Red Wings' Kris Draper: On draft eligibles, the rebuild, Dylan Larkin

Kris Draper made his name as a fiercely competitive forward who helped the Detroit Red Wings win four Stanley Cups.

Now, he’s in the position of essentially rooting for them to miss the playoffs.

Since retiring from playing hockey in July 2011, Draper has worked as a special assistant to general manager Ken Holland. Draper, 46, is especially focused on the amateur side of the business, where he works closely with chief amateur scout Tyler Wright, chief European scout Hakan Andersson and assistant general manager Ryan Martin. Draper’s scouting has taken him to Europe, Canada and across the United States.

This week will find him close to home, scouting the Five Nations Tournament at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth. Top players under the age of 18 from the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Sweden and the United States will compete over 10 games. A majority of the players are eligible for the 2018 NHL Entry Draft.

I sat down with Draper last week for an interview.

HSJ: What has been your focus this season?

KD: “I’ve worked a lot with Tyler on the amateur side. I’m trying to see all the high-end draft-eligibles. Went to World Juniors. Been to the Maritimes to watch the top players there. Been out west to watch the top players there, and all throughout Ontario. So a little bit of everything.

“I enjoy the amateur side. I really enjoy the scouting side. That’s where I’ve gravitated the most to. Ken wants me to go see games and if I know players and if I like players, he wants me to make sure I speak up and I have knowledgeable input at all levels.”

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HSJ: What do you look for in players?

KD: “Obviously I love skaters. You look at hockey sense. You look at skill. I talk to Hakan Andersson quite a bit — anytime we get a chance to sit with him, he is a big guy on hockey sense. I always argue about how fast this game is, but how can you argue with the success of Haks?”

HSJ: So you wouldn’t have drafted Tomas Holmstrom, a notoriously bad skater?

KD: (Laughs). “I would have because I liked his compete level. But I played with him and I hated his skating. He hated his skating. But yeah, I have certain things I like. For example, I watched Tyler Bertuzzi a lot his draft year. And the one thing that kept coming back to me was how competitive he was and the hockey sense that he has. He’s always in the right spot. Those are the things that you look for.”

HSJ: Defenseman Rasmus Dahlin is the consensus No. 1 pick in June, but who has impressed you beyond Dahlin?

KD: “Adam Boqvist I saw at the Ivan Hlinka. He is going to be coming over for the Five Nations so I’ll be seeing him play again. And I’m putting a trip together to go to Sweden and scout some players with Haks. I’ve been out east to watch Filip Zadina play in Halifax. Brady Tkachuk, saw him play at World Juniors and at Boston University. Isac Lundestrom, a Swedish centerman that I saw at World Juniors. Evan Bouchard in London. This is a great draft, with a franchise D-man, high-end D and high-scoring wingers.

“I try to look at probably the top 100 eligibles. When it’s all said and done, I want to have seen most of them with multiple viewings. I want to really help our draft in the first three rounds. If it’s a player that I think is going to be important in our draft and if it’s a top-15 pick, I try to see him six-to-eight times. Some players you kind of gravitate to a little bit more just because you watch him and he kind of keeps bringing you back.”

HSJ: How many reports do you write?

KD: “I go to a game, I take notes, I put the notes in our system. I’m not a very good typist but I have to type them. That takes time. I can actually get going a little bit with both hands, and then sometimes I look up and wonder, what did I just write? But I try to challenge myself to do that instead of just using my index fingers.”

HSJ: Is the defense position a priority?

KD: “A major priority. You have Dahlin. You have Boqvist, you have Evan Bouchard playing in London, you have Noah Dobson in Acadie-Bathurst. You have Ty Smith playing out west. There’s a pretty good crew of defensemen that are going to be available in the top 20. But there are good forwards, too — everybody knows what Andrei Svechnikov is doing, everybody knows what Zadina is doing, everybody knows what Tkachuk is doing.

