Path To The Throne – Adrian Kempe

It would seem the die was cast right from the beginning for Adrian Kempe.

An older brother who was a standout player that ultimately made his way to the NHL and then a long professional career in Europe.

A father who was a coach and instructor to some of the greatest Swedish hockey players of all-time and who still runs a highly regarded skills program in Sweden.

A hockey life seemed assured.

But one never knows, right?

It’s not always the environment in which a young athlete learns and grows but what beats in the heart of that athlete that dictates the path to be followed.

And so it was that one night Adrian’s father, Michael, got a call from the caretaker at the local rink.

“Adrian was the guy who was learning on the side, looking at the things, he didn’t say that much,” Michael Kempe recalled. “But there was a time when I think he was 10 or 11, something like that, when the caretaker at the rink, he called me and said that Adrian was on the ice the whole day and doing drills for himself. I was like, oh no, the coin dropped down.”

It’s always a fine line with fathers who are coaches. To coach is not necessarily to parent and parenting is different than coaching.

Likewise, for the sons and daughters of coaches, the line that separates son or daughter from student or player can be a fine one.

Kempe didn’t know anything different as a rising young talent. It was so for older brother, Mario, who is eight years Adrian’s senior.

“There’s a difference between ‘have to’ or ‘want to’, I always told them and I never told them you have to do things like that,” Michael Kempe recalled. “I always tell them if you don’t want it, don’t do it. That’s why I have my company called Inspiration. Because to be motivated and inspired and focus on what you want to do is a big difference. Play hockey because you love the game, not to be somebody.”

If Kempe’s memory of those early days is slightly different, well, so be it. That is often the way of sons and daughters and their parents.

“We obviously spent a lot of time on the ice by myself with him working on stuff, but, yeah, he was definitely hard on me,” Kempe recalled.

Having watched his father and Mario, who is currently playing in the Finnish Elite League, work together, Adrian had an inkling of what playing for his father was going to be like even if the age difference made, he and Mario less pals and more role model and acolyte.

“I kind of saw and [my father] told me he was always hard on my brother as well. So, I knew that was going to be the case, but for the good, obviously my brother turned out being a good hockey player,” Kempe said. “So, obviously there was a lot of work, a lot of tears, a lot of growing up, especially when I was younger, but I’m very thankful for everything he did for me when I was younger.”

Shot through the lens of how Kempe’s career has unfolded, how he stands on the precipice of international stardom – if he hasn’t already crossed that threshold – those days long ago take on a different tenor for the entire family.

“I’m feeling proud,” said Michael Kempe. “The other thing is that I told them if you do one thing for real and do it 100 percent, I know you will be successful in it. Even if you’re not going to become the best player, you’re going to become something good in your profession anyhow. So that’s the main thing we were speaking about every day. You’re not going to become professional. You are professional from the beginning. So that’s what I told my sons. It’s how you’re eating your breakfast, how you’re preparing yourself for the school.

“Play the hockey because you love it. Not because you’re here (in the NHL). And that’s an extra bonus,” he added. “I can start crying if I’m thinking too much about it too much.”

For Kempe, that pride expressed by his father is returned in equal measure to the man who taught him so much.

“I know that he’s proud and I’m really proud of him and all the work he did for me and my brother,” Adrian Kempe said. “You know, he put so many hours into us when we were younger, just so we could be here one day.”

Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images

In June of 2014, a few weeks after the LA Kings secured their second Stanley Cup in three years the team selected Kempe with the 29th pick in the draft.

The following spring, after a second season with MoDo of the Swedish elite league, Kempe made himself known to Kings fans for the first time.

He played three regular season games for the Manchester Monarchs who were playing their last season as the Kings’ American Hockey League affiliate in Manchester before the team relocated to Ontario, California.

Kempe had zero points in those three games before exploding during the playoffs, scoring eight times in 17 post-season games as the Monarchs won the Calder Cup as the top AHL team.

His blazing speed, laser shot and penchant for scoring big goals led to Kempe’s long-standing nickname – ‘Juice’.

“Everybody was, ‘oh he’s so juicy, he’s juicy,’” recalled Kempe’s first North American roommate Paul Bissonnette. “It probably made him feel at home pretty quick.”

