Quote:
Originally Posted by stemit14
This could be true. I don’t know the player that well... only what I see on highlights and stats sheets. And if Detroit is willing to let him go it might also be an indication that he has some big holes in his game.
However, I think lots of teams - including the flames - are looking for that guy who is poised to break out offensively. It’s the William Karlsson effect this off-season. I don’t think Anthansiou will reach 40 goals this year like Karlsson but I do think he is a player that has the ability to contribute more.
I would still use the Byron example. So many people got frustrated with Byron while he was with the flames because he would seemingly average at least one breakaway per game but couldn’t score on them. Then the flames lost him and he broke out offensively and started capitalizing on his chances. I was always happy to have a bottom six player like Byron that created a few prime scoring chances every game on his own with his speed even if he didn’t capitalize on them... it’s better than the 3rd/4th lines that followed after he left where it seems like all they can do is dump the puck in and dump the puck out.
I see similar potential in anthansiou. His kind of speed can make defenders nervous - similar to how the flames defence seems nervous when playing McDavid... obviously they aren’t anywhere close to the same player but having players with elite foot speed is an asset. I wouldn’t say the flames have added a lot of that to the forward group this offseason so far.
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Detroit played him nearly 60% of the time in the OZ and he did not really improve much offensively last season. You basically have to slot him in a top 6 role to put up 35+ points and they obviously did not trust him defensively.
Willia Karlsson was largely getting DF Zone starts (60% DZ starts) in the previous few years in Columbus and was pretty much 50-50 DZ/OZ last year in Vegas.