“All our amateur scouts put together their list and then we talk about it. We just did it in Vegas. I thought Tyler did a really good job. Our area scouts were involved. There were a lot of great conversations. There was a lot of great debate about players. We realize how important this draft is. We said that last year, we’re saying it this year, and we’re probably going to say it again next year, about how important these drafts are.”

HSJ: Some people dream about what they’d do if they win the lottery. Do you allow yourself to dream about winning the right to draft Dahlin?

KD: “He’d change us overnight. Obviously you don’t want to put so much pressure on this kid, but when you’re looking at the Auston Matthews and the Connor McDavids — he’s the defenseman of those guys. Some of the stuff he’s been able to do — he’s unbelievable. The interesting thing is, his posture is very similar to Nick Lidstrom — he looks bigger on the ice than off the ice. I see the similarities in that. Now we’re throwing around a name whose jersey is hanging from our rafters, so you have to be very careful with comparisons and expectations, but this kid has an opportunity to be very special and whoever wins the lottery, they’re changing their franchise overnight with this kid.”

HSJ: “You were such a competitive player. Is it tough to want the team to miss the playoffs in order to get into the draft lottery?

KD: “Listen, I know they are going to play hard and do everything they can to make the playoffs. They basically want to screw up our draft. Here we are talking about Rasmus Dahlin, a kid that potentially is going to be a franchise defenseman — they don’t care about that. They want to win. But in the end, for us to get better, we have to draft really well and then we have to find some gems. Dan Cleary is out west right now watching Michael Rasmussen and Dennis Cholowski. Those guys have really made some big strides. We hope they can continue in their development, that they have a big summer. We need to expedite this process. We need to get these kids bigger and faster and stronger, quicker, to come in and start challenging for spots. That’s how you get better. We have to draft well. We have to find players.”

HSJ: “So you’re rooting for them to play well but come up a goal short?

KD: “Ha, I’m not touching that one. I still have friends in that locker room. I know that Henrik Zetterberg is one of the most ultimate competitors that I’ve ever played with. We know what he is going to do. But it’s a tough league.”

HSJ: What do you think of the current team?

KD: “We think Dylan Larkin is going to be an outstanding Red Wing for a long time. In him, Anthony Mantha, Andreas Athanasiou and Tyler Bertuzzi, we feel we have four real good young players. Then we have Cholowski who’s made a big step from last year to this year. Rasmussen, too. They can get here to the NHL faster these days with all the training they have at their disposal, like skating coaches. Then they need the passion, they need to love the game of hockey, and if they have all that, then they can get here faster than what we used to see. But that’s on them to come in and have an opportunity and take it. It starts with development camp, prospect tournament, training camp. We hope Cholowski makes it hard on us. He’s had a really good season in the WHL, and we think that passion that he has is going to give him an opportunity.”

HSJ: You had an incredible career with the Wings — traded for $1 from the Winnipeg Jets in 1993, founding member of the Grind Line, Stanley Cups in 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2008, Selke Trophy in 2004, 1,157 career NHL games. Now you’re helping with the rebuild. What is that like?

KD: “I don’t think there was a more fortunate fourth-line, third-line grinder than myself. I got to play over 1,000 games with unbelievable teammates and friends. But the reason I was able to do what I did for so long is because, and to this day — I love the game of hockey. When I look at these 17-, 18-year old kids, that’s the one thing I want to know — I want players that love the game. I want players that live, eat and sleep hockey. The one guy to me that does it is Dylan Larkin. Can I idolize someone that is 21 years old, is that all right? I love him. He’s that kid. He wants to get better. He cares. Those are intangibles that are off the charts.

“He texted me during the All-Star break and asked" about our "Little Caesars ’02 skating — that’s my son’s team (boys aged 15). I said they’re skating at 7 o’clock. He asked if it was OK if he came out and skated. He goes in and he skates for an hour and 20 minutes. He centered Kienan, my son, and his buddy.

“That’s the stuff we talk about — this kid, Dylan, he wants to be a great hockey player. He wants to be a great Red Wing. And you see that the way he carries himself and you see that the way he loves the game. Those are the players we need to continue to find.”

Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.