Following Friday night’s Ontario Reign home opener, Kings top prospect Adrian Kempe spoke one-on-one with MayorsManor about a variety of topics – including moving to SoCal, one of his new AHL teammates, and how he’s still working to improve his own game. Take a look…
On his speed:
“That’s one of my biggest strengths and I try to use that every time. Of course, that’s the thing I want to get better on too. I know I’m fast and I want to be even faster. I know that’s a thing I can use in this league too, in a small rink.”
On how he can become faster:
“Work in the gym, get stronger in my legs and try to be more explosive so I can stay out there longer and when I’m tired, still keep going a couple more strides.”
On not playing on a line with Valentin Zykov very much thus far, after that looked to be the plan coming into the season:
“I don’t know. He’s a good guy, good player. We play well with each other. He’s been great so far, so I don’t know. I think we both can play with any player. So I don’t know why [coach] doesn’t play us together. It doesn’t matter, though, I’m just glad to play.”
[Note: When asked the same question, Zykov quipped, “You’ll have to ask the coach about that one. I just do my thing.” – followed by a little chuckle.]
On if he and Zykov are competitive with each other:
“Yeah, of course. We’re almost the same age so we compete with each other. I’m on the left side, he’s on the right side. Of course we are competing against each other every day and in the games too. I was glad to see him get two goals [in the home opener]; he was amazing.”
On any differences between the home opener in Ontario compared to playing the Condors in Bakersfield recently:
“Yeah, it was different. I think our start wasn’t as good as when we were in Bakersfield, they got a couple of goals on us. In the second period we came back and we had a helluva period there, when we got four goals in a couple of minutes. It was a really good second period from our side. Then in the third period we shut it down, so I’m glad for our win tonight.”
On any differences he’s discovered so far between playing in Manchester versus Ontario:
“They’re both really good cities. I like Manch and I like it here. It’s really close to LA and you get to see the big team too. It’s probably better here and I like it more here.”
On if he is experiencing any culture shock:
“I think I’m [dealing with] that pretty well. It’s a little bit different back in Sweden than Manch. I kind of like it here, though, I like it way better.”
RELATED CONTENT:
LA Kings 2015-16 Early Season Prospect Rankings
Coming to America, Eventually – Kempe feature story for LAKings.com
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About John Hoven
Hope Kempe plays better tonight. His giveaway led to the first Condor’s goal, and he failed to cover his man on the last Condor goal, both could have been prevented. Last night was the best I have seen Zykov play. Getting open in the slot. What a concept! Very nice plays by Crescenzi and Dowd that led to Zykov’s goals.