Helene St. James

Detroit Free Press

The Detroit Red Wings’ playoff loss means a gain for the Grand Rapids Griffins.

Speedy forward Andreas Athanasiou, who had one playoff goal and nine regular-season goals, has been reassigned to the AHL farm team. He has been granted a few days off for personal reasons before he’ll join the Griffins in their first-round series against Milwaukee.

Forward Evgeny Svechnikov, the 19th overall pick from last year’s draft, is turning pro and also joining the Griffins.

“Our scouts like him,” Wings general manager Ken Holland told the Free Press on Friday afternoon. “He’s a good prospect. We need him to show up in the NHL down the road. He’s big and strong and competes hard. We’re sending him to Grand Rapids for the experience.”

Svechnikov, who at 19 already is 6-feet-3 and tops 200 pounds, can play in the AHL playoffs, but his entry-level contract doesn’t kick in until next season.

The Wings will meet one last time Monday for a team picture and to clean out their lockers. They lost their first-round series against Tampa Bay on Thursday.

Holland will meet with players for exit interviews but wants to give Pavel Datsyuk the time he needs to decide whether to play out the last season of his contract or return to his native Russia.

“I don’t need to know till around June,” Holland said.

The Wings hope Datsyuk, 37, plays, because otherwise their only recourse would be to try to trade his contract to avoid a $7.5-million cap hit with no player to show for it.

Andreas Athanasiou could see bigger role with Wings next season

“If he comes back, we’d be thrilled,” Holland sai

■Injuries: Justin Abdelkader played the series with a dislocated finger suffered March 29 at Montreal. Alexey Marchenko, who missed the last two games after a big hit in Game 3, would have been available had there been a Game 6.

■Friendship intact: The series pitted two good friends behind opposing benches in Wings coach Jeff Blashill and Lightning coach Jon Cooper. The two spoke the in hallways of Amalie Arena after Game 5. “I cheer for him,” Cooper said. “I wasn’t cheering for him in this series, but I cheer for him as a coach. Coming into a tough situation down 3-1, he had his team prepared, ready, and they played their (behinds) off. Our goalie bailed us out. So I’d say that’s a pretty good coach.”

Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Check out our Red Wings Xtra app on Apple and Android!