REPORT: Red Wings expected to promote Draper, Wright let go

With every change in general manager, significant changes to the front office are always expected. With the draft and first wave of free agency behind them, it appears the Red Wings have begun to shake things up. Now under Steve Yzerman, the big point of emphasis is on the pro and amateur scouting staffs.

Per Ansar Khan of MLive.com, the Red Wings have let go of Tyler Wright, who served as the director of amateur scouting for six years. Suspicions of this move came a day prior when Wright had been missing from Detroit’s official hockey operations page. Also being released include Jeff Finley and Andrew Dickson, who served as chief amateur scout and amateur scout, respectively.

According to Mark Spector of Sportsnet, Wright will join the scouting staff of Ken Holland’s Edmonton Oilers. Holland hired Wright back in 2013 and the two have worked alongside each other with similar draft philosophies. Both valued hockey IQ and size, most evident by their 2017 draft.

Kris Draper is expected to be promoted and replace Wright as Detroit’s director of amateur scouting. Draper has been seen as a progressive thinker who values more in the attribute the game has been trending towards. The former member of the Grind Line has been in an assistant GM position for the past few years. He is a relativity young executive, so there is some risk and reward to handing him the keys.

This is a fairly significant change and one the Red Wings hope will work out in the long run. Yzerman had a very quiet offseason, signaling the patient approach he is taking to rebuild the team. Keeping Draper, rather than making a splash and finding a new brain trust from out of house clearly speaks to how confident they are in Draper.