Winging It In Motown discovered a very interesting caption on a picture of Kris Draper on the Red Wings' official website on Monday. The caption read, "After 1,157 games and four Stanley Cup championships, Kris Draper announced his retirement during a press conference on July 26, 2011."
The picture has since been removed, but it appears the Red Wings are getting ready for an announcement about Draper's retirement. A tweet from Nick Kypreos also suggests this:
Congratulations to Kris Draper who will announce retirement as early as tomorrow. Not bad for guy sold from #Jets to #Redwings for $1
Draper is still in playing shape and hoped to come back for one more season, but with the way the Red Wings' roster is right now, there just simply isn't room for another forward. Unfortunately for Draper that means he doesn't have a spot, so it appears the decision has been made to retire.
When he hangs up his skates, Draper will join Brian Rafalski and Chris Osgood as Red Wings players who retired this offseason.