Red Wings trade Andreas Athanasiou to Oilers

Detroit acquires two second-round picks for Athanasiou

Andreas Athanasiou of the Detroit Red Wings scores an empty net goal at 19:06 of of the third period against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on March 19, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings have traded forward Andreas Athanasiou to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for two second-round draft picks.

One of the picks is in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft while the other is in the 2021 draft. The Red Wings also are sending left wing Ryan Kuffner to the Oilers as part of the deal, and the Oilers will ship center Sam Gagner to Detroit.

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Athanasiou, 25, was selected by Detroit in the 4th round (110th overall) of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. In 294 games with the Red Wings since 2015, “AA” has scored 83 goals and 71 assists for a career 154 points.

He missed a significant amount of time this year due to injury. However, since his return to the lineup on Feb. 3 he has 5 goals in 10 games. That gives him 10 goals and 14 assists for 24 points in 46 games played this season.

In 2018-19, Athanasiou scored a career high 30 goals and 24 assists in 76 games.

He signed a two-year contract with the Red Wings in July 2018 and is set to become a restricted free agent at the end of this season.

The Red Wings already traded defenseman Mike Green to the Oilers on Monday morning in exchange for Kyle Brodziak’s contract (he’s retired) and a conditional pick. Detroit GM Steve Yzerman and Oilers GM Ken Holland obviously have a history, which likely helped get these deals done.

The NHL trade deadline is 3 p.m. Monday.