DETROIT - Few teams in NHL history have gotten more for their money than the Detroit Red Wings did when they acquired forward Kris Draper from the Winnipeg Jets in the summer of 1993 for future considerations.

The price turned out to be $1.

Draper played 1,137 regular-season games and 222 in the playoffs for the Red Wings, won four Stanley Cups and one Selke Trophy as the NHL's best defensive forward while being part of Detroit's famous Grind Line along with Kirk Maltby and either Darren McCarty or Joe Kocur.

He was also involved in one of the most infamous moments in Red Wings history, suffering a broken jaw, broken nose, broken cheekbone and concussion when checked into the boards from behind by Claude Lemieux of the Colorado Avalanche in Game 6 of the 1996 Western Conference Finals.

To this day, Lemieux remains one of the biggest villains in Detroit sports history although the incident helped drive the Red Wings toward back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 1997 and '98.

Draper, now 44 and a special assistant to general manager Ken Holland, talked about all that and more recently in a Q&A with MLive.

MLive: You were famously bought by the Red Wings for $1. What did you think when that happened?

Draper: (Laughs). The first time I heard about it was during a playoff game in San Jose in 1994. I actually just finished doing an interview with one of the reporters from San Jose and he caught me at the end of the interview and said "Not bad for a kid that was sold for $1" and walked away. I wasn't quite sure what he meant so I went back and said "Excuse me, sir. Could you please clarify that last statement? I don't know what you mean." And he explained. He goes "You didn't know about the trade?" And that's when I found out I was traded for $1.

MLive: And you gave Mike Ilitch the dollar back. Where did you come up with that idea?

Draper: After we won the Cup in 1997, we had a fan appreciation day and I don't think anyone knew what it was going to be. Next thing you knew we walked in and there were 20,000 people in here. And everyone was going up on stage and you've got to talk about the experience and everything. I don't know, it was just kind of spur of the moment. I said, "You know what? I'm going to pay Mrs. and Mrs. Ilitch back for the big trade that they made" and I gave Mr. Ilitch the dollar.

MLive: What was his reaction?

Draper: He smiled and shook my hand and kept it.

MLive: What went through your mind when you found out you were coming to Detroit? Did you see that as a good break for you?

Draper: I knew I needed a change of scenery for sure. Good break? I don't know if I necessarily looked at it that way. Because of the depth the Detroit Red Wings had at the center ice position - they had Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov, Keith Primeau - I didn't really know where I was going to fit but I knew I was going to get a clean slate, a clean opportunity. I probably had the best summer of my life training. I came into camp in very good shape. I didn't get any exhibition games. I went down and started with the Adirondack Red Wings and Newell Brown was the coach there. I had known Newell from my teenage years. He was at Michigan State and we had some conversations about myself going to Michigan State and I knew Newell so I went down and right away he just gave me a lot of confidence, gave me opportunities to play - 5-on-5, power play, penalty kill - stuff that hadn't happened early in my career.

MLive: What's your best hockey memory? Is there one thing that sticks out?

Draper: Obviously winning the Stanley Cup in 1997.

MLive: Nothing like the first one?

Draper: Yeah, there was a lot of people that I think were starting to question the core group of the Detroit Red Wings and didn't think that we were going to be able to get it done and obviously in 1997 we answered a lot of questions and silenced a lot of critics and won the Stanley Cup in a sweep against the Philadelphia Flyers. It's something that I'll certainly never forget.

MLive: Do you still miss playing?

Draper: I do, yeah. When you look back, I know the time was right when you walk away from the game. To be able to play for almost 18 years and play over 1,000 games in a Red Wings uniform is obviously something I've very proud of. But you kind of always think you have one more year and that's what makes us who we are. We're stubborn. We think we have more in the tank. We think no matter who we are we can find a way to play but I had just turned 40 and I truly believed when I walked away it was the right time. Ken Holland was unbelievable with me. He was straight up, told me if I retired I could walk straight in the front office and work with him. This is my fourth year working in management with Ken.

MLive: Do you have a favorite Grind Line memory?

Draper: Favorite Grind Line memory. Wendel Clark has a line - obviously, when you think of The Grind Line almost think of four of us, with Joe Kocur and Darren McCarty - and Wendel Clark's line was "It always felt like there was four of you on the ice" with the way that we played.

MLive: That's a pretty big compliment.

Draper: Yeah, I thought that was pretty cool coming from a guy like Wendel Clark. But I'd say probably one of my favorite memories of The Grind Line was Scotty Bowman starting us in the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals in Philly, Game 1. You think of the lines we had - Steve Yzerman and Sergei Fedorov - and Scotty opened up the Stanley Cup Finals with us. That was a pretty big compliment and showed a lot of confidence.

MLive: How cool was the Olympic experience in 2006?

Draper: The Olympic experience was fantastic. Unfortunately, it was disappointing not to medal. I think anytime you're representing Canada in an international event the goal is the gold medal. We fell short that year, which really when I look back at my career that's the only thing I didn't win. I'm proud of everything that I won and it would have obviously been something special if I was able to get a gold medal representing my country, Canada, in the Olympics.

MLive: Have you had much contact with Claude Lemieux over the years? Do you talk to him at all?

Draper: I've talked to him once. I talked to him at this past draft. He's an agent. We drafted a player that he represents. That was the extent of the conversations that we had.

MLive: Are there still hard feelings?

Draper: No hard feelings, no. It was a long time ago and I think a lot of what we went through as a team together kind of defined a lot of us. It certainly defined the rivalry that we had. It made for, every time you walked in the rink and it was a Colorado-Detroit game, people were excited to do it. I think from '97 to 2002 it was the most heated and most hated rivalry in all of professional sports and it made for some unbelievable hockey. Very unpredictable. You didn't know what was going to happen. You knew something was going to happen. You didn't know when it was going to happen. The bottom line is you look at those teams and there are guys that continue to go into the Hall of Fame. It was unbelievable hockey at an elite level.

MLive: How much are you looking forward to the Stadium Series alumni game (Feb. 26 vs. the Avalanche)?

Draper: I think it's going to be fantastic. All the local guys, we're going to get some ice here at Joe Louis Arena and start skating and get ready. I played in the alumni game at Comerica Park and that was awesome. I know the guys that played in it are really looking forward to doing it again, playing out in Coors Field. So it's going to be a lot of fun. We're excited as a group to get together again.

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