Kris Draper

Kris Draper
Born (1971-05-24) May 24, 1971
Toronto, ON, CAN
Height 5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight 188 lb (85 kg; 13 st 6 lb)
Position Centre
Shot Left
Played for Winnipeg Jets
Detroit Red Wings
National team  Canada
NHL Draft 62nd overall, 1989
Winnipeg Jets
Playing career 1989–2011

Kristopher Bruce "Kris" Draper (born May 24, 1971) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and current special assistant to the general manager of the Detroit Red Wings, the team with which he played 17 seasons for during his 20-year National Hockey League (NHL) playing career.

Draper is a four-time winner of the Stanley Cup (all with Detroit), a Frank J. Selke Trophy winner and has scored over 100 goals in his NHL career with the Red Wings. Draper was a member of the famous "Grind Line" in Detroit, consisting of himself, Kirk Maltby and either Joe Kocur or Darren McCarty.

Playing career

Draper grew up in West Hill, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto, where he played minor hockey for the Don Mills Flyers of the MTHL. After attending De La Salle College in Toronto, he was selected by the Ontario Hockey League (OHL)'s Windsor Spitfires in the fourth round of the 1988 OHL Priority Selection. Instead of reporting to Windsor, however, Draper elected to play for the Team Canada.

Drafted 62nd overall in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft by the original Winnipeg Jets, Draper did not see much NHL action in his early years. He is a rarity in that he played in the American Hockey League (AHL) and NHL before playing junior in the OHL. After playing just 20 NHL games for the Jets in four seasons since he was drafted, he was traded to the Detroit Red Wings in 1993 in exchange for $1.[1] Doug MacLean, the general manager of the Adirondack Red Wings at the time and a former Detroit Red Wings assistant, was responsible for the trade. Draper would quickly become a valuable fixture for Detroit, and he began his reputation as the "One Dollar Man," eventually becoming one of only six players (three others were longtime teammates) to play over 1,000 games in a Red Wings uniform.

On May 29, 1996, during Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals of the 1996 Stanley Cup playoffs, Draper was checked from behind into the boards at the end of the players bench by Colorado Avalanche player Claude Lemieux. The hit forced Draper face-first into the dasher (the top edge of the boards), causing him to suffer a broken jaw, broken nose, broken cheekbone and a concussion. When the Wings and Avalanche met again on March 26, 1997, play was very physical between the two teams, and the existing animosity over the hit on Draper set off a massive brawl ("Brawl in Hockeytown") between the two teams.

Draper did not have a breakout season offensively until the 2003–04 season, when he scored 24 goals and 40 points, helping Detroit win the Presidents' Trophy as the team with the highest regular season point total. In addition to his offensive contributions, Draper also won the Frank J. Selke Trophy at season's end as the NHL's top defensive forward.

Draper was selected to play for Team Canada at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Despite the personal achievement for Draper, Canada disappointed in the tournament, losing 2–0 to Russia in the quarter-finals and failing to medal.

During the 2006–07 season, Draper was named an alternate captain of the Red Wings. On October 25, 2007, he signed a three-year, $4.75 million contract extension with the team. He earned $1.85 million in 2008–09, $1.65 million in 2009–10 and $1.25 million in the 2010–11 for an annual salary cap hit of $1.58 million.

Draper prior to a faceoff against the Calgary Flames.

On March 17, 2009, Draper became the fifth player to play 1,000 games in a Red Wing uniform, a feat accomplished only by Gordie Howe, Alex Delvecchio, Steve Yzerman, Nicklas Lidström and Tomas Holmström. All aforementioned players, save for Holmström, are enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame, and all have had their numbers retired by the Red Wings, except for Holmström. In Draper's case, his 1,000th game in a Red Wing uniform was his 1,020th game overall (passing the 1,000 NHL game milestone February 2, 2009).

Draper, discussing his accomplishment, said:

"Anytime you can join a group like that or there's a sentence and Draper slides in with them, it's a huge honor. I know I've been fortunate. I've been able to stay relatively healthy throughout my career and just been given a tremendous opportunity to remain a Red Wing as long as I have. A thousand games in a Red Wings uniform is something that I'm really proud of. I never imagined we'd be sitting here talking about something like that."

On July 25, 2011, the Detroit Red Wings prematurely announced the retirement of Draper, which was to be announced the next day at an 11 a.m news conference in Detroit at Joe Louis Arena. The news of the retirement was leaked through a photo album the organization posted on their official website. The album, titled "Kris Draper in Photographs," contained 71 pictures. The 68th picture was accompanied by a caption that read, "After 1,157 games and four Stanley Cup championships, Kris Draper announced his retirement during a press conference on July 26, 2011."[2] It was reported that Draper desired to play another season; however, the team did not have a roster spot for him, and he refused to sign a two-way deal or attend training camp to try out for a roster spot.[3] Draper retired on July 26, 2011.[4]

Management career

Immediately following Draper's retirement from hockey, he was added to the Red Wings' front office staff. He currently serves as the special assistant to the general manager, Ken Holland. In his position Draper "work[s] closely with Detroit’s management team, assisting in player evaluation at both the professional and amateur levels. He will be asked to provide input regarding potential trades and free agent signings, as well as providing insight into potential selections at the annual NHL Entry Draft."

