Good for Kopecky for stepping up, hope he’s ok.

He needs to do stuff like that more if he wants to keep a spot on this team.  Quite frankly, I don’t think he’s earned his keep yet and I don’t see him being back next season… continuing to do dirty work like this in the playoffs would go a long ways though.

Posted by Primis on 05/08/09 at 07:59 AM ET

I remember a few months ago when Kopecky took some heat amongst fans for not fighting with Mike Commodore. I’m glad to see he has learned because it resulted in Beauchemin being in the box for 5 minutes!

Posted by drimo on 05/08/09 at 08:06 AM ET

Hope he’s okay.  Lilja is still out after a fight.  :(

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 05/08/09 at 08:53 AM ET

As drimo notes, the “fight” took Beauchemin off the ice for five minutes, something I’m sure Babs was pleased with. But if Kopy is going to fight, he needs to actually fight. From the get-go, he was grabbing at Beauchemin’s jersey and trying to wrestle him to the ice. I never once saw him throw a punch.

While I hope Kopy is okay, I’d much rather see Abbadabbadoo in the line-up on Sunday. He’s got an abrasive side and a scoring touch that Kopy lacks...which is why I agree with Primis that he’s unlikely to return next year.

Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 05/08/09 at 09:03 AM ET

The odd thing is Kopy actually seemed to have a great regular season LAST year, until he got injured and was absent from the whole post season.  If I recall, he played really well last year, and his stock was rising.  I don’t know what happened to him since the injury, but he’s just not been the same.  Perhaps he’s playing a lot more cautiously, perhaps the injury still holds him back (wasn’t it a shoulder?).  I definitely agree with OTC and Primis, he really has to step it up again and improve his abrasiveness.  He’s got the size to do it but just seems afraid to use it.

Posted by BuzzFledderjohn on 05/08/09 at 09:23 AM ET

When this happened, I told my wife:  So, the Ducks are now down two of their top-4 D-men?

You know how Ericsson was told to take a flyer on fights- unless it meant getting Perry/Getzlaf/Ryan off the ice?

I’m going to go out on a limb and say Detroit’s 3rd and 4th liners are under instructions to drop the gloves the second any of the duck’s top3 forwards or top 4 d-men offer the same.  I, for one, love the idea of third pairing duckies killing off penalties when pronger/niedermayer need a berather.

Posted by shanetx on 05/08/09 at 09:31 AM ET

I thought the same as you guys did - Good for the wings, their 3rd best d-man is gone at a critical time.  It was funny because the announcers were questioning it at the time, as if it was comparable to the Talbot/ Carcillo fight.  That logic didn’t seem to fit this situation. He was a punching bag though. 
Good to see the Wings put this one away.  They’ve been the better team all series.  The Ducks first line is scary though, and #27 looks as good as ever.

Posted by dip from philly on 05/08/09 at 10:09 AM ET

It’s good to see Kopecky does something well.....even if it’s getting pummeled.

Posted by moocat on 05/08/09 at 10:15 AM ET

Perhaps he’s playing a lot more cautiously, perhaps the injury still holds him back (wasn’t it a shoulder?).

Knee, I think.  He actually had surgery on both because they had to take a ligament from one to fix the other.

It can take a year or more to fully return from such an injury.  Maybe see what he’s like after a summer where he can actually train instead of rehab.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 05/08/09 at 11:33 AM ET

It can take a year or more to fully return from such an injury.  Maybe see what he’s like after a summer where he can actually train instead of rehab.

He’s a UFA so I don’t think they’ll be able to wait until the end of the summer to evaluate him. They’ll probably want to either sign him or let him go by the first part of July. He’s a good guy and he may yet develop into a solid 3rd-4th liner, but I’m guessing it’ll be with someone other than the Wings. There simply are too many quality replacements who need to move from the Griffins to the Wings next year.

The ideal solution would be for both Draper and Maltby to retire. That way, they could keep Kopecky and still have room for the “kids”. Odds are nearly zero that will happen, though.

Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 05/08/09 at 02:43 PM ET