The Detroit News’s John Niyo attended the final day of the Red Wings’ 2023 Summer Development Camp today, and he penned a column discussing the man who drafted the vast majority of the Wings’ development camp participants:
Kris Draper didn’t quite know what to think when Steve Yzerman phoned a few weeks ago and scheduled a meeting with him in his office.
“I was never a big fan of being called down to the office,” Draper joked. “I saw the principal way too much in elementary school. So, I wasn’t sure how the trip was going to go.”
But all went well, he can report now, and the Red Wings made it official Wednesday, when they announced a promotion for Draper, the former “Grind Line” centerpiece of the franchise’s last Stanley Cup championship era. After serving as Detroit’s director of amateur scouting for the past four years, Draper, 52, is now adding an assistant general manager title as well, joining Shawn Horcoff, who oversees the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins, in working alongside Yzerman on all hockey operations.
“I guess he appreciates what we’re doing right now, and that means a lot to me,” said Draper, who was a part of four Cup-winning teams in Detroit before retiring as a player after a 20-year NHL career, in 2011. “You know, for 30 years I’ve been part of this organization. It’s something that I take a ton of pride in. The Detroit Red Wings are one of the most important things in my life. And I want to be a big part of us getting back into the playoffs, and then from there, being Cup contenders and Cup champions again.”
He’s hardly alone with that feeling, he knows. And it’s that institutional knowledge the Red Wings are banking on these days. Yzerman, the iconic “Captain,” might be at the top of the organizational chart, but he has a long list of ex-teammates helping him make this latest championship push in various roles: Draper, Nicklas Lidstrom, Niklas Kronwall, Dan Cleary, Kirk Maltby, Jiri Fischer, Jesse Wallin.
“We played in arguably the greatest era of the Detroit Red Wings organization, and we want to bring that back,” said Draper, whose 1,137 games played in a Red Wings uniform rank fifth-most in team history. “And we all understand how hard it’s going to be. But, we’re all in this together.”
