He put up 9 points in 14 games at the end of 17-18 with McDavid, and a bunch of people were talking about how he was going to play with McDavid in the next season, until he proceeded to end up getting demoted down the lineup. He scored 11 points in 50 games, and was off to the KHL the next year.
When you think about it, Holland got Ennis, Kahun and Puljujarvi for a combined $3.15M. AA's qualifying offer was $3M. In hindsight I'm glad he didn't qualify Athanasiou.
I'm sad to see Buffalo let him go, especially now what I see he signed for. We gave up a decent amount to get him in a trade to get nothing? Didn't see much of him but he looked good in the small sample size I seen. I think he would be a good on the 2nd or 3rd line in Buffalo. Congrats to the Oilers though, I think you've gotten better with this addition.
Of course, your consolation prize, Taylor Hall, isn't too bad either.
It's pretty normal to hold a guy out of the lineup when a trade is imminent. NJ did the same with Hall, it shouldn't reflect badly on the player at all.
GMJR even said when we traded him (Bc I was mad about it, I remember bc I really liked Kahun)
He said, "We can't have a healthy Forward that is cleared to play, just Not decide Not to play when we are down 6 Forwards already."
POSSIBLY THE BEST off-season Value Signing in the NHL. This is an absolute SCORE for the Oilers and if he plays on the Wing of either Drias or McD's he will produce. He could score 50 points playing on either of these lines but I would put him on the German line.