On February 22nd, Andrew Copp played his last game of the season for the Detroit Red Wings. In what was a heartbreaking loss to the Minnesota Wild, none of us thought that, less than 40 days later, the Wings would be on the verge of elimination as a rough, tough April 2025 arrives.
But at the time of Copp’s injury, the Wings looked like the hottest team in hockey, boasting a 28-22-6 record, good for 62 points in 56 contests. Doing the math, the Wings were on pace for 91 points overall, and on pace for between 80 and 81 points as of April 1st.
Yeah, so if they kept the same pace, they’d be hanging onto a wild card spot as the final month of the season arrived. But after Copp’s injury, this team went south. While the collapse didn’t happen overnight, it still seemed like every time you turned around, the Wings were losing relevance.
Red Wings were in for issue after issue as playoff hopes dwindled
Yep, dwindled, because that April 2025 schedule’s doing them no favors. And Copp’s injury, while it wasn’t the only reason Detroit struggled, was the catalyst in so many ways. Since he sustained a pectoral injury, Detroit’s offense suffered, and they’ve had a tough time attaining and maintaining puck possession, with a 45.8 faceoff win percentage and a Corsi For of 49.2.
In that same span, they’re 6-11-0 with just 47 goals to show for it and 57 allowed. Breaking everything down by the game, the Wings have averaged just 2.76 goals scored per game and allowed 3.35. How did they fare when Copp was healthy?
While Detroit’s Corsi For sat lower, at 48.5, their faceoff win percentage sat at 50.5, and Copp was winning just over 50 percent of his draws. With 163 goals scored, the Wings were finding the net for an average of 2.91 goals per game, and they allowed 3.12 goals per game, substantially lower than what they allowed when Copp was injured.
Andrew Copp’s overall efficacy when he was on the ice for the Red Wings
When you look at Andrew Copp’s 5-on-5 numbers, he wasn’t the most effective in helping the Red Wings score, with an on-ice shooting percentage of just 9.4. That said, however, his defensive play and ability to win faceoffs in both the offensive and defensive zones - 50.8 of all his starts came in the offensive zone, worked wonders for the Wings.
Detroit also didn’t allow goals left and right when he was on the ice at 5-on-5, evidenced by a sensational 91.9 on-ice save percentage. This was the team’s save percentage when Copp was in the game. And it shows what kind of impact he made when he was on the ice, making you wonder how much of a role his absence has played in the Wings collapse.
Once again, this isn’t saying losing Copp was the only factor here, as it’d be a farfetched take. But his injury put a gaping hole in the lineup that the Red Wings never managed to fix, and it’s something they’ll need to address in the future should another impactful player go down with an injury.