The 28-year-old forward had NHL career highs in goals (21), assists (32) and points (53) in 72 regular-season games last season for the New York Rangers and Winnipeg Jets, including 18 points (eight goals, 10 assists) in 16 games after he was acquired in a trade by the Rangers on March 21.
The Ann Arbor, Michigan, native had 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in 20 Stanley Cup Playoff games.
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"I was a big Red Wings fan," Copp said. "Growing up in the era of Steve] Yzerman, [Brendan] Shanahan and [Nicklas] Lidstrom and then onto [Pavel] Datsyuk and [Henrik] Zetterberg, I think you saw their success. They went to the playoffs like 25 straight years or something insane like that. I concentrated a lot on Michigan too being from Ann Arbor. Between the two of them, to be able to play for both teams is really a dream come true."
Copp said he believes Detroit can be successful soon.
"I know a few of the guys that have been there a little while now," Copp said. "[Dylan Larkin] is one of my close friends -- played together at Michigan. Robby Fabbri is a guy that I've played golf with and seen up close and personal when he was in St. Louis. [Tyler] Bertuzzi's been there a while -- he's a really good player. I see a lot of good pieces that have been there for a while. And then you see the youth: [Lucas] Raymond, [Moritz] Seider, [Filip] Zadina, [Michael
($4.75 million average annual value); defenseman Ben Chiarot to a
four-year, $19 million contract
($4.75 million AAV); and forward Dominik Kubalik to a two-year, $5 million contract ($2.5 million AAV).
They signed defenseman
Olli Maatta
to a one-year, $2.25 million contract Thursday, and defenseman
Mark Pysyk
to a one-year, $850,000 contract.
"With several expiring contracts we had roster spots open, available, needs to be addressed and we felt we addressed positionally some needs," general manager Steve Yzerman said Thursday. "We needed simply to add players to fill out a roster, but addressed some needs, an important need at center with Andrew Copp, a right-hand shot forward in David Perron and kind of a pleasant surprise in what we consider a scoring winger in Dominik Kubalik, adding some defensemen we think we will help us on our special teams, in particular our penalty killing, and defensively 5-on-5 as well. These are all areas we talked about in the spring, areas we needed to improve upon. With some of our contracts expiring and holes in our roster, we were in a position to bring in new faces and players we think address some of these needs."
NHL.com staff writer Tracey Myers contributed to this report.
