Edmonton GM Ken Holland finally addressed an important issue of his team and acquired fast wingers to play on a line with Connor McDavid. Edmonton is 3-2 since the trade deadline and has a 6-2-2 record in their last 10 games. They currently sit second in the Pacific Division, trailing the Vegas Golden Knights by two points with a game in hand, as their season record is 36-23-8.

Andreas Athanasiou has always been one of the AB score’s highest performing players, as he has a top 10 AB score of our whole database with a +12.61 individual score in 2015-16. He has a career AB score of +2.98 but hasn’t registered a positive season since 2015 (hasn’t had an individual AB score worse than -1 in his career). He is coming off a 30 goal, 54 point season with the Red Wings last season. This year, however, has been a different story. Athanasiou only has 11 goals (10 DET, 1 EDM), and 15 assists (14 DET, 1 EDM) in 51 games (46 DET, 5 EDM), despite playing about two more minutes of ice time than his previous career average of 14:42. Andreas Athanasiou also has a league-worst -45 +/- number. In fact, of the Top 10 worst +/- players in the league, 9 of them played for Detroit or is still with them at this time (Athanasiou (EDM/DET) -45, Filppula (DET) -42, Hronek (DET) -37, Green (EDM/DET) -34, Fabbri (DET/STL) -31, Glendening (DET) -27, Cholowski (DET) -26, Bertuzzi (DET) -25, Daley (DET) -24, Erne (DET) -24. A reason for these low +/- numbers is that Detroit has a -121 goal differential this season, which is 71 goals more than Ottawa, who has the 2^nd worst goal differential in the league at -50. Detroit currently has the worst record in the league at 15-48-5, with only 35 points in 68 games, and a 1-8-1 record in their last 10. Penalty taken/drawn wise, Athanasiou has an impressive 8:14 ratio (6:14 DET, 2:0 EDM) but a below-average giveaway/takeaway ratio of 17:32 (15:31 DET, 2:1 EDM). Athanasiou is set to become a restricted free agent on July 1^st, as the 25-year old currently makes $3 million until the season’s conclusion.

Tyler Ennis is coming off of his best two individual AB seasons of his career (+2.66, +1.40) and has a career AB score of -0.81. Ennis was having a solid season in Ottawa, as he had 14 goals and 19 assists for 33 points in 61 games, despite playing almost a minute less ice time than his previous career average of 15:33. He had an impressive penalty taken/drawn ratio in Ottawa at 7:15, and an equally impressive giveaway/takeaway ratio at 16:24. He also has a relatively high +/- at -5 on the team, considering their goal differential and the number of games he played. At his rate, he is well on his way to a third straight positive AB season. Both of these players appear to be good pickups for Ken Holland and the Oilers, as they hope to make some noise come playoff time in the Western Conference. More to come.