After a long & successful playing career, Kris Draper is finally hanging up his skates. The Detroit Red Wings have called a news conference for Tuesday in Detroit where Draper will announce his retirement.
In 1157 NHL games, the 40-year-old forward scored 161 goals and added 203 assists, racking up 790 penalty minutes. A clutch playoff performer, Draper won four Stanley Cups with the Wings. He would also claim the Frank J. Selke Trophy in 2003-04 as the NHL’s best defensive forward. Draper was a member of the famous Grind Line in Detroit, consisting of himself, Kirk Maltby and either Joe Kocur or Darren McCarty. The line was reunited with the return of McCarty to the Wings in the 2007ā08 season.
Draper also had a long history of representing Canada, starting with the national team from 1988 through 1990 before moving on to the NHL. He would win World Junior gold in 1990 and 1991, World Championship gold and silver in 2003 and 2005 respectively, the World Cup of Hockey in 2004 and laced them up as part of the 2006 Canadian Olympic team in Turin, Italy.
Draper is also only the fifth player after Alex Delvecchio, Gordie Howe,Ā SteveĀ YzermanĀ andĀ NicklasĀ LidstromĀ to play 1,000 games in a Red Wings uniform, finishing with 1,137 games in the red and white. He was originally drafted by the Winnipeg Jets in the third round, 62nd overall in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft. He would play 20 games as a Jet before they traded him to Detroit for $1.
He & his wife Julie have two daughters and a son.