The Athletic’s Max Bultman offers 2 options for the Red Wings to utilize if the team wishes to replace the injured Andrew Copp–either looking internally or making a trade–and I’ll help you take a gander at the first option:
Their easiest — and perhaps best — option is the one they chose Tuesday, bumping J.T. Compher up into the second-line center spot between Kane and DeBrincat. Compher’s production has dipped a bit this season, but his profile is quite similar to Copp’s as a hard-nosed, responsible center who can play in the hard areas of the ice and provide complementary offense.
In fact, Compher was Detroit’s second-line center over Copp for much of last season, playing just over 300 minutes with Kane and nearly 400 with DeBrincat. Like Copp, Compher won’t usually put up gaudy point totals or flashy offense, but what he does well certainly fits between two more offensively-tilted wingers. There’s a reason Detroit went with him as its first option Tuesday, and if we’re handicapping the possible outcomes for replacing Copp, this is the likeliest possibility by a wide margin.
Once Michael Rasmussen returns from an upper-body injury (McLellan said he was day to day), that would slot Rasmussen in as the No. 3 center and Joe Veleno as the No. 4 — with both Tyler Motte and Christian Fischer able to play that position on a checking line as well.
One other option could be playing Marco Kasper as either the second- or third-line center — which Detroit did earlier this season — but I wouldn’t call it likely at this time. Kasper has worked well playing on the wing on Detroit’s top line, with his speed and forechecking fitting in nicely alongside Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond.
In the long term, Kasper still projects as a center for the Red Wings. But the rookie has 16 points in 18 games since January 10, and it doesn’t sound like McLellan is too eager to shake up something that’s working.
“We’d like to keep him there (with Larkin and Raymond),” McLellan said.
Continued with trade talk (paywall)
