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Dylan Larkin really whet the appetites of Detroit Red Wings fans during his rookie season, and Kris Draper, special assistant to general manager Ken Holland, isn’t shy with his praise regarding career projections for the franchise’s young star.

“This guy is special,” began Draper during a Monday afternoon appearance on SiriusXMNHL. “He’s going to get bigger and stronger. He’s an absolute rink rat. He loves being in the rink. He loves being in the gym. Obviously had an outstanding first season and especially had an outstanding first half of the season.

“I think he can be an impact player for 15 years. Just the way he carries himself on and off the ice. He’s just one of those special players. People gravitate to him. Players gravitate to him.

“At 19 years old, we honestly – he came in and made the Detroit Red Wings hockey team. That’s how good he was at training camp. Henrik Zetterberg basically wanted him on his line right after probably a preseason game. You just saw some special things in what Dylan Larkin can do.

“We know we have something special. You don’t want to put extreme expectations on him. He is only 20 years old. But the way that he handles himself and the way that he prepares himself, we feel we have a special player there. I don’t want to compare him to other players throughout the league, but I think Dylan Larkin has an opportunity to be a special hockey player and be a Detroit Red Wing for a long, long time.

“We needed that. We needed someone to come in. He was our draft pick, and we needed someone to come in and be better than what we thought, and that’s exactly what Dylan Larkin did for us. Obviously a huge part of why we were able to make the playoffs with the season he had, especially the start of the season he had.”

Draper doesn’t need to make comparisons of Larkin with other players around the league, but well-respected TSN hockey Insider Bob McKenzie drew a highly-complimentary parallel early in the season while discussing the Red Wings.

“They won’t come out and say it publicly, but they think he’s got a chance to be a special player,” said McKenzie during late-October radio hit on Toronto’s TSN 1050. “Somebody who really has unbelievable leadership qualities.

“The unspoken thing in Detroit is that he might – and I say might because it’s too big a mantle to throw on anybody – but maybe he becomes Detroit’s Jonathan Toews. A guy who has character and intangibles to go with the tangibles, which is tremendous speed, tremendous skill. Just sort of an attitude and presence about him. I think that’s the first thing that a lot of veteran Red Wings noticed, was that this teenage kid is unlike any other teenage kid they’ve had come in Detroit for a long, long time.

“He’s got that special something and it’s hard sometimes to put into words what that special something is, but you know when someone’s got it. The Blackhawks knew when Toews came up that he had it, and the feeling in Detroit is that Larkin is cut from the same sort of cloth.”

Draper, incidentally, was asked about the Red Wings’ pipeline, and on which kids he’s excited about seeing this fall at training camp.

“The three guys I’d probably say are Anthony Mantha, Andreas Athanasiou, and Tyler Bertuzzi. I think those three guys are going to give a good push,” answered Draper.

“Tyler Bertuzzi – he’s a gamer. He’s a greasy player. He’s hard on pucks. He’s very good defensively. He has a good stick. He had another great playoff. It just seems as the games get bigger, it just seems like Tyler Bertuzzi plays better.

“Athanasiou had a taste last year. He scored some highlight-reel goals. Skating-wise, phenomenal. You talk about Dylan Larkin and the speed that he has, well AA is right there in the mix as well. So that’s exciting.

“Anthony Mantha, we actually talked about it a couple of weeks ago. His first NHL game in Philadelphia, we were excited with the way that he played. He was competing. He was on pucks. He was shooting it. He was getting scoring chances. I mean, he’s a big, strong kid.

“So I think those three guys – we’re hoping they come in, have an outstanding training camp and make it real tough on us to send them anywhere but the Detroit Red Wings.

“Those, I would say, would be the three guys. Mantha and Athanasiou, who played in the NHL last year, and we saw some things we really liked about them. Tyler bertuzzi, like I said, in the playoffs down in Grand Rapids he was really good again. He was at our development camp. He’s just really matured. He’s going to be a good pro. We feel we have something there as well.

“So I would say those three guys are someone we’re looking forward to at training camp, and we’re expecting a good training camp and a good preseason for those guys.”

Source: SiriusXMNHL/ Transcript: Nichols