"We see him as a top-nine forward who is going to be on a power-play unit and a penalty-kill unit," general manager Ken Holland said. "I can't tell you how many minutes that is, but we see him as having a bigger role than last year."
Athanasiou had 29 points (18 goals, 11 assists) in 64 games last season. Selected by Detroit in the fourth round (No. 110) of the 2012 NHL Draft, he has 43 points (27 goals, 16 assists) in 101 NHL games.
It could take more than a week for the 23-year-old, who missed Detroit's first seven games, to get into the lineup. He needs a work visa, to pass his physical, and to return to practice.
"There's a process of practicing every day to get into game shape," Holland said. "He missed all of training camp and a little over two weeks of the season. It's probably another week or so to get his paperwork done, so he's going to be six weeks behind.
"He's obviously a young, very talented player that should improve, and when he's up and running, we believe he's someone who can make our team better."
According to the Detroit Free Press, Athanasiou is in Switzerland, skating with a team there. He considered playing in Europe or in the Kontinental Hockey League, the newspaper said.
Detroit is about $20,000 under the NHL salary cap of $75 million, according to CapFriendly.com, with forward Johan Franzen and his $3.9 million charge already on long-term injured reserve.
"It's dollar-in, dollar-out because we've got Johan Franzen on [LTIR]," Holland said. "Ultimately, we're going to have to do something in the next week or two to get [Andreas] onto the roster."
NHL.com correspondent Dave Hogg contributed to this report
