CHICAGO, IL - JUNE 23: Special assistant to the general manager Kris Draper of the Detroit Red Wings laughs onstage during Round One of the 2017 NHL Draft at United Center on June 23, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois.  (Photo by Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images)

Sunday Q and A: Red Wings executive Kris Draper

Craig Custance
Sep 3, 2017

Kris Draper retired following the 2010-11 season, his legacy as a player in Detroit secure after winning four Stanley Cups and as part of one of the most beloved lines in Red Wings history.

Now, five years into his career as a Red Wings executive, he chatted this week with The Athletic’s Craig Custance about carving a new role as a member of the team’s front office.

Custance: Okay, so I should know this but, what’s your title in the front office before we get too far here?

Draper: Assistant to the general manager.

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CC: Assistant to the general manager.

KD: Yeah.

CC: So how does that distinct itself from what [assistant GM] Ryan Martin is doing?

KD: He’s assistant GM and also the general manager of the Grand Rapids Griffins… it’s nice to say the Calder Cup champion Grand Rapids Griffins. On a day-to-day basis, myself, [GM] Ken [Holland] and Ryan could be in Ryan’s office talking hockey, talking players and prospects on our teams, other teams. For me, Ken was awesome. I retire, he gave me the opportunity to come to the front office. He basically said, ‘Watch the Red Wings play.’ I hadn’t been doing American League games since I played in the AHL, which was back in 1993. So he said, ‘Go watch the American Hockey League. Get to know some of our younger players and go watch our prospects.’ For the first couple years, I did that. The more I went to watch our prospects and potential draft picks, the more I gravitated toward the amateur side, the draft side.

CC: What was it about the amateur side that appealed to you?

KD: The challenge. We’re talking this year about the 2000-birth year kids. They’re 17 years old. It’s projection. It’s amazing how it works. You go to the rink and watch kids – five, six, seven, eight times. There are just players you gravitate towards. You see something you like in them, something that brings you back to watching these players. To me, that’s why I’ve enjoyed it. I spent a week at the Ivan Hlinka [Tournament in Czech Republic and Slovakia], I watched the 2000s from eight different countries. Now you have a pretty good feel for where you’re going to be going throughout the year – the players that impressed you at the Hlinka. You want to get back and see them. Now you’ve got to figure them out.

CC: Who did you like best at the Hlinka?

KD: Canada had a couple good players. They had a line of [Joe] Veleno, [Jack] McBain and [Serron] Noel. McBain is playing Tier 2 in Ontario, he’s committed to [Boston College]. Noel is playing in Oshawa. Veleno was the kid who got special exemption in the Quebec League. He’s playing in Saint John. That was a good line, I enjoyed watching play. The Swedes had some good players. The one player that jumped out was a real elite skating defenseman [Adam] Boqvist. I loved the way this kid could skate and move the puck. Those are guys I’m looking to watching how they progress.

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CC: I know sometimes the guy running the draft wants people to go to bat for kids they like, make their case. Was there a guy the Red Wings drafted this year you went to bat for?

KD: We obviously picked Michael Rasmussen. I saw him early on in the season. He ended up getting injured. Myself, Ken Holland and Shawn Horcoff had a trip planned just before the trade deadline. We were going to watch him play a couple games. That’s when he ended up hurting himself and sitting down to have surgery on his wrist. I saw him play early on and where he scored goals and how he scored goals was something I liked. He’s a 6-5 centerman. Big, strong kid. So he was one that I liked. I saw in Windsor, [Gabe] Vilardi. I saw him play a lot. Owen Tippett, too.

CC: The Vilardi/Rasmussen debate is still going on. What was the internal debate like between those two?

KD: It was a good, healthy dialogue between those two. The one thing, I was able to see Vilardi play more. When you think of Vilardi and Rasmussen – Vilardi played a majority of last year on the wing. We were looking at trying to find someone down the middle. If you can get a 6-5 centerman, who has the potential to score, that was the exciting thing for us. You sit in there and talk, you debate and project. The one thing we talked about is Rasmussen played just over 50 games and had over 30 goals. I just texted Michael last week to see how Tri-City camp was going. He was saying he feels good and is excited to get to Traverse City for the prospects tournament.

