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Better know a 2018 Canucks camp invitee: Ben Copeland

19-year-old playmaking centre broke out in second year of draft eligibility.
Ben Copeland of the Waterloo Black Hawks

After Jim Benning’s first draft with the Vancouver Canucks, he talked about why he leaned towards size and strength with his picks.

“If you watch the NHL playoffs, you need guys with size and strength,” said Benning. “We’re going to get back to a meat-and-potatoes style in the trenches.”

The emphasis has changed. At the 2017 draft, Benning preached, “Speed and skill, remember, speed and skill.” At the 2018 draft, the tallest skater they drafted was just 6’0”, as they again emphasized speed and skill over size.

There is plenty of speed and skill on hand at the Canucks 2018 prospect development camp, particularly from drafted players like Quinn Hughes, Kole Lind, and Petrus Palmu. There will also be some speed and skill from the undrafted invitees, like Ben Copeland, who is the subject of the latest PITB invitee profile.

Ben Copeland – Centre
5’11” – 179 lbs – Apr 27, 1999 (19)
Edina, MN
Waterloo Black Hawks (60-18-44-62)

Copeland fell completely off the radar in his first year of draft eligibility. He was on NHL Central Scouting’s list of players to watch heading into the season 2016-17 season, but just 15 points in 56 USHL games saw scouts looking the other way when they went to Waterloo.

It was a disappointing year for a player that had been one of the top high school players in Minnesota.

“Copeland’s numbers last year were a byproduct of a rookie playing third and fourth-line minutes,” said Jim Nelson, sports reporter for the Waterloo Courier. With a lot of forwards leaving for college, Copeland got significantly more opportunity during the 2017-18 season and made the most of it.

His 44 assists in 60 games led the USHL and he finished sixth in total points with 62 in 60 games. He was fifth in primary points and the four players in front of him were all at least a year older.

That production got him a little bit more attention from scouts and he was ranked by a couple independent scouting services. International Scouting Services had him 134th overall for the 2018 draft, while Future Considerations ranked him 204th. Still, he slipped through the draft without being picked. Now he’s at Canucks camp looking for a little attention from Canucks’ management.

The main point of praise from scouts for Copeland? Speed. Copeland can flat-out fly.

“Copeland is an excellent skating centerman with NHL speed and explosiveness,” reads the scouting report from Hockey Prospect. “He has another gear with the puck on his stick and forces defensemen to lose containment and turn early when he enters the offensive zone.”

He combines that speed with “a set of hands that make him elusive,” according to Future Considerations, who add that he has a “pest-like mentality.” That speed and mentality make him a danger on the forecheck and he also uses those attributes effectively on the backcheck and in the defensive zone, including while killing penalties.

According to his head coach with the Black Hawks, P.K. O’Handley, the issue for Copeland offensively was that he played too fast and needed to know when to slow things down.

“He has NHL speed,” said O’Handley during the 2017-18 season. “I think the best part of Ben is that he slowed it down inside his own head and I think he is getting rewarded offensively for it...His knowledge of the game has caught up with the speed he can play at.”

That improved hockey sense paid big dividends in the USHL and bodes well as he transitions to college hockey. It will also be an essential area to develop if he wants to have an NHL future.

“I needed to use my speed more cautiously, differently and use my energy more wisely,” said Copeland. “I needed to slow the game down a little more, obviously, so I could make faster plays.”

Unlike a lot of speedsters, Copeland is a natural playmaker rather than a natural goalscorer. He uses his speed to back off defenders and zip around the offensive zone looking for openings. While he has a fine shot, he’s at his best when he’s holding the puck and finding linemates for scoring chances.

“He had that extra gear to get around opposing defenders and to maintain puck possession for extended periods of time in the offensive zone,” reads a scouting report from 2016. “His patience and vision with the puck were exemplified on an odd man rush...when he gained the blue line on the left wing, stopped and hit the trailing right defenseman.”

You can see a bit of Copeland’s vision and playmaking in his highlights from a game against the US National Team Development Program, where he had two primary assists and a goal.

He sets up the first goal by tracking his own deflected shot behind the net, then spinning and putting a pass right on the tape of his teammate in the high slot. On his second assist, he picks up a missed drop pass and springs a teammate on a breakaway with a perfectly placed stretch pass.

Finally, at the 3:31 mark of the video, Copeland tries to cycle the puck down low, but he doesn’t have a teammate there and the USNTDP takes it. Copeland stays in the play, however, and sneaks in at the backdoor as his teammate picks off a pass. He patiently puts the puck right under the bar, giving the goaltender, who was already down and out, no chance to make the save.

Here’s another impressive play by Copeland, as he makes a sharp pivot at the blue line to lose one man, then makes a sudden burst of acceleration along the boards to lose another, and cuts in towards the net past one more, before snapping the puck five-hole.

 

 

There’s a lot to like about Copeland — his speed, skill, and two-way game give him some NHL potential — but there’s one key issue: the Canucks can’t sign him.

Or rather, the Canucks can sign him, but likely won’t be able to and don’t want to. Copeland is heading to college and can’t sign a contract without losing his NCAA eligibility. If the Canucks had drafted him, they could have held onto his NHL rights through his four years at college. As it is, they’d have to be convinced he’s ready to turn pro now or convince Copeland to head to the CHL instead of going to college and getting his degree.

That’s a tough sell, particularly since Copeland could bank on his own ability to excel in the NCAA and earn the attention of more NHL teams in a few years’ time.

Still, it’s a fine idea to get a good look at Copeland now and create a good relationship with him should he become a highly sought-after college free agent in the future. That can mean a lot to a player as he considers his options.