Bissonnette has become a household name in the hockey world through his social media presence and more recently as one of the key figures on Turner Broadcasting’s national broadcasts of NHL games in the United States.

Talk about a crash course in North American hockey culture, both on and off the ice.

“I did a lot of the talking and I don’t think he did a lot of the understanding,” Bissonnette said with a laugh. “Probably it was just my jokes or my humor but he was always nodding and being a good, young guy as you’d expect.”

It didn’t take long for Kempe to understand he was in a brave new world living and playing with Bissonnette and the rest of the talented Monarchs squad.

“He was great, he really took care of me,” Kempe said. “He played NHL so he knew what it was like so he would teach me a lot of things. Just how it was to be there and being in the locker room and all that kind of stuff. I had a great time. There was a lot of laughs and a lot of things I didn’t understand but somehow it was still funny.”

One thing Kempe did understand was how curious Bissonnette and the rest of his North American teammates were about his under-sized shin guards.

“Yeah, they were really small and that was kind of the European thing,” Kempe explained. “Everybody wanted to have the same style. We all wanted to have small shin pads. Then I got there and everybody was all over me.”

Bissonnette said the protective gear more closely resembled soccer shin guards. Or chopsticks. And Kempe’s teammates did not rest until Kempe secured bigger, dare we say, more normal shin guards.

“So, I had to switch to bigger shin pads. I’ve never switched back since. I remember still he (Bissonnette) was chirping me a lot for those tiny shin pads,” Kempe said.

It’s a bit of a mug’s game, talking about players who are underappreciated or underrated.

Who is doing the rating? Who is watching closely? Or not watching at all?

The fact that Kempe’s evolution didn’t necessarily follow a straight line may have something to do with that narrative that Kempe remains somewhat of an unknown quantity to the broader hockey world.

He didn’t explode on the NHL scene but rather snuck in the back door.

After a blazing start to his North American pro career that ended with a Calder Cup championship Kempe spent two seasons in Ontario. During that second full AHL season, 2016-17, he got in 25 games with the Kings scoring just twice and adding four assists.

“I felt like I did everything right,” Kempe said. “Maybe didn’t produce as much as I wanted to, but I always felt like I was still doing the right things, doing everything because I wanted to play in the NHL. All I remember was that I was just hoping to get a call up and prove myself.”

Coaches and teammates from those early days in North America praised Kempe’s determination. He did not complain. He did not think about going back to Sweden.

“I only had one goal and that was to make this team. I was going to do whatever it takes. I feel like I’m a better NHL player than I was an AHL player,” Kempe added.

Part of the issue with Kempe’s development might have been coaches weren’t quite sure what to do with him.

“We were trying to figure out where he fit,” said Chris Hajt who was part of the coaching staff in Manchester and has continued to help groom Kings prospects in Ontario since the team’s move west. “The skill was always there. You could tell right away. The moment he stepped on the ice, the way he moved, his skating his skill, guys wanted him on their line. Guys could tell right away.”

Mike Stothers coached Kempe in Manchester and Ontario and compares Kempe to another elite winger, Mikko Rantanen of Carolina whose trip to stardom included time in the AHL.

“Adrian was too good for the American Hockey League, he was effortless going around the ice,” said Stothers who has been coaching in the minor pros, major junior and NHL since the early 1990s including six seasons with the Kings organization. “I was just in awe of how well he could skate, how efficient he was.”

The Kings are a team whose identity is rooted in patient nurturing of prospects.

“That’s how the Kings develop,” Bissonnette said. “But Adrian never complained. He never became a distraction. He worked hard and battled through. I have nothing but positive things to say about him. ”

If there are some who consider Kempe under the radar or underappreciated Bissonnette isn’t one of them.

“He has everything. He always seems to make the right decision,” Bissonnette said. “I think he’s an automatic 35 (goals) and 35 (assists) guy every year. I just love watching him.”

If we were focused only on Kempe’s emergence as an elite point-producer – 119 points in his last 128 NHL games through the first week of February and 93 goals in his last 210 games – that would still be a compelling story. But Kempe has become so much more for the Kings from high end defensive forward to mentor.

