Kris Draper Pajama Party

Kris Draper was coming off his best season offensively, winning the Selke as best defensive forward and signing a four-year, $11.25 million contract at this time last summer. The deal also included a no-trade clause, which says a lot about Draper's character and stature on the team. He's the arguable replacement for Steve Yzerman as captain, but these days he's just taking in the time off. Other than charity games and playing for the Canada at the world championship in Austria, Draper has taken advantage of his time off to, you'll never guess it...attend a pajama party.

"The quality time I've been able to put in with them is irreplaceable. I jumped into their everyday lives. Usually, they have to jump into my life because I travel so much when I'm playing...I cook meals and do the kids' baths. I got real good at the instant oatmeal for breakfast, and we barbecue all winter so I was able to barbecue, broil up vegetables, make sure everybody was getting healthy meals."

Daughter Kennedi, 5, and son Kienan, 3, feel the same way. When the opportunity came to have a mother-daughter pajama party at school, Kris got the nod:

"They had a mother-daughter pajama party at school. For whatever reason, Kennedi had in her mind she wanted her dad there. I went in my lounging clothes. I was there with her and her whole class and all the moms - the only dad."

But Kris wouldn't want it any other way during the lockout. He had the opportunity to play in Switzerland, but backed out after realizing what he would be leaving behind:

"That's the reason I didn't go over and play in Europe. There's no way I would have been able to leave my wife (Julie) and kids to go over there."

Reacting like everyone in the hockey community to the cancellation, Draper had to get away. Destination: Cancun, Mexico for a 10 day family vacation. But returning home to Detroit brought the reality of the lockout back, to which Draper is rather optimistic:

"I'm going to be excited, relieved, and hopeful that I don't have to go through this again and, for our sport, hopeful that nothing like this has to happen again. There's been a lot of damage to our sport. The players realize we have to build it back up, and we're committed to doing that. We want to start the repair process and get the game back to where it belongs."

And I know, Jacko, you perked up when you heard about a pajama party. Well sorry, you weren't invited...for obvious reasons...