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Andreas Athanasiou has seven goals and 16 points in 25 games this season with the Griffins.

(MLive file photo)

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Top prospect Andreas Athanasiou has lost about 10 pounds and may be hard-pressed to return to the Grand Rapids Griffins within the original diagnosis of seven weeks following a broken jaw Dec. 12.

Athanasiou, with his jaw wired shut since Dec. 15, said Monday he expects to have the wires removed within three weeks and then face another “week or two” to regain his strength and skill set. Worst case, that would put him back playing around the second week of February.

Athanasiou can only eat blended up food, and has been unable to practice – or exert much at all – because of his breathing.

“I carry wire cutters around,” he said. “I can’t breathe. I’ve had a couple times where I do things and start breathing hard and I have to calm down.”

It was unfortunate timing. The 6-foot-2 Athanasiou, the Red Wings’ third choice (110th overall) in the 2012 draft, had 16 points (7-9-16) in 25 games with one of the best plus-minus ratings on the Griffins at plus-8.

He was injured in the closing minute of a two-goal, three-point game at Oklahoma City. Athanasiou was battling for the puck along the boards when the Barons’ Mitch Moroz came in a delivered a big hit.

The 20-year-old Athanasiou provided an entertaining account of the incident.

“I saw him (Moroz) accelerating and running at me and so I knew he was coming,” he said. “But it was a huge charge. My dad showed me the video; he hits me, I counter hit which was fine, but right afterward he hits me right in the face with his hands right to the jaw. So I don’t know if it was the hit or what happened afterward (that broke his jaw).”

The two briefly tangled before heading to their benches.

“Coming off, I knew something was wrong,” Athanasiou said. “But our bench was right up next to their bench and (Moroz) was right beside it there. So I came to the bench smiling because I didn’t want him to see that I was hurt. But I was like, ‘Man, my jaw is on the other side of my face.’”

But he played the following night as Oklahoma City after an initial diagnosis of a contusion. After a travel day, he returned to have complete X-rays in Grand Rapids on Dec. 15.

“They couldn’t even see it at the start,” he said. “I went through the whole front bite, but they couldn’t get behind the wisdom tooth. So they finally did a panoramic and, right when I was walking out the door they said, ‘Hey, hold on. We got to give you some pain killers. Your jaw is broken.’”

The fracture is right along his jaw line near his ear.

“At the start, it was a little bit painful with muscle twitches and it felt like all my teeth were ripped out,” he said. “But I think I’ve been dealing with it pretty good and adjusted. I’m fortunate in that it isn’t anything to my legs or shoulders. It’s mostly a mental thing.”

Marek Tvrdon was recalled from Toledo and has played well for the Griffins with six points (1-5-6) in six games. Kevin Porter, meanwhile, has shifted back to center as the Griffins have won three of four and earned points in six of seven heading into Wednesday’s home game against Charlotte.

“Thankfully, we had depth in Toledo in Marek Tvrdon, and he’s come through and we’ve been able to keep playing real good hockey,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “It’s not that you don’t miss a good piece like double-A, because you do – he was playing really good – but it’s fortunate when others can step in and it doesn’t hurt your team.”

Blashill said Athanasiou will face “a heck of a challenge ahead of him.”

“He was one of our better players in the first half of the season,” he said. “… He will have been out six to eight week and part of it where he could not eat much. The challenge for him will be to be mentally tough and, physically, to do what he can do to put himself in position to come back and be effective.”

Here is a YouTube video of the incident:

Pete Wallner covers sports for MLive/Grand Rapids Press. Email him at pwallner@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.