive side of the center position, but he doesn’t always deliver a good game there on the ice.

“I think when you play center, you have to be a lot more aware in the D zone, kind of being that third defenseman, coming under the play with speed,” Athanasiou said. “I think it’s just something that compliments my skating game.

“Being able to skate under the puck, going slow and getting it, then carrying the puck up the ice is something I like to do.”

Moving forward, the slot in the lineup is definitely an area of concern. Veteran Frans Nielsen’s game has regressed. He’s gone 13 games without a goal and scored twice in 32 games.

The odds that 2018 first round pick Joe Veleno, who is tearing up the QMJHL with the Drummondville Voltigeurs, would be ready to accept such a huge role at the age of 19 next season is highly unlikely. But at the same time, signing a veteran to fill the gap short-term would create a road block, much in the same way the Wings will be saddled with Nielsen’s huge contract until the end of the 2021-22 season.

They need Athanasiou to be the guy, at the very least until Veleno can prove that he’s capable. And Athanasiou has 10 games left to prove that he’s ready, willing and able to do so.

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