CC: I read you’ve worked with Dylan Larkin to help establish himself as an NHL center. What’s been the focus?

KD: He’s a rink rat who just wants to get better. That’s the way the kid is. He’s older beyond his years. It’s amazing how he handles it. We just played Joe Kocur’s softball tournament and there’s 30-40 people who want his autograph. Everywhere he goes. He sits there and does it. You have to love the type of human Dylan is… you could tell last year, he came out and put pressure on himself. Things weren’t happening. Everyone started talking about the sophomore slump. I don’t care if you’ve played 1,000 games and won a Stanley Cup, if you don’t have confidence, it’s a hard game to play. He was over-trying and overthinking. Some young players want to figure things out on their own. But with Dylan, we were able to create a relationship. One of the coolest things, he came up to me, he said, ‘I hear you have a rink in the backyard. Can I come over and skate on it one day?’ I said, ‘Um, yeah.’ Dylan comes over and he’s out in the backyard working on stuff. My son comes home from school and is looking out the window, and is like, ‘Is that Dylan Larkin?’ Kienan throws his gear on and those guys were out there for, no joke, hours. Just shooting, stick-handling, passing. When you see a guy like that, he’s going to find a way.

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CC: On a scale of 1 to 10, how concerned should Red Wings fans be about Andreas Athanasiou playing next season in the KHL?

KD: First of all, Ken [Holland] has always been a guy about getting a deal done. That’s the one thing, from some of my friends who are GMs, the one thing you hear is, ‘Ken gets deals done.’ I’ve been fortunate to be involved. He’s talked to me, ‘What would you do?’ I’ve been able to give some feedback and I’m on the same page as Ken. I really hope AA signs his contract and stays a Detroit Red Wing for a lot of reasons but, most importantly, this is a young Canadian kid who has always dreamt to play in the National Hockey League. He has that opportunity to really ingrain himself as a Detroit Red Wing and make himself an everyday NHL player… Listen, everyone wants money, wants to get paid. It’s going to happen for AA. There’s no doubt there’s opportunity to have a real successful career in the NHL. I hope he doesn’t go to the KHL. He’s going to get a good contract. Is it going to be a fantastic contract? Not this time around. But it’s going to get there. I lived it. The important thing was I wanted to be a Detroit Red Wing and NHL player. That’s what I dreamed about. Money-wise, you get caught up. I hope he goes to Little Caesars Arena and sees what is there and says, ‘I want to be a part of it. I want to be a part of the core group of Dylan Larkin, Anthony Mantha, [Tyler] Bertuzzi, [Tomas] Tatar, Gus Nyquist. I want to be a part of that group and get this team back to where it should be.’ That’s what I hope. Does it make sense to me? It does. Does that make sense to AA? I hope so.

CC: Have you reached out to him? What’s the communication like with him?

KD: I know Ken has talked to his agent. They want to get a deal done. If you have two sides willing to get a deal, then I think you’re going to find a way to get a deal done. In a negotiation, both sides have to give a little. Nobody is ever really happy in a negotiation. We’re going to pay a little bit more. They’re going to take a little less. That’s why it’s called a negotiation.

CC: Thanks for doing this, Kris. Enjoy what’s left of your summer. What do you have, four days left?

KD: I’m looking forward to it all. The prospect tournament. I enjoy going up to Traverse City for the prospect tournament. This year we have Rasmussen, [Evgeny] Svechnikov, [Dennis] Cholowski – our last three first-round picks, the defense, we have Cholowski, [Vili] Saarijarvi, [Filip] Hronek. It’s exciting to have those three guys in the mix. I think this team should expect to challenge and win the tournament. We host it, we would love to be able to win.

CC: Have you guys won one yet? Wasn’t that a point of contention at one point?

KD: We won one. It might have been three years ago. We need a win. We need our prospects to set the tone for the season.

 

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Craig Custance

Craig Custance is an Editorial Director at The Athletic. He's also one of the hosts of The Athletic Hockey Show. He joined The Athletic after nearly a decade covering the NHL as a national hockey writer, the last six as a senior writer for ESPN.com. Before covering the NHL, he was an award-winning journalist with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He's the author of “Behind the Bench: Inside the Minds of Hockey’s Greatest Coaches." Follow Craig on Twitter @CraigCustance