General manager Steve Yzerman’s offseason additions have improved the Detroit Red Wings in all areas, from the first game of the season onward.
Ville Husso has provided solid goaltending, forwards Dominik Kubalik and David Perron rank among the team’s offensive leaders, and Ben Chiarot and Olli Määttä have beefed up the back end.
There’s one veteran newcomer, though, who has struggled to assert himself, and that’s the topic of this mailbag edition: “I realize it’s still early and he missed all of training camp, but Andrew Copp worries me. He isn’t winning face offs, making poor decisions, errant passes and isn’t scoring. I’m afraid he’s going to be Frans Nielsen 2.0. Please tell me I’m wrong?! — Matt M.”
Rookie Jonatan Berggren is a good example of the benefit of going through training camp/preseason games — when he was called up four weeks into the season, he knew the systems the Wings used. That’s on top of the conditioning aspect.
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Copp missed all of that because of an undisclosed injury, and it showed even as he pushed himself to be in the lineup on opening night. He seemed to get by on adrenaline the first couple games, but then Copp faded. There was an uptick in late October/early November, but then his play diminished again. When he set up a goal in Thursday’s 7-4 victory at San Jose, it was Copp’s seventh assist and eighth point in 17 games; he also had a minus-4 rating and was 42.6% on faceoffs.
That’s underwhelming for a guy who was signed to a five-year, $28.125 million deal when free agency began on July 13. It was a busy few days for Yzerman, who in addition to Copp’s $5.625 million annual average value also added Chiarot (four years, $4.75 million AAV), Perron (two years, $4.75 million AAV), Kubalik (two years, $2.5 million AAV), and Määttä (one year, $2.25 million). A week earlier, Yzerman traded for and then signed Husso (three years, $4.75 million).
Since being named GM of the Wings in 2019, Copp is the biggest contract Yzerman has given to a free agent. Copp’s appeal to the Wings was multifold: The 6-foot-1, 199-pound Ann Arbor native was coming off a career season that saw him post 21 goals and 32 assists in 72 games split between the New York Rangers and Winnipeg Jets. The Jets had been his NHL home till then, and Copp, 28, had a .71 points-per-game average in 20-21, slightly below last season’s .74 average. The three previous seasons, his average hovered around .34-.41.
Free agency is called the silly season for a reason: Teams face competition for the few skilled players that make it to market, and that drives up prices. The Wings needed a center for their second line, and Copp looked like a good fit for the rebuild with eight years of experience that showed steady improvement.
The Wings certainly have put Copp in position to have better numbers. He averages just under 18 minutes per game, including around two minutes of power play time. Copp has played with skilled wingers, starting with Perron and Jakub Vrana, and, when Vrana was placed in the players assistance program two games into the season, Kubalik moved onto the second line.
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Yzerman has been meticulous as a GM, and he’s an incredibly hard worker, so he and his front-office cabal would have done their homework on Copp before signing him for five years. Yzerman knows it is costly to undo contracts — he was the one who bought out Frans Nielsen in 2021, with one year left on the six-year, $31.5 million deal authored by ex-GM Ken Holland in 2016.
Nielsen joined the Wings as they went into a decline; Copp was added to help them climb. It is too early to call it a bad signing — some guys just need more time to acclimate to a new team and a new system. Copp has looked at times like he is trying to do too much, and would be well served to simplify his game. He has had stretches where he has looked like the player the Wings need him to be, and it’s a matter of doing that more consistently.
Contact Helene St. James athstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.
A Perfect Holiday Gift
What: “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft“
Author: Helene St. James, who has covered the Red Wings at the Detroit Free Press since 1996. Foreword by Jimmy Devellano, Wings senior vice president and former general manager.
Publisher: Triumph Books.
Pages: 350+.
Price: $19.95.
Availability: Leading bookstores and online from booksellers, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Get it signed! For a personalized copy contact St. James at hstjames@freepress.com
About the book: In “On the Clock: Detroit Red Wings,” Helene St. James explores the fascinating, rollercoaster history of the Red Wings at the draft, including franchise legends like Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov, and Pavel Datsyuk. Readers will go behind the scenes with top decision-makers as they evaluate, deliberate, and ultimately make the picks they hope will tip the fate of their franchise toward success. From seemingly surefire first-rounders to surprising late selections, this is a must-read for Red Wings faithful and hockey fans eager for a glimpse at how teams are built.