Red Wings issue a statement on Andrew Copp

This just in, the Detroit Red Wings have announced that forward Andrew Copp is out for the rest of season after undergoing pectoral surgery.

From the Red Wings:

The 30 year old Ann Arbor, MI product has 10 goals and 23 points in 56 games for the Red Wings this season.

While the Red Wings will move Copp's $5.625 million annual salary to long-term injury reserve (LTIR), GM Steve Yzerman's inability to weaponize his team's cap situation won't give the team much of a benefit.

With the Red Wings currently having $3 million of projected cap space and $14 million of deadline space, Copp going on LTIR is not an option to gain more cap space unless they first added $14 million of annual cap hit.

LTIR allows a team to exceed the cap, since they are well below the cap, Copp to LTIR would not provide any benefit.