DETROIT (AP) -Detroit forward Kris Draper, a winner of three Stanley Cups with the Red Wings, signed a three-year contract extension Friday that averages $1.6 million per season.
The 36-year-old Draper has five goals and an assist through the first 11 games of his 14th season with Detroit.
Draper won the 2004 Selke award as the NHL’s best defensive and represented Canada at the 2006 Winter Olympics.
He began his career with Winnipeg, playing two seasons for the Jets before being dealt to Detroit on June 30, 1993.
“Kris has been such an important part of this organization’s success,” general manager Ken Holland said in a statement. “We are fortunate to have secured a player with his leadership qualities and work ethic for the next three seasons.”
Paired with Kirk Maltby on the Red Wings’ so-called “grind line,” Draper was a checking center for much of his career, but after Sergei Fedorov left in 2003, he stepped in and contributed more offensively.
In seven of his first eight years, he scored eight or fewer goals.
Draper broke through with 15 goals in 2001-02 season. He has proven that his knack for finding the back of the net wasn’t a fluke by scoring double-digit goals the past four seasons.
Draper has 137 goals and 166 assists in 896 career games. He had a career-best season in 2003-2004, scoring 24 goals and 40 points.
Draper became the symbol of Detroit’s rivalry with Colorado when, during the 1996 playoffs, the Avalanche’s Claude Lemieux shoved Draper into the boards, causing a facial injury that required plastic surgery.
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