Kris Draper - Playing Career

Playing Career

Draper grew up in West Hill, Ontario (a suburb of Toronto), playing minor hockey for the Don Mills Flyers of the MTHL. After attending De La Salle College (Toronto), he was selected by the OHL's Windsor Spitfires in the 4th round of the 1988 Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection, however, elected to play for the Canadian National Team.

Drafted 62nd overall in the 1989 Draft by the 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 Ontario Hockey League (OHL). After playing just 20 games in the 4 seasons since he was drafted, he was traded to Detroit in 1993 for a dollar. Doug MacLean, the general manager of the Adirondack Red Wings at that time and a former Detroit Red Wings assistant, was responsible for the trade. Draper would quickly become a valuable fixture in Detroit's rotation, and he began his reputation as the "One Dollar Man", eventually becoming one of only five players (three others were longtime teammates) to play over 1,000 games in a Red Wings uniform.

On May 29, 1996, during game six of the Western Conference Finals of the 1996 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 anger over the injuries to Draper set off a massive brawl (Brawl in Hockeytown) between the two teams.

Draper did not have a breakout season offensively until 2003–04, when he scored 24 goals and 40 points, helping Detroit win the Presidents' Trophy. Draper won the Selke Trophy at the season's end as best defensive forward. He was named an alternate captain during the 2006–07 season. Draper was selected to play for Team Canada at the 2006 Winter Olympics. On October 25, 2007 Draper signed a three-year, $4.75-million contract extension with the team. He will earn $1.85 million in 2008–09, $1.65 million in 2009–10, and $1.25 million in the 2010–11 campaign—for a salary cap hit of $1.58-million.

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, and Nicklas Lidström. All of them (except for Lidström) are enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame and have had their numbers retired by the Red Wings. 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 at Joe Louis Arena. The news of the retirement was leaked through a photo album The Detroit Red Wings posted on their official website. The album, named "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." 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. Draper retired on July 26, 2011.