2024-25 Season Spotlight: Adrian Kempe

Anze's right-hand man

Credit: NHL.com

Los Angeles Kings captain and future Hall of Famer Anze Kopitar is aging as gracefully as a 37-year-old two-way center can (39 points in 37 games). His commitment to fitness as well as the details of the game deserves a ton of praise.

Another vital ingredient in his longevity? Adrian Kempe.

While it’s taken the 2014 first-rounder a minute to fulfill his potential, he’s blossomed into a terrific all-around RW1. Here’s how.

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Link-Up Play

If Kempe has a reputation among hockey fans, it’s that of a trigger-happy speed demon. There’s a reason for that. When you let him build momentum, he’s a scary dude:

The Swede’s top speed ranks in the 96th percentile among forwards. Unlike the clip above might suggest, though, defenses are aware of his home run threat and seldom grant him the space to launch solo missions. As such, his contributions are generally quieter than you’d expect.

You could still argue that his finest moments occur in the NZ. Why? Let’s begin with Kopitar. As effective as the pivot remains this deep into his career, he’s no longer a coast-to-coast zone entry machine. The league has gotten faster, whereas he’s gotten slower. In order to work his “give me the puck and get out of my way” magic, he requires a head start and a shorter track.

Kempe can provide that service from his position on the right flank. He shows soft touch when chipping pucks off the wall and onto his teammates’ sticks. More importantly, his questionable decision-making in the OZ (e.g. hopeless seam passes) isn’t as much of an issue in neutral ice.

He thrives with more daylight in front of him, parsing through the traffic to locate the path of least resistance (LA 9):

Since any team would benefit from forehand passing angles into the heart of the rink, off-wing link-up artists are becoming increasingly common. Kempe stands out from the crowd as a dual threat of sorts in transition. He’s a capable distributor as well as a torrid—if fairly basic—puck-carrier.

Rather than flying around the ice nonstop, he’s a selective burner, gliding in the shadows for most of his shifts until the team is primed for takeoff. Even on shorter curling/slashing routes, his stride features such fluidity and range that he can zip past defenders without breaking a sweat. In a nutshell, he possesses a nose for open ice and the timing to capitalize on it.

Here’s an example of how he shakes himself free:

On a NZ reset, Kempe and Kopitar (LA 11) play a two-man game. The winger dishes to his center early to build speed off the puck and force Anders Lee (NYI 27) and Kyle Palmieri (NYI 21) into an uncomfortable choice. With L.A.’s captain swinging into middle ice, they’re both tempted to attack the puck, which enables Kempe to slingshot past them for a controlled entry.

With that said, his orchestration of the Kings’ breakout often doesn’t involve a tailwind of his own. He’s an underrated stationary passer on the high wall in the DZ, where he displays a sharp internal clock in addition to a feel for central targets.

The team can thus flip from defense to offense in a flash:

Beyond that clean first touch, Kempe boasts the split-second recognition to manufacture chances out of mundane scenarios. One quick connection, and his club’s possession might snowball into a scoring opportunity.

Consider this sequence vs. the Rangers:

Off a lob, he’s surrounded by backcheckers but shows nifty hand-eye coordination to juggle the biscuit into the OZ. Then his internal clock strikes once more, as he senses that he’s bought enough time for the lobber (Alex Turcotte, LA 15) to become a viable weak-side trailer. Kopitar takes care of the rest with a gorgeous no-look feed.

For all the talk about Kempe’s finish, he might be an even better facilitator. We saw that one year ago when his goal tally dropped from 41 to 28, yet his overall impact didn’t suffer.

Pacing for 40 markers this season, he remains a NZ catalyst for the Kings. His wheels back defenders off the blue line and can turn routine touches into blistering fast breaks. Meanwhile, his cagey passing blesses Kopitar with a consistent head of steam. Once the big Slovenian enters the OZ, he’s proving that there’s plenty of juice left in the tank.

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Defense

In the DZ, L.A.’s man-to-man scheme persists under new head coach Jim Hiller. That plays to Kempe’s strengths, as instead of having to scan the ice and size up multiple threats, he can hone in on his mark. Thanks to his skating and reach, the 28-year-old has developed a habit of troubling point men and high forwards.

His discipline is impressive too. He seldom dips his toes into a teammate’s assignment, which prevents the danger from escalating. Watch a few Kings games, and you’ll spot how frequently he frustrates puck-carriers who are begging for him to reach over and vacate the weak side/back door. You might enjoy a decent shot or two when he’s out there, but his restraint holds the damage to a minimum:

Though Kempe is a solid player in the DZ, he’s at his most disruptive in the NZ. The squad’s shift from an ultra-passive 1-3-1 to a 1-2-2 has called extra attention to this quality.

With his speed, 6’2”, 200-pound frame and a greater emphasis on puck pursuit, he can close gaps in a millisecond—whether that translates to breathing down a puck-carrier’s neck on the backcheck or slamming a seemingly viable window shut at the 11th hour. He has a talent for derailing offenses before they can find their legs.

I mean, look at the velocity with which he attacks Kirill Kaprizov (MIN 97):

After starting his chase deeper in the OZ than everyone on the ice, he hits the NOS to beat FIVE players back to the DZ blue line. Is Kaprizov’s straight-line skating elite? No, but he would hold off most backcheckers under these circumstances. Kempe is a whole different animal.

Here’s another clip of the winger cordoning off ice that the opposition believed was available:

Weak-side activation is now a staple in transition. If a D-man has a step on their forward, they’re asked to press up and offer the passer an additional outlet. With Kempe near the strong-side faceoff dot, Cam York (PHI 8) feels as though he has the green light. Unfortunately, by the time Travis Konecny (PHI 11) spots him in his progression, Kempe has already smothered the lane. This causes the Flyers forward to double-clutch and ultimately cough up possession.

Kempe’s defense slips under the radar because it isn’t necessarily a stick-on-puck exhibition. He’s just always…there. Keeping a lid on the opposition’s pace. Occupying the real estate you want to exploit.

Watch him do just that vs. Connor McDavid (EDM 97):

While an OZ blue line turnover should lead to an automatic opportunity for the best player in the world, Kempe cleans up Turcotte’s mess. First, he swiftly contests McDavid’s pickup and twists his arm into a short-area exchange with Zach Hyman (EDM 18). Then he wrestles the inside track away (notice the angling and battle for shoulder position), removing the Oilers’ captain from the equation.

Give-and-go denied.

Such efforts won’t litter the stat sheet, but they’re a huge part of his defense. When paired with his link-up play and marksmanship, that quiet reliability has delivered superb results:

Don’t confuse Kempe for a shutdown artist. As a winger, he’s rarely tasked with shadowing the opposition’s top dogs. That’s the nature of the position. His three-zone play does, however, help L.A.’s first line win its matchups against those very same stars:

Credit: PuckIQ

This year, he happens to be doing so at the league’s highest rate.

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Patience has paid off in a major way for the Kings. In his ninth pro campaign, Kempe has emerged as a PPG-ish (36 points in 37 games) speedster who can hang in all situations.

He’s simply the perfect foil for Kopitar. He’s also quite possibly his equal.