International play
Medal record
Representing Canada Canada
Men's ice hockey
World Championships
2003 Finland
2005 Austria
World Cup of Hockey
2004 Canada
World Junior Championships
1991 Canada
1990 Finland

Draper has participated in eight international tournaments for Canada:

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1987–88 Don Mills Flyers Midget AAA MTHL 41 31 45 76 36 — — — — —
1988–89 Canadian National Team Intl 60 11 15 26 16 — — — — —
1989–90 Canadian National Team Intl 62 12 22 34 44 — — — — —
1990–91 Moncton Hawks AHL 7 2 1 3 2 — — — — —
1990–91 Winnipeg Jets NHL 3 1 0 1 5 — — — — —
1990–91 Ottawa 67's OHL 39 19 42 61 35 17 8 11 19 20
1991–92 Moncton Hawks AHL 61 11 18 29 113 4 0 1 1 6
1991–92 Winnipeg Jets NHL 10 2 0 2 2 2 0 0 0 0
1992–93 Moncton Hawks AHL 67 12 23 35 40 5 2 2 4 18
1992–93 Winnipeg Jets NHL 7 0 0 0 2 — — — — —
1993–94 Adirondack Red Wings AHL 46 20 23 43 49 — — — — —
1993–94 Detroit Red Wings NHL 39 5 8 13 31 7 2 2 4 4
1994–95 Detroit Red Wings NHL 36 2 6 8 22 18 4 1 5 12
1995–96 Detroit Red Wings NHL 52 7 9 16 32 18 4 2 6 18
1996–97 Detroit Red Wings NHL 76 8 5 13 73 20 2 4 6 12
1997–98 Detroit Red Wings NHL 64 13 10 23 45 19 1 3 4 12
1998–99 Detroit Red Wings NHL 80 4 14 18 79 10 0 1 1 6
1999–00 Detroit Red Wings NHL 51 5 7 12 28 9 2 0 2 6
2000–01 Detroit Red Wings NHL 75 8 17 25 38 6 0 1 1 2
2001–02 Detroit Red Wings NHL 82 15 15 30 56 23 2 3 5 20
2002–03 Detroit Red Wings NHL 82 14 21 35 82 4 0 0 0 4
2003–04 Detroit Red Wings NHL 67 24 16 40 31 12 1 3 4 6
2004–05 Did not play  — season not played due to 2004–05 NHL lockout
2005–06 Detroit Red Wings NHL 80 10 22 32 58 6 0 0 0 6
2006–07 Detroit Red Wings NHL 81 14 15 29 58 18 2 0 2 24
2007–08 Detroit Red Wings NHL 65 9 8 17 68 22 3 1 4 10
2008–09 Detroit Red Wings NHL 79 7 10 17 40 8 1 0 1 0
2009–10 Detroit Red Wings NHL 81 7 15 22 28 12 0 0 0 16
2010–11 Detroit Red Wings NHL 47 6 5 11 12 8 0 1 1 2
NHL totals 1,157 161 203 364 790 222 24 22 46 160

International

Year Team Event Result   GP G A Pts PIM
1990 Canada WJC 1st, gold medalist(s) 7 0 2 2 4
1991 Canada WJC 1st, gold medalist(s) 7 1 3 4 0
2000 Canada WC 4th 3 1 0 1 0
2001 Canada WC 5th 7 1 2 3 0
2003 Canada WC 1st, gold medalist(s) 9 0 3 3 10
2004 Canada WCH 1st, gold medalist(s) 5 2 2 4 2
2005 Canada WC 2nd, silver medalist(s) 9 0 2 2 6
2006 Canada Oly 7th 6 0 0 0 0
Junior totals 14 1 5 6 4
Senior totals 39 4 9 13 18

Awards and honours

Award Year
NHL
Stanley Cup 1997, 1998, 2002, 2008
Frank J. Selke Trophy 2004 [5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Wheatley, Tom (2003-06-20). "Futures can help the present". Retrieved 2009-03-12.
  2. ↑ Malik, George. "Looks Like Draper Retiring Tomorrow". Retrieved 25 July 2011.
  3. ↑ Khan, Ansar. "Red Wings' Kris Draper to announce retirement Tuesday during news conference". Michigan Local News. Retrieved 25 July 2011.
  4. ↑ http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=569958&navid=mod-rr-headlines
  5. ↑ "Frank J. Selke Trophy winners". National Hockey League. 2010-06-04. Retrieved 2010-06-04.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kris Draper.
Preceded by
Jere Lehtinen		 Winner of the Frank J. Selke Trophy
2004 		Succeeded by
Rod Brind'Amour
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