1:05 PM: According to Friedman, Athanasiou does indeed have an exemption today.

8:14 am: Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that the Blackhawks will draft the veteran center Andreas Athanasiou about exemptions this week, possibly as early as Monday. The move leaves Chicago with an open spot on the roster, although it’s unclear what they plan to do with it.

The 30-year-old Athanasiou was signed to a two-year, $8.5 million contract in 2023 after a 20-goal, 40-point resurgence with the Blackhawks the previous season. The club counted on Athansiou’s proven ceiling when healthy and his historic status as one of the league’s fastest skaters to revitalize their top nine through their rebuild, even with injuries limiting Athanasiou to less than 70 games, all but three, in his decade-long career. .

The impending waiver placement underlines how bad things have gone for Athanasiou in recent years. He missed 53 games last season due to a lower-body injury, and while he managed to avoid IR this season, he has still barely played. Athanasiou has no points and is averaging 9:36 per game through five games, and he has now been in the press box for nine straight games dating back to October 22nd.

Even when healthy last season, Athanasiou was limited to two goals and seven assists in 28 appearances. The high-motor pivot has generally put up relatively solid possession numbers during his time in Chicago, and his ability to play in the middle and on either wing has some value. Still, he doesn’t produce enough offensively for his skill set to warrant a spot in the lineup or his $4.25 million cap hit.

If he was on a minimum deal, or close to it, there’s a good chance at least one team would have banked on his past upside as a 15-30 goal scorer in the middle. But his struggles over the past two seasons mean no team is willing to risk a win that high, even though he is set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Teams interested in Athanasiou will likely wait until after he clears waivers to initiate or expedite trade talks with the Blackhawks, who could convert him to a club with some salary deductions and the newfound flexibility of an AHL assignment. Chicago still has two available retention slots and could make him as cheap as $2.125 million against the cap for an acquiring team, which could bury him in the minors for a $975,000 fine, down from the $3.1 million he will still charge against Chicago’s books after he is presumably acquitted and assigned to AHL Rockford.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.