Today in our logbook series, we look at forward Andrew Copp who signed a two year deal this past summer and then saw his game improve in a couple of different areas as he became a dependable bottom six forward for the Jets.

 

 

Andrew played in all 82 games for the Jets this season and all but one playoff game – more on that in a moment – matched his career high in goals and posted career highs in both assists and points. A lot of those points happened to come in his last stretch of games before the playoffs where he seven points in his last seven games. He also improved his work in the faceoff dot and was more of a physical presence this year for the Jets.

The one area of criticism that Copp had going into this season was that he needed to work on his defensive game to be relied on more on a game by game basis. Playing most nights beside Adam Lowry and Joel Armia, Copp did just that seeing a jump in the right direction for his possession numbers as well as defensive numbers. The Copp/Lowry/Armia line was counted on quite a few times to be a shut down line against either an opposing team’s number one or two forward group.

Copp played 16 of the Jets 17 playoff games, but it’s the one that he missed – a healthy scratch for game five versus Vegas that in his words “stung” a bit to have to go through. Andrew had a solid playoff run again as a defensive forward, but at times did struggle against Nashville and Vegas’ top lines.

Andrew doesn’t excel in one specific area of the game, but he seems to do a lot of little things well. His offensive production can be streaky at times, but that’s not what the Jets are looking for from him. At the age of 23 and the confidence of the coaching staff behind him – as well as confidence in his own game – Copp should be a key and versatile part of the Jets bottom six forward group next season.