Red Wings' Drake retires from NHL

BY DENNIS CHASE
dchase@record-eagle.com

July 16, 2008 12:00 am

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TRAVERSE CITY -- Dallas Drake picked up the Stanley Cup on Tuesday morning, then officially announced his retirement in the afternoon.

The Detroit Red Wings forward made his intentions public -- from his parents' farm in Rossland, British Columbia -- after fulfilling his dream by raising the Stanley Cup last month for the first time in a 16-year National Hockey League career.

"That was pretty much the clincher for me," Drake said. "If we hadn't won this year, and I would have been given the opportunity to come back to Detroit. I probably would have played another year to try to win it."

Drake, his wife Amy, and their four children reside in the Traverse City area. The family stayed here during the season while Drake played his final season for the organization that originally drafted him.

"It was a long year (away from his family) and it's been a long career," Drake said. "My mind says play, my body says stop.

"I couldn't think of a better way to end it, though. I ended on a dream note, playing for the organization I started with -- the best organization in the NHL -- and winning the Stanley Cup. It was a dream come true season. There's absolutely no better way to end it than by getting my name engraved on it (Cup). This was the crowning achievement of my hockey career."

The 39-year-old Drake, who signed with the Red Wings last summer as a free agent, informed General Manager Ken Holland after the finals that he was leaning towards retiring.

"I told him to take some time," Holland said by phone from western Canada. "I called him about a week before July 1, the start of free agency, and he told me he was pretty well set that he was going to retire. He called me late last week to say he was ready to make it official.

"He had a tremendous career. What a way to finish it out by holding the Stanley Cup over his head."

Drake was a sixth-round pick in 1989. After playing at Northern Michigan University -- and winning a national championship -- he began his career in Detroit in 1992. The Red Wings traded Drake to Winnipeg in 1994 and he later played in Phoenix and St. Louis before returning to Detroit last July.

Drake finished with 177 goals, 300 assists and 885 penalty minutes in 1,009 regular-season games. He had 14 goals, 19 assists and 79 penalty minutes in 90 playoff contests.

"I played over 1,000 games -- that's a lot longer than I ever thought I would play," Drake said. "I'm very grateful for that opportunity. Hockey's given me everything in life. I met my wife through hockey. I'll cherish that forever.

"You can only play so long. It's a young man's game. I'm looking forward to taking the next step in my life and being with my family a lot more."

Holland said Drake was instrumental in Detroit's success this past season.

"He'll be remembered as a tremendous competitor; a leader; a team player; a gritty player, who would go into all the hard areas," Holland said. "Those were valuable ingredients in helping us win the Stanley Cup.

And they were the ingredients Holland was looking for after the Red Wings lost to Anaheim in the Western Conference finals in 2007.

"In assessing our team, after we lost to Anaheim, we liked a lot about our team, but we thought we needed experience and we needed to get a little bit grittier," Holland said. "I got a call from Tom Laidlaw, Dallas' agent, as we got into free agency last year. He said Dallas was interested in coming back for one more year at least. Would we be interested?

"I thought he would be the perfect fit. We knew him. We drafted him. I tried to sign him on two other occasions. Both times he signed with St. Louis. I guess the third time was the charm. We finally got Dallas to be a Red Wing. He brought the ingredients we expected him to bring. We felt we needed to get grittier on our third and fourth lines. We needed to get more physical.

"I thought in the playoffs he was a real valuable guy for us. Mike Babcock liked to get Dallas out a lot (on the ice) early in the first period, especially in the first 10 to 12 minutes because Dallas really provided a physical presence and laid out some big body checks. He would get the team and the fans emotionally into the game. He was an important guy for us."

One, Holland said, who will be hard to replace.

Holland's extended contract offers to Darren McCarty and Aaron Downey -- players who bring toughness to the lineup -- but both are "exploring their options."

Tomas Kopecky, who was injured for part of the season, and Darren Helm could also gain ice time.

"We're hoping Kopecky can step up and lay some body checks," Holland said, "and that Darren Helm can provide some energy."

Although he's retiring from professional hockey, Drake still plans to spend a lot of time at the ice rink, coaching his daughter's squirt AA hockey team and helping out with his oldest son's team.

"I'm going to dive head first into the hockey association in Traverse City and help anyway I can," he said. "That's my goal for the next year. I really enjoy working with kids Whatever they need me do, I'll try to do it."

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