Kris Draper
Kris Draper
Kristopher Bruce "Kris" Draperis a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and current special assistant to the general manager of the Detroit Red Wings, the team with which he played 17 seasons for during his 20-year National Hockey Leagueplaying career...
ProfessionHockey Player
Date of Birth24 May 1971
everybody happiness happy left message room
I was real happy for Mac. I left him a message this morning. I think just about everybody in this room is happy for him considering what he's been going through.
certainly five four realizing regular scoreboard sure teams watch
Yeah, now we're on the scoreboard watching. We're realizing there's probably about four or five teams that are going to keep flip-flopping from here right on up to the end of the regular season. For us, you certainly watch that but the one thing we want to make sure is that we're concentrating on what this team does.
adjustment body choice defence good guys happen huge open skate speed step teams
Here at the Joe, guys are getting used to the speed and the body positioning. Teams that can skate and have a good defence will be a step ahead. You won't have any choice to open up. But this is going to be a huge adjustment and it won't happen overnight.
committed guys letting opening pat time
Guys are committed to opening up the game, making it a lot more entertaining and letting guys go out and use their talents. But I don't even think we'll have it down pat by the time of the openers.
best dominate force gifted guy offensive players
He's a guy that can dominate a game. He just makes players around him that much better. He's a guy that can score, and he's a very gifted passer as well. The best thing to do is try to force an offensive player to try to play in his end as much as possible.
good season
We feel good about what we've accomplished so far, but there's still a lot of the season left.
coaches hopefully open sake system
We have to play to these new rules, but we play to the system implemented by the coaches. Hopefully for the sake of the game, the coaches want to open it up.
choice open rules
I don't think they're going to have any choice but to open it up with the way the rules are,
son hockey wings
Hockey was such a part of my life, as well as my family’s, that I knew we were all going to miss it. For the first few weeks my son was in tears sobbing, ‘I miss you being a Red Wing daddy.’ I didn’t know what to say so we just cried together. Nobody prepares you for that kind of stuff.
morning team winning
Actually it was easier than you'd think. We were the guys who had the opportunity to play for something. Only 26 players on the eight teams had that chance. We would wake up in the morning and have a reason to train. We are able to have four weeks to play at this level. Since the first day our policy was not to talk about the labor situation. Our goal was to win. We'll enjoy it for one night. Then the reality of the owners locking us out sets in.
power
The first power play they were snapping it around pretty good. They kind of got some things going.
advantage enjoyed four last played positions three
The last three or four years I've played all three positions and I've enjoyed that. It's a different game, a different look, and it's an opportunity, hopefully, I can take advantage of and get things going.