Frk has inside track to AA's role

The reality of professional sports is that one player’s misfortune is another player’s opportunity. Forward Andreas Athanasiou continues to be AWOL from the Detroit Red Wings. The restricted free agent forward has reached an impasse with the team in contract negotiations, and remains a holdout. Minus Athanasiou, and assuming that this stalemate continues into the regular season, the Wings need to find someone who will at the very least be a stopgap measure in the lineup to try and replace Athanasiou’s 18 goals. That battle would appear to be between veteran forward P.A. Parenteau and minor-leaguer Martin Frk, and so far, you’d have to say that Frk is the clubhouse leader. Frk, 23, scored twice in Saturday’s 5-1 win over the Boston Bruins. Selected 49th overall by Detroit in the 2012 NHL entry draft, Frk has shown the ability to put up numbers at the minor-pro level. He scored a team-leading 27 goals for AHL Grand Rapids last season and added 15 points in 16 games as the Griffins won the Calder Cup title. “I scored a lot of goals in Grand Rapids but it’s not just about that, it’s about what I can do when I’m not with the puck,… Frk said. “When you lock us in our zone, I need to know what I have to do there. That will help me to make this team. “Overall, to be very good, pay attention to whatever details Blash (coach Jeff Blashill) wants me to do. Then hopefully I will have some chance to make it, but it’s still a lot of games.… The Wings have caught this act before. Teemu Pulkkinen was a big-time AHL sniper but he could never display the quick release nor the ability to find time and space at the NHL level that the great scorers are able to decipher. “Frk certainly from a scoring angle has been a dominant-type player in the American League,… Blashill said. “But there’s other guys who’ve been dominant-type players in the American League that haven’t made it in the NHL, some in our organization that aren’t with us anymore. So he’s got to prove that not only that he can be great at that level but this level. Sometimes it transfers, sometimes it doesn’t. I hope it does.… Like Pulkkinen, Frk can shoot the puck with authority. “He’s got a weapon, it’s a flat-out weapon,… Blashill said. “When he hits the net, one of two things happens, it’s either a great rebound chance, or it’s in the net. It’s as good a shot as there is out there, I believe, so he did the things he needs to do to show he wants the job. “I think there’s a spot open. He certainly made a good case for himself (Saturday).… For Frk to fill that spot, not only will he need to display he can be trusted in five-on-five situations, he must prove capable of playing top-nine minutes. In Parenteau’s case, he’s going to have to absolutely wow the Wings and convince them they can’t live without him, and so far, that’s not the case. Already over the salary cap, the club isn’t about to sign a veteran on a pro tryout without significant evidence that there will be benefits. “Be great on the power play,… Blashill stressed as what he most wants to see from Parenteau, 34, who has scored 11 power-play goals the last two seasons. “That would be one area for certain. Be great on the power play and then he’s somebody that could potentially add secondary scoring. “What’s secondary scoring? Well, not everybody can play 18-20 minutes a night. So in your 14 minutes or 12 minutes of whatever it might be, provide that type of secondary scoring.… Parenteau didn’t dispute either notion - Blashill’s scouting report, or the reality that the odds are probably against him landing a pact with the Wings. “I think I have to play my game, which is make plays and try to get on the scoresheet as much as I can,… Parenteau said. “That’s what I’ve been doing my whole career, that’s why I’ve played in the league for so long. “So I think I need to do that here, try to make some plays, show that I can still skate in this league at my age.… Follow me on Twitter @asktheduffer