Copp has done more than just a penalty killing and checking line mentality, as shown by his time last season spent on the top line with Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler during a stretch in late January early February.
"He was scoring at a real good rate for the ten or so games he was up there," said Lowry. "He comes down to our line (this season) and he doesn't skip a beat. He's contributing and he set career-highs in points (28 in 82 games) this year and they're all even strength points."
To make Lowry's point even more impressive, Copp had 3 shorthanded points with two shorthanded goals and an assist.
"I think some people don't realize it's real hard to score even strength in this league," continued Lowry. "You start every shift in your D-zone and he's often times going up against other team's best players, and more often than not he comes out on the right side of it."
The respect Lowry has for Copp is clear - and that respect goes both ways.
"He's very consistent with his effort, and he's such a strong body that he generally excels down low," said Copp of Lowry after Jets practice Wednesday morning. "He's got a great stick. He's physical. He knows where to be with great positional instincts, and then offensively you can just play off of him. He's so good at protecting pucks, you can buzz around him and just find a way to get open because he's good at finding the open man."
It's easy to see when talking to Copp and Lowry that both love talking about the game.
"We both have good minds for the game," said Copp. "We are always thinking about it - ways to get better, ways to create more chemistry, and create more opportunities for ourselves to be trusted more both offensively and defensively. Two hockey minds but most of the guys in here (Jets players) are like that."
Lowry's father (Dave) played in the NHL, and now coaches in the league with the Los Angeles Kings, so osmosis plays a role in his knowledge of hockey. Right now, Copp is roommates with one of the biggest hockey nerds on the Jets.
"He lives with Scheif, and Scheif's got the game on 24/7," joked Lowry. "Copper's a huge sports guy. You can ask him about any football player and he knows what college the guy went to and even basketball players. He's a baseball fan. He loves sports. You can always talk sports with him and he's always got an opinion on certain things."