The @LAKings win it in OT with this @adriankempe goal! 🧃 #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/FlvRqbv2ue

— NHL (@NHL) May 11, 2022

Former King and current San Jose forward Carl Grundstrom has known Kempe and the Kempe family since he was in high school. They played together as juniors and Grundstrom worked out in the off-season with Kempe and Mario.

“They’re a great family,” Grundstrom said.

When he was first called up to the NHL from the AHL, Grundstrom played on a line with Kempe which was a thrill for Grundstrom. But more importantly Kempe acted as a mentor in helping Grundstrom, a year younger, adjust to life in the NHL.

“He helped me a lot to get into the team,” Grundstrom said. “He just talked to me, asked if I needed anything. He helped out a lot. It was great to have another Swede to talk to. He’s pretty relaxed and chill. It’s always easy to hang out with him.”

Stothers has been especially impressed with Kempe’s on-ice demeanor, his quiet toughness.

“I just think there’s a quiet confidence about Adrian,” Stothers said. “He’s very much a team guy. He just goes about his business. He’s not easily distracted by outside noise or what’s going on away from the rink. He’s very dialed in. I kind of like when a guy has and shows a little bit of a swagger. And then backs it up.”

If Kempe was playing in a bigger market in the east, or in Canada?

“Everybody would be talking about this guy,” Stothers said. “Now I think you’re seeing that guy that’s just consistent from Game 1 to Game 48 to Game 82 and then into the playoffs,” Stothers said. “There’s not that up and down to his game.”

No one has the kind of perspective on Kempe’s evolution than LA Kings captain Anze Kopitar.

The two have played together most of the last four or five seasons so Kopitar sees things that the casual fan – and certainly the casual fan and/or hockey observer who doesn’t stay up late watching west coast games – sees.

“For me, the most impressive part is he’s a 40-goal scorer, and he plays the game the right way. He does not cheat for offense. He’s on the ice in every situation, whether that’s 5-on-4, 5-on-3, penalty kill, 5-on-6. We use him in every situation possible and you can rely on him,” Kopitar explained.

When you play with one of the greatest two-way forwards to ever play the game, it’s understandable that some of that rubs off on you. It has certainly been so for Kempe playing alongside Kopitar who has built a Hall of Fame career that includes two Stanley Cup rings.

“I think it took him a couple years to find his place in Los Angeles but ever since he got comfortable and evolved and figured it out, he’s been a dominant player, and I think a complete player,” Kopitar said.

What’s it like to play alongside Kempe?

“I think the one word that comes to mind is very easy for me, because obviously he is such a great player, but he’s very reliable and very predictable, which makes it playing with him a lot easier,” Kopitar said.

In the coming days Kempe will join the best players from the top hockey nations in the world for the inaugural 4 Nations Face-Off and perhaps the idea that Kempe plays behind the curtain of anonymity will be shattered when the greater hockey world sees what the Kings and Kings fans have come to know and expect from their star winger.

“I don’t mind it actually. I think sometimes I play better when people are not just talking about you or the team all the time. You can just focus on your game,” Kempe said. “You’re kind of more relaxed in the scenario. So, I think, to be honest, I kind of like not having as much attention as maybe we should get. But it’s nice to be able to focus on the game and not have to worry about everything outside.”

But those feelings are juxtaposed against the rare opportunity to play with the best players from your country against the best players from the top hockey nations in the world. That is not nothing.

“It’s going to be great, obviously,” Kempe said. “For me, I’m excited to be on the team. It’s going to be a lot of fun. This is the first time I’ve ever been a part of something where it’s best versus best. It’s going to be interesting to be a part of it. Interesting to see what team can do it the best. It’s a lot of stars. It’s going to be very interesting.”

“It’s just a bonus that you’re being named to that team and you can go out there and prove yourself to the rest of the world. For me right now, I’m just really excited for it,” Kempe added.

What does Michael Kempe think about all of this? After all, fathers most often know best.

“It’s a learning experience,” he said. “It’s important. It’s important. I think this is so important for him.”

Photo by Jari Pestelacci/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images