Copp will make push for NHL job

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This article was published 07/07/2015 (4051 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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It would be a fool’s game to predict the final Winnipeg Jets’ roster for the upcoming NHL season.

Jets head coach Paul Maurice said as much late last week, suggesting on Friday following Day 1 of Jets development camp not even he has the slightest idea of what his team will look like come fall.

“I’ve got four combinations on the wall right now that we’re playing with,” Maurice said, “That’s my little summer toy.”

But with Tuesday marking the conclusion of development camp, dissecting the ins and outs of the Jets lineup will become second nature for a hockey-hungry fan base, many of whom filled the MTS IcePlex for the past five days.

And of all the storylines gaining momentum out of camp, perhaps the most prominent is the future of Andrew Copp.

Copp, chosen by the Jets in the fourth round (104th overall) at the 2013 NHL draft, has been rumoured to be the front-runner for the team’s fourth-line centre role as early as last March when he signed an entry-level contract following his second year with the University of Michigan Wolverines.

And, with free agent forward Jim Slater still without a contract, that plot line has only thickened.

“You know, I try not to pay attention to that stuff too much,” said Copp, who will celebrate his 21st birthday on Thursday. “Obviously you see it on Twitter a little bit but I’m just trying to push that aside and concentrate on my own game.”

His answer, though a tad cliché, is fitting, given it’s his ability to effectively use every inch of his 6-2, 210-pound frame at both ends of the ice that has made him an attractive option to play in the NHL after just two years of college.

“I give him a lot of credit, he earns everything he gets,” said Brennan Serville, the Jets’ third-round pick in 2011 and a former college teammate of Copp. “He was our captain at Michigan for a reason.”

His stats don’t exactly jump off the page — Copp tallied a modest 14 goals and 31 points in 36 games last season with the Wolverines — but his poise and maturity do. He’s smooth and calculated with his responses. He carries a quiet confidence and a comfort level unlike many his age in the Jets’ system.

It helps he already knows most of his new team, and even played a game last season, chipping in an assist against the Calgary Flames in the Jets final regular season game.

“It was huge for me getting the experience on the ice but off the ice I think it was really huge,” he said. “You’re going in to training camp and you know everyone in the room and you’re not worried about fitting in or how the older guys are going to treat you — you kind of know how everyone is going to act and that’s just a huge monkey off the back.”

Copp is now focused on his comfort on the ice. He’s headed back home to Ann Arbor, Mich. to work on his strength and conditioning over the summer, trying to get his body used to the rigours of an 82-game season which is more than double that of a college schedule. He also plans to pick up a few tips working alongside Anaheim forward, Ryan Kesler — the two share the same agent — who torched the Jets for three goals and five points, including the game-winning goal in Game 4 of a series sweep over Winnipeg in the first round of playoffs last season.

“Now you just have to worry about how you play, worry about your game and about trying to make the team out of training camp,” said Copp.

Anything else would just be foolish.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton