Shifty, playmaking Weal ready for NHL debut

It was 100 degrees in downtown Los Angeles at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, which provided a bit of a contrast from Jordan Weal’s junior hockey days, when he was a teammate of Jordan Eberle and Colton Teubert’s with the Western Hockey League’s Regina Pats.

Situated on a southern Saskatchewan plain, Regina provided a polar – almost literally! – opposite of the climate in his new home.

“Oh my God. It’s just night and day,” Weal said. “It’s so cold there, so cold, and here it’s so warm.”

Hailing from the damper surroundings of North Vancouver, Weal greatly admired one local product as well as a BC-born but Ontario-raised player that appeared on opposite sides of a scintillating rivalry.

“It was Joe Sakic,” Weal said of his favorite player growing up. “He was a big one, a Vancouver guy, too. Burnaby Joe. Him and Stevie Y, there were so many guys when we were growing up that were just great players, Hall-of-Famers. It was great for us to watch those guys and learn from them.”

So maybe it’s not a coincidence that Weal, like two of his idols, wears #19.

He was never a captain like Sakic or Yzerman, but he did put up 385 points in 282 WHL games before applying his skill and creativity to the American Hockey League level, where he posted 172 points over three seasons and was named the Calder Cup MVP after Manchester’s 19-game romp through the playoffs.

Undersized at 5-foot-10 and 179 pounds but appreciated for his attention to detail and strong practice habits, Weal is expected to make his debut tonight when the Kings play host to the Arizona Coyotes (7:30 p.m. / FOX Sports West / KABC 790 / I Heart Radio). Several family members and close friends are expected to make the trip south from Vancouver, and after he skated Friday morning, he spoke to reporters about his impending debut.

On making his NHL debut:
It’s really exciting. A lot of work has gone into getting to this part of my career, and the hard work’s just going to continue. It’s going to keep going, and I’m trying to do as much as I can in this game and keep improving from this game moving forward in trying to solidify a solid spot in the lineup.

On whether it was difficult last season to not get a game in at the NHL level:
Not really. With the group we had, we were having so much fun down there playing hockey and winning, and doing what we were able to do was a lot of fun. When you’re having fun, when you come to the rink every day, you’re not really worrying about the other stuff. You’re just worries about those 22 guys in the room. There’s the same kind of culture in here. Guys love coming to the rink, working hard. Hopefully we can have a good effort tonight and get a win.

On not playing in the final game of the season last year after getting called up:
Yeah, it was different, but the decisions were made, and I didn’t end up getting in, but I got to see my family, got to get up here, experience the room, the group. It was a good experience. I got a little rest from the three-in-threes down in the AHL and kind of rested up for the playoffs there, and I think it definitely helped me.

On his goal coming into training camp:
Do what I can do. Be comfortable out there, make plays and play the way I know I can play. I think I’ve done that. Just got to keep working hard and getting better every day. That’s really what I try and tell myself and what I try and do.

On where he has grown since his first development camp:
Everywhere. That’s my kind of thing – you get better at certain things, but try and get better at every part of your game together so you become a more complete, dynamic player. When you do that, you’re going to set yourself up for more opportunities. Not just one line here, one position there. When you improve all assets of your game, I think you can give yourself a lot of room to play.

On whether he noticed the level of competition escalating in the preseason:
Yeah, you definitely notice that a little bit. It’s definitely a progression, but it should be a lot of fuin tonight, and the crowd’s going to be going. A lot of excitement, so we’ve just got to get to our game, and I think we’ll be all right.

On who he scored on in his hockey fantasies growing up:
Oh, there were a lot of different ones growing up, but hopefully we can keep playing well and turn this ship around here and play the way we know we can play.

Rules for Blog Commenting

  • No profanity, slurs or other offensive language. Replacing letters with symbols does not turn expletives into non-expletives.
  • Personal attacks against other blog commenters, and/or blatant attempts to antagonize other comments, are not tolerated. Respectful disagreement is encouraged. Posts that continually express the same singular opinion will be deleted.
  • Comments that incite political, religious or similar debates will be deleted.
  • Please do not discuss, or post links to websites that illegally stream NHL games.
  • Posting under multiple user names is not allowed. Do not type in all caps. All violations are subject to comment deletion and/or banning of commenters, per the discretion of the blog administrator.

Repeated violations of the blog rules will result in site bans, commensurate with the nature and number of offenses.

Please flag any comments that violate the site rules for moderation. For immediate problems regarding problematic posts, please email zdooley@lakings.com.