The NHL’s trade deadline is now officially a week away, and for the Detroit Red Wings, a potential monkey wrench flew into their best laid plans in the form of a season-ending injury to Andrew Copp.
The injury is obviously detrimental to Detroit’s postseason aspirations. Copp had been playing his best hockey as a Red Wing in a second line center role following Todd McLellan’s takeover behind the bench, and his 200-foot presence and hockey sense both would’ve been important assets for Detroit to pave its way to the playoffs and find success if and when it got there.
However, I would submit that Copp’s injury should not dramatically impact the Red Wings plans for the trade deadline. Fundamentally, the reasons I don’t believe the Copp injury ought to shift Detroit’s thinking around the deadline dramatically are practical. Allow me to explain.
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To begin with, as our friends at PuckPedia explained quite nimbly, moving Copp to long-term injured reserve does not actually create more cap space for the Red Wings at the deadline, or at least, not unless Detroit takes on a major increase in salary (somewhere between $11-13 million to be precise).
Because the Red Wings have been beneath the cap ceiling all season and thus accruing cap space, LTIR does not afford them the freedom to exceed the cap. Per PuckPedia, Detroit projects to have $13,565,469 at its disposal at the deadline already, which is more than enough room for significant maneuvering without consideration for Copp’s $5.625 million cap hit. That’s not necessarily an argument against acquiring a Copp replacement; instead, it’s a reminder that, from a cap perspective, Copp’s injury does not change the math of the deadline for the Red Wings.
However, beyond the salary cap itself, the clearer argument against trading for a Copp replacement concerns identifying a player who fits that mold. To replace Copp in the lineup, Detroit would need a center (comfortable moonlighting on the wing) who can play in the top six and contribute on the penalty kill—ideally a strong skater and passer with good hockey sense and a habit of defensive responsibility.
The deadline essentially offers two avenues to that path: a rental or a long-term acquisition. There are players rumored to be on the trade block that fall in both camps; the issue lies in finding one that aligns with the Red Wings’ needs at a reasonable price.
In theory, someone like the New York Islanders Brock Nelson could fit the description as a rental, but he is also arguably the most coveted player rumored to be available and thus would presumably come at a prohibitive price for a Detroit team more focused on making the playoffs than a deep run for the time being. Someone like the Seattle Kraken’s Yanni Gourde could fit the rental mold without carrying quite the same price tag, but he has been injured since the start of January and also doesn’t have the track record to suggest he could play on the Red Wings second line with Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane with the same efficacy that Copp can.
Ultimately, Detroit simply isn’t at the stage in its rebuild where any sort of high-priced rental really makes sense. So, in theory, if there is to be a Copp replacement at the deadline, a longer term add would make more sense. However, this too raises obstacles.
One candidate the Red Wings have been linked to throughout the season is Dylan Cozens of the Buffalo Sabres. He does not fit the same profile as Copp, but there is a legitimate case the 24-year-old could be a valuable piece to the long term puzzle. The issue then becomes a matter of long-term roster management. Bringing in Cozens would likely mean trading out one of Copp or J.T. Compher over the summer. That’s a perfectly reasonable conversation, but it shouldn’t be one that’s conditioned by Copp’s present injury.
In other words, if the Red Wings really do covet Cozens, then by all means they should proceed with trying to acquire him. However, it would be foolhardy to change their evaluation of Cozens (signed through the 2029-30 season) because of a four-to-six month injury to Copp.
At the end of the day, the most logical Copp replacement for Detroit looks to be an in-house one: Compher.
While not identical in profile, Compher shares a lot of Copp’s defining qualities, and in the early stages of Copp’s absence, he’s filled his fellow University of Michigan’s skates with relative aplomb. McLellan lauded Compher’s “authoritative” game in the Red Wings’ win over the Ducks Sunday, then praised his presence at the faceoff dot following Thursday’s loss to the Blue Jackets, in which Compher scored a goal and gave an assist.
In the early days of McLellan’s tenure, Compher looked to be one of the players who saw a reduction in role. However, Copp’s injury opened the door for Compher to re-assert himself in Detroit’s forward hierarchy, and while the sample size for that development remains small, the early returns are positive.
Of course, that still requires filling in a gap in the bottom six left by Compher’s promotion, but once again, the Red Wings’ internal options are compelling. Once Michael Rasmussen returns to health, he can handle those center duties, and Detroit also has compelling young options for quality minutes in the bottom six: Marco Kasper could move back to center in a third or fourth line role, Elmer Soderblom has quickly established himself as an additive depth presence (albeit on the wing), and 2023 first round pick Nate Danielson could be due for a promotion from Grand Rapids.
When you put all the pieces together, it’s difficult to conceive of a path to a true Copp replacement at the deadline, whether because of the price of a short-term acquisition or potential redundancy of a long-term one. Given how well Compher has already handled his promotion and the similarity between his game and Copp’s, it’s difficult to imagine a more effective external replacement.
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