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Guest 13GoWings40

Kris Draper announces retirement

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Kris Draper .. grew up watching him since the same time as Ozzie.. i will miss Drapes! what a class act. playoff leader, mad speed in his young days and still had great wheels as a 40 yr old... great pk guy .. all in all what a man what a hockey player thanks for everything and the 4 CUPS Drapes!!!

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Sometimes I feel like the old lady from Titanic and wish I can go back to the time when all these players were in their prime.

Edited by Manoir

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He has been a Wing since I started watching the Wings at the age of 8.

Everyone here has hit it on the head....truly a genuine individual who loved the WIngs and loved hockey and was loved by all his teammates. I was shocked when I read this but I think it's for the best of the team.

Drapes....thanks for everything you did! You truly will be missed and you hard work and character rival anyone else's as the best.

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Guest CaliWingsNut

Why a full fledge press conference for some (Rafalski, Draper) and only a telephone conference for others (Ozzie)? Was it Ozzie's wish?

I think it was Osgood's decision.

He was up in Canada at the time and I don't think he wanted to come to Detroit just to do a retirement press conference.

The team also had something setup for Conklin pending Osgood's decision and the team likely didn't want to wait and risk losing him (granted he already had been a UFA for a bit).

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I love Draper. I love how he plays the game, how he keeps him self in amazing shape, what a great teammate he is, and how he conducts him self off the ice. He has done so very much for the Red Wings and the city of Detroit and I'm sure he will be missed in the locker room. I know I will miss watching him play. I'm 32 and I've been been watching him play for a long time. Man, it's hard to think of the Wings without #33. It's hard to think of him as 40 years old. The NHL today is a young man's game, and a young man Draper is not. THANK YOU KRIS DRAPER!!!!!! I wish you the very best!!!

LETS GO RED WINGS!!!!!!!!!!

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Hey, thanks for that, good stuff. I'd like to see a little Ozzie/Drapes combined tribute...maybe the official Wings site will make one. Well, now its just Lids and Homer from the old guard... :(

So, who is still playing from the old days? I see Stacey Roest is playing in Switzerland...Anders Eriksson is playing in Sweden...does anyone remember Golubovsky? Hes playing in Austria. And of course Kozlov and Fedorov are playing in the Motherland. The only guys who are from the 97/98 and 98/99 teams not playing overseas are Philippe Audet (I didn't even remember him??) who is playing in the LNAH league in Quebec, and Mike Knuble, who of course is playing for the Caps. Pretty small group. I probably overlooked someone.

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Sad, sad day. Draper was a true warrior and one of those players who took what little he had and through sheer hard work, determination and sacrifice made it into a glorious NHL career.

Although his on-ice product had been in decline for a couple of years, off-ice he is going to be missed enormously. He was one of the few vocal leaders on a team of quiet leaders, and his commitment to off-ice fitness was both an inspiration and lesson to everyone else in the locker-room. When he came back to Detroit after bouncing around the league for a few years, JWill said that Draper (and Datsyuk) were the best conditioned athletes he'd ever seen.

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Sad to say Holmstrom is still paying <_<

I'd love to argue with you, but he might need to hang the skates after this season. Between his age starting to show and completely unfair enforcement of "interference" his effectiveness has been greatly reduced.

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I'd love to argue with you, but he might need to hang the skates after this season. Between his age starting to show and completely unfair enforcement of "interference" his effectiveness has been greatly reduced.

I imagine that Lidstrom and Holmstrom will only play one more season.

Sad to see Drapes go. We all saw it coming, but it still sucks. He played well last season, but we just ran out of roster space for him. Veteran of the Avalanche wars and the '90 Cup runs, he was one of the players that really made me a die-hard fan back in the late 90s, he was fun to watch.

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Another good decision by our older guys. Kris has been great for this team for a long time, he's been a big part of our 4 most recent Cups. I'll never forget the goal he scored in OT in Game 2 of the 98 Cup Finals Vs Washington. It's his time to hang them up. We can't afford to keep losing good young prospects without giving them a shot in the NHL. Emmerton deserves a shot and I think he will do well. Best of Luck Drapes.

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Guest CaliWingsNut

feed anywhere? he was just on the wrif talking about retirement. already sounds emotional.

www.detroitredwings.com

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