Red Wings C Andrew Copp (core) believes he could be available for season opener against Canadiens

Red Wings center Andrew Copp re-aggravated a core muscle injury back in August that was nagging him last season, resulting in surgery at that time. The expected timeline for recovery put his availability for the start of the season in question but the veteran told reporters including Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press that he feels that he’s ahead of schedule enough to the point where he could be available on October 14th when they take on Montreal.  Copp signed a five-year, $28.125MM contract this summer to serve as Detroit’s second-line center following a career year that saw him put up 21 goals and 32 assists in 72 games.

Other injury news from around the NHL:

• Stars forward Ty Dellandrea will be out two-to-three weeks after breaking a bone in his finger during yesterday’s game against Minnesota, relays Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News. The 13th pick in 2018 spent most of last season with AHL Texas where he did quite well, notching 23 goals and 27 assists in 68 games but this timeline will end his preseason early which doesn’t bode well for his chances of cracking the opening roster.  Dellandrea is still waiver-exempt this season.
• Senators goaltender Cam Talbot was originally expected to play the full 60 minutes against Montreal on Saturday but that won’t be the case now as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports (Twitter link) that the netminder is listed as day-to-day. He took a shot that wound up underneath his equipment at practice on Thursday and the team will give him a few days to recover.
• The Blackhawks will hold defenseman Connor Murphy out of their two games this weekend due to his continuing back soreness, notes Mark Lazerus of The Athletic (Twitter link). However, there doesn’t appear to be much concern that the veteran will be out for long.  Murphy logged nearly 22 minutes per game for Chicago last season and should be leaned on for heavy minutes once again in 2022-23.