Kienan Draper commits to University of Michigan

Via Red Wings prospect and Vancouver Giants defenseman Alex Cotton on Twitter comes this news regarding Red Wings prospect Kienan Draper:

Per the Chilliwack Chiefs:

Chilliwack Chief Kienan Draper has secured his NCAA future. After finishing out the 2021-22 BCHL season with the Chilliwack Chiefs, the 19-year-old will be heading to his home state of Michigan to join the University of Michigan Wolverines.

“It will definitely be nice to be close to home, and my sister is a senior there,” Draper said before practice on Tuesday (Nov. 9). “It’s pretty awesome for me and I’m very excited.”

Draper’s ties to the Great Lakes State run deep. He was born and raised in Michigan and played his youth hockey with the Little Caesar’s program. Dad Kris Draper played 16 seasons and 1000-plus National Hockey League games in Detroit, winning four Stanley Cups with the Red Wings.

Kienan himself is a Red Wings draft pick, selected in the seventh round (187th overall) of the 2020 entry draft.

It seems pre-ordained that he was going to end up heading home. The only question was whether it was going to be Michigan or Michigan State.

“I don’t think Coach (Brian) Maloney likes the choice all that much, because he’s a Michigan State alum, but it’s an all-round great school,” Kienan said. “I’ve been to some hockey games and football games, and it’s an unbelievable environment there. I think there will be some extra chirping now between me and coach, but he did tell me it’s a great spot.”

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, when MLive hired me to work their SlapShots blog, and I joined Kukla's Korner in 2011 as The Malik Report. I'm starting The Malik Report as a stand-alone site, hoping that having my readers fund the website is indeed the way to go to build a better community and create better content.