Kris Draper was a key part of the Detroit Red Wings’ glorious team that won four Stanley Cups between 1997 and 2008. But even highly appreciated players get yelled at sometimes. Take, for example, the time Scotty Bowman called Draper into his office before a season and explained how Draper had ruined Bowman’s entire summer.
Scotty Bowman is widely considered the best coach in NHL history, and his record certainly backs it up. As a head coach, Bowman won nine Stanley Cups—five with the Montreal Canadiens, one with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and three with the Detroit Red Wings. As a coach, Bowman never missed a detail, something Kris Draper learned the hard way.
Star studded roster
During Bowman’s years with the Red Wings, the roster was packed with huge stars like Brett Hull, Nicklas Lidström, Sergei Fedorov, Steve Yzerman, Brendan Shanahan—and Kris Draper.
Draper never led the league in scoring, but he was a pest to play against, and his work as a defensive forward earned him the Selke Trophy in 2003–2004. Needless to say, Draper was just as important to the Red Wings’ success as the other stars on the team.
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Kris Draper called into Bowman’s office
But no matter how good or popular you are, you can still find yourself in the coach’s office, getting an earful. Speaking on the Ozzy and Keats podcast, Kris Draper recalled one time when he was about to start a new season after a disappointing previous year:
“It was day one of the regular season. Scotty comes into the dressing room, talking about last season and how we now get a fresh start. Soon enough, Tim Abbott, our trainer, comes in and says, ‘Draper, Maltby, Scotty wants to see you in his office,’” Draper said.
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“We go in, he’s just kind of sitting there. He tells us to sit down. And he goes, ‘How was your summer?’ I said it was a disappointing end to last season, but I had trained hard and was looking forward to getting started. Maltby said he felt the same way. Then Scotty says, ‘Well, I’m glad you had a good summer—you two ruined my summer! I thought about it every single day! You remember the Andreychuk goal?’”
The goal in question was one where Bowman felt both Draper and Maltby hadn’t done their jobs correctly.
“We were like, ‘Sorry, Scotty, we’ll be better,’ but at the same time, I was thinking, ‘So much for that fresh start,’” Draper recalls.
You can watch the clip below.
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