In the “Friday Night in Late July News” category, NHL.com’s Pete Jensen and Anna Dua offer fantasy hockey analysis as to the free agent signings of several teams, including the Red Wings, in terms of their fantasy hockey value. The Wings’ signings of Andrew Copp and David Perron were deemed most significant:
RED WINGS SIGN PERRON, COPP: The Detroit Red Wings signed forwards David Perron (two-year contract) and Andrew Copp (five-year contract), significantly boosting their top-six forward group for this season.
Copp brings versatility to the rebuilding Red Wings and is likely to be their No. 2 center with exposure to two of the following valuable wings: Perron, Jakub Vrana and Tyler Bertuzzi. Perron had 57 points (27 goals, 30 assists) in 67 games with the St. Louis Blues last regular season and led them in points (13 in 12 games) and goals (nine) during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Perron, who’s like to play on the second line with Copp, brings the experience and consistency (at least 40 points in six straight seasons) to increase the fantasy value of both forwards.
Copp was better than a point per game (18 in 16 games) last regular season and an instrumental part of New York’s run to the Eastern Conference Final (14 points in 20 Stanley Cup Playoff games). Copp loses some fantasy appeal moving away from the Rangers’ second line with elite left wing Artemi Panarin but remains in the top 250 for one of the most-improved teams in Detroit, which also acquired Ville Husso from the St. Louis Blues and is expected to incorporate elite defenseman prospect Simon Edvinsson.
Continued; Dominik Kubalik also earns a fantasy hockey shout-out as a free agent signing with “sneaky fantasy hockey upside” as well.
As you and I both know by now, the Red Wings’ signings are really about building a backbone’s worth of secondary scorers and depth players who give the Red Wings a skeleton upon which to build a deeper and better team, but the late-blooming Copp and the ever-productive Perron should both help the Red Wings score more goals.
