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Andrew Copp Draws Line in Sand for Red Wings
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- Andrew Copp Draws Line in Sand for Red Wings
Andrew Copp is no longer interested in discussing progress without results.
After watching the Detroit Red Wings come close to reaching the postseason in three consecutive seasons, the veteran center made it clear Saturday that the standard must change. Detroit's objective is not another respectable finish or another season spent playing meaningful games into April.
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The Red Wings must make the playoffs.
"I think it has to be," Copp said during his training-camp media availability . "I don't think we can accept anything less, really. Obviously, we were in a great spot. Didn't go the way we wanted to down the stretch.
"I think we're doing everything we can to put a system and structure in place so when the games do get super tight and it's those important games, we have something that we can really fall back on in terms of a team identity. I think it kind of starts with checking and being solid defensively.
"I don't think there's any other way to look at it. What more growth can we do without making the playoffs? We've done all that the last three, four years since I've been here. So there's only really one way to go."
Simon Edvinsson contract Nate Danielson Red Wings Patrik Laine Red Wings Andrew Copp Red Wings playoffs Kienan Draper fight Alex DeBrincat Moritz Seider fight Detroit Red Wings 23-man roster
Detroit's Standard Has Changed
Copp's message matches the urgency surrounding the organization.
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The Red Wings have spent years talking about internal development, improved competitiveness and closing the gap on the Eastern Conference playoff field. Those steps mattered, but they no longer qualify as sufficient progress.
Copp joined Detroit in 2022 and has experienced each recent near-miss. He has watched the Red Wings enter critical stretches with postseason positioning before failing to finish the job.
Detroit can monitor its place in the NHL standings , but Copp's point goes beyond the final point total. The Red Wings must become a team equipped to handle the pressure that arrives when every mistake becomes more costly.
That requires a dependable style they can maintain when scoring becomes difficult.
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For Copp, Detroit's identity must begin in its own end.
Copp Says Defense Must Become Detroit's Foundation
"We're going to have to check, for sure," Copp said. "We're going to have to have a good penalty kill. We're going to have to be solid defensively. Goaltending is going to have to be good.
"Then I think with that, confidence will come that we don't feel like any chance that we get that we miss, it's like, 'Oh man, we needed to score that one.' You start gripping your stick a little tighter.
"Check hard, and hopefully that gives us a little bit more time in the offensive zone. We can turn pucks over, get a little bit more odd-man rushes, more entries, which is kind of where we excel.
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"I think that's going to have to be the focus for sure to start: How little time can we spend in our own zone, and how structured can we be?"
Copp is not calling for Detroit to abandon offense. He believes better defense can create more of it.
Cleaner exits, pressure on opposing puck carriers and reduced time in the defensive zone should give the Red Wings more transition opportunities. It should also prevent the team from treating every missed scoring chance as a crisis.
Internal Growth Must Extend Beyond Individual Players
Detroit's roster has not undergone a complete overhaul. If the Red Wings are going to end their postseason drought, much of that improvement must come from players already inside the organization.
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Copp believes that development must include the team's collective execution.
"I think growth from within, but it's team growth, too," Copp said. "How structured can we be? I think that can provide a big lift in terms of not giving up as much.
"I don't know exactly where we ended up goals-wise, but I think for a while we were humming along pretty well, and then we kind of dried up toward the end of the season, started playing in our defensive zone a lot more.
"It all kind of goes together. Individual growth, for sure, in terms of individual skill level, putting the puck to the net. But team-game growth is first and foremost."
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Interim general manager Shawn Horcoff has already made clear through the organization's direction that Detroit is moving forward rather than beginning another teardown. His promotion to interim general manager places immediate pressure on the current roster to prove it is capable of taking the next step.
The Red Wings Must Become Harder to Play Against
Copp also provided a specific definition of the harder identity Detroit is trying to establish.
"I think it's winning battles. It's kind of everything," Copp said. "You can sit and think that, 'OK, are our hits going to go up?' Well, yeah, sure, that probably needs to go up.
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"But investing physically in a game, whether it's faceoffs, winning battles, taking a hit to make a play, blocking shots — there's so much that goes into the hardening and physicality of a team. It's definitely not just hits. Obviously, we need to up that, but there's a lot that goes into it.
"If you can up your level in some of those, and then just the pure competitiveness and the tenaciousness — how many pucks can you knock down in the forecheck? That might not be a physicality stat, but it's a turning-pucks-over stat. It changes how they break the puck out.
"There's a lot that goes into it. So we've got to get a little bit better at each of those things."
That message echoes the urgency expressed by Moritz Seider entering the season . Detroit cannot afford to treat another near-miss as evidence that the process is working.
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Copp has drawn the line clearly. The Red Wings have already completed the development phase in which gradual improvement was enough to satisfy expectations.
This season must end in the playoffs. Anything less is another failure to finish.
