Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press does and Q & A with Kris Draper,

HSJ: Defenseman Rasmus Dahlin is the consensus no. 1 pick in June, but who has impressed you beyond Dahlin?

KD: “Adam Boqvist I saw at the Ivan Hlinka. He is going to be coming over for the Five Nations so I’ll be seeing him play again. And I’m putting a trip together to go to Sweden and scout some players with Haks. I’ve been out east to watch Filip Zadina play in Halifax. Brady Tkachuk, saw him play at World Juniors and at Boston University. Isac Lundestrom, a Swedish centerman that I saw at World Juniors. Evan Bouchard in London. This is a great draft, with a franchise d-man, high-end D and high-scoring wingers.

“I try to look at probably the top 100 eligibles. When it’s all said and done, I want to have seen most of them with multiple viewings. I want to really help our draft in the first three rounds. If it’s a player that I think is going to be important in our draft and if it’s a top 15 pick, I try to see him six-to-eight times. Some players you kind of gravitate to a little bit more just because you watch him and he kind of keeps bringing you back.”

HSJ: Some people dream about what they’d do if they win the lottery. Do you allow yourself to dream about winning the right to draft Dahlin?

KD: “He’d change us overnight. Obviously you don’t want to put so much pressure on this kid, but when you’re looking at the Auston Matthews and the Connor McDavids — he’s the defenseman of those guys. Some of the stuff he’s been able to do — he’s unbelievable. The interesting thing is, his posture is very similar to to Nick Lidstrom — he looks bigger on the ice than off the ice. I see the similarities in that. Now we’re throwing around a name whose jersey is hanging from our rafters, so you have to be very careful with comparisons and expectations, but this kid has an opportunity to be very special and whoever wins the lottery, they’re changing their franchise overnight with this kid.”

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