With training camp right around the corner, NHL players are returning to their home hockey cities and slowly getting back into their usual routines. For Kings winger Adrian Kempe that invovles settling back into his Los Angeles digs after spending two months of summer back in his native Sweden.
However, this week, he made a quick trip to Nevada to hook up with NHL Network Radio, all part of the league’s press tours in advance of the upcoming season. Kempe was one of several dozen players made available during a pair of events in Milan, Italy and Las Vegas. Below are select highlights from his conversation on Tuesday with Sirius XM’s Scott Laughlin, along with The Fourth Period’s Dave Pagnotta and Dennis Bernstein.
After some opening pleasantries, chatting about the excitement of seeing all of his teammates again and getting to know some of the new guys, they jumped right into the deep waters.
On his contract status, and if he has a deadline in mind to get a long-term extension done with the Kings:
I just haven’t thought about it that much, only because we’re not in season. I would like to get it done as soon as possible, but I’m still not in a rush. I don’t want to rush anything. But I also don’t want to come around after Christmas, with the trade deadline starting to come up, and then I’m sitting there not knowing where we’re at or we’re not [close] on the terms of a contract. That, I wouldn’t be looking forward to. So, before Christmas would be great. Before camp would be great.
On if he would be comfortable playing the entire season without a deal getting done:
For me and the team, I don’t think it would be a good thing to do that. For me, I feel like, if I haven’t signed before the deadline, then you don’t know what’s going to happen. I love LA, my family likes it, so that’s the place I want to be. It has to be fair for me, and it has to be fair for the team, to come to an agreement. That’s what we’re working on right now. It’s been a busy couple of weeks, and I said there wasn’t [much of] a rush because we made a lot of moves in the summer. We got a new GM, and there are a lot of new pieces coming into place. So, I feel like those parts were important, and more important earlier on. Then, we’d get to my contract eventually. Hopefully we can come to a good deal for both parties.
On what he did to decompress over the summer:
It was nice. Most people know, we had our daughter right before the playoffs started; so, she’s kind of been the main focus this summer. We were back in Sweden for two months. We have a nice house there and spent most of our time there. We didn’t do too much traveling, just hung out with some friends and family, stuff like that. Most of our focus was on the baby. … The sleep regime is getting better, but it wasn’t the best during the summer. [Thankfully], I didn’t have to wake up super early, I can go work out later or skate later during the day. I definitely took like three weeks completely off after the season, where I didn’t feel like I had to do anything. Kind of just to relax and think about something else for a little bit. Then you’re slowly starting to [get back into it] a little bit. I started skating pretty early with my brother. We just did some small things, not too serious. But I kind of wanted to feel the puck and get a little excited. I like to skate a lot in the summer. I like to work on small details, all that kind of stuff. Overall, it’s been a great summer. It’s been flying by, and we’re already here.
On the Kings roster improvements and playoff expectations:
The bar is always going to be set high, I think. I feel like last year was probably the closest we’ve been to winning. I feel like it was the most comfortable one, where we felt like we were the better team. In previous years, I don’t think we’ve been close enough. Yeah, we lost in Game 7 one year, where I think it was a really tight series that could have gone either way. But last year, I think we really controlled the first four games. We couldn’t close out Game 3 or 4 in Edmonton. That would have been, maybe, a big difference. I don’t know. If you win one up there, you come home with a 3-1 lead. It’s different, because then they’re up against the wall, and stuff like that. But it’s easier said than done. I don’t think we played our best in Game 5 or 6, but I think we played good enough to win that series, for sure. But our goal is also not to just get past Edmonton or get past the first round. We want to go all the way, and we want to know if we’re good enough to do it. Clearly, we haven’t been in the last couple of years because, you know, Edmonton — they haven’t won anything either. There are some other really good teams you have to get passed after that. One team has been far better than a lot of the other teams in the playoffs. And if we’re going to get there, we have to still get better as a team, I feel like.
On his first thought when he learned of the Corey Perry signing in LA:
There were a lot of thoughts going through my mind. There’s always these crazy free agent signings [around the league]. When it happens, and you see that one, you’re like, ‘Damn, that’s crazy!’ — not just we played him in the playoffs the past few years, but he played for the Ducks forever. That’s the biggest rivalry with the Kings. Not just when I was there, but way before me. But he’s an awesome guy, an experienced guy. That’s what we need. I feel like we have some of those guys, but we can just tell. He’s been to the Finals so many times now. It’s good guy to have on the team. I feel like he can play wherever, he can play in the top nine or bottom nine, and he still affects [the game] and does something well out there. It’s been great having him [around] the team so far; I’ve been spending some time with him [lately] and getting to know him a little bit more.
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