Do you think Draper will retire after this season?

[mjlegend 155]

They still had to waive DMac this year and if they waive Drapes, he'd be picked up... also, theres no way you waive a guy like Draper, he's done WAY too much for this team

Maybe not the full D-Mac treatment, but certainly if he hasn't been healthy enough to play in the most important games of the year, then they might be able to stow him for awhile on LTIR early next year so he can rehab properly.

As for waiving him, does anyone have the room next year to pick up even half of his $1.6 million? Not many teams consider faceoffs and penalty killing as important as this one (thankfully) does. I'm sure Draper is such a team-first kind of player that even he regrets on some level putting the Wings in this awkward position next year. I think everyone was under the impression that the cap would keep going up and up and up...

Draper at the very least has to know his days are numbered. This year's playoff run has proven above anything else that the Wings have the players available at the ready to replace Draper and Maltby.

[HankZetty 0]

I think draps malts and chelli will all leave after this season.

[drfnr14 0]

if he does ill shed a tear, for one of my favorite red wings!

[GORM19 0]

i think drapes will retire

[mariah 0]

You guys are killing me. Do we really have to talk about this now.I will have a real hard time when my Drapes retires and just thinking about about it makes me tear up.

[YoungGuns1340 1]

Pull your head out of the sand, folks. We're talking about between hundreds of thousands of dollars and millions that Maltby and Draper would be walking away from in their mid 30s. Going by the average death rate, thats 40 years of their life where they aren't going to making even hundreds of thousands of dollars close to what they're making now.

Maltby will stay, even if hes the 13th forward, as will Draper. There is absolutely no incentive for them to quit the game they love when they've been Red Wings for life, don't want to go anywhere else, and have a guaranteed salary.

Even if Maltby and Draper stay within the Wings organization, the paycheck that a scout, assistant coach, or head coach gets is a pittance compared to what they're earning now. If I'm remembering the numbers correctly Draper's salary per year is more than Babcocks.

Theres no way Maltby and Draper walk away from a salary that could equate to what they earn in 5-10 years alone at most other jobs for which they'd be qualified.

[wingsdiehard13 33]

I sure hope Draper doesn't retire. Then we'd have to pay his $1.58M cap hit and not have a body to fill that void.

Geesh, enough of this retirement talk.

[ComradeWasabi 109]

Thinking about it is making me sad. Even if they aren't what they used to be, they're just such fixtures that imagining not having them in there is depressing.

[mjlegend 155]

The moment a 38-year-old player becomes a healthy scratch is the moment he starts becoming expendable. The Wings are missing Dats and Kopecky and he still can't find his way past the Griffins. I know he's been hurt with a "lower/upper/undisclosed" injury, but come on. Two years ago, he'd play through anything.

I don't want his last years with the team to be like Chelly's and just playing out the string as a 5th liner.

[NomadFromKazoo 42]

Draper is not retiring at least until his contract is up. This thread is silly.