There has been nothing but silence since Andreas Athanasiou's face-to-face meeting with the Detroit Red Wings almost 10 days ago.

Wings general manager Ken Holland flew to Toronto to meet with the restricted free agent and his agent, Darren Ferris, on Sept. 16 in an attempt to break a stalemate. The Wings hope to use Athanasiou as a top-nine forward and on one of the power-play units this season. Last season, Athanasiou scored 18 goals among 29 points in 64 games.

Ferris did not respond to a text from the Free Press for a comment on Monday. In late August, Ferris told the Free Press that Athanasiou received an offer to play in Russia. The Free Press learned AK Bars of the Kontinental Hockey League had offered one year in the $2.5 million range.

More Red Wings:

Detroit Red Wings like the looks of Michael Rasmussen, Dennis Cholowski

Highlights from Red Wings' Sunday practices

Holland repeatedly has said he is not negotiating against the KHL. The Wings made Athanasiou, 23offers for one year at $1.25 million and two years at $1.9 million per season.

If Russia is not a desired destination, as seems apparent since the KHL season has been underway since Aug. 21, it is unclear what Athanasiou is going to do. He could ask for a trade but the Wings are unlikely to acquiesce because Athanasiou has so little body of NHL work (27 goals in 101 games) on his resume.

Meanwhile Martin Frk is making a strong push to claim the opening created by Athanasiou’s absence. Frk is having a good exhibition season, making the most of playing with Dylan Larkin and Anthony Mantha and getting some power play time.

Less than a week remains of exhibition season. Whenever he has been asked about Athanasiou Wings coach Jeff Blashill has replied in a vein typical of hockey coaches: That is he focused on who is at camp and available. A couple of veteran players took advantage of Holland being at one of their pre-camp skates in August to get filled in on the situation.

Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.