30. New Jersey Devils : Kasperi Kapanen 29. Los Angeles Kings : Brendan Lemieux 28. Tampa Bay Lightning : Julius Honka 27. Chicago Blackhawks : Conner Bleackley 26. Montreal Canadiens : Nick Schmaltz 25. Boston Bruins : Alex Tuch 24. Anaheim Ducks : Jack Dougherty 23. Colorado Avalanche : Travis Sanheim 22. Pittsburgh Penguins : Nikolay Goldobin 21. St. Louis Blues : Joshua Ho-Sang 20. San Jose Sharks : Brendan Perlini 19. Tampa Bay Lightning : Ivan Barbashev 18. Minnesota Wild : Roland McKeown 17. Philadelphia Flyers : Sonny Milano 16. Columbus Blue Jackets : Jakub Vrà¡na
15. The Detroit Red Wings select Centre/Left Wing Adrian Kempe of MODO in the Elitserien
6’2, 187lbs, 1996-09-13 : 17 years old
45 – 5g – 6a – 11p
As you can tell from his birthday, Kempe is about 6 days from the 2015 cut-off date and the youngest expected first round pick this year. His story has been extremely compelling this whole season and brings a lot of comparisons to Teuvo Terà¤và¤inen who in the 2012 draft was also one of the latest birthdays and steadily rose from mid-second round obscurity to a final draft rank in the top-10 by most scouting agencies to a solid 18th position in the actual event. Kempe also began in some obscurity with really only a “meh… first season in the SuperElit and an intriguing 5 goal tournament in the U17’s. A strong Ivan Hlinka and a promotion to his Elitserien club fairly early in the season were quick signs that Kempe was on the upward trend. In fact he performed better against the older and stronger competition of the Elitserien than he did against the U20’s in the SuperElit. His game is built for a professional style and it shows. He’s a power forward, and not the kind that so many people define it now which is basically anybody over 6’1 that protects the puck, Kempe is a hitter and revels in the physical game.
He’s a relentless forechecker and backchecker and most note that despite his extreme youth for this class, his non-stop style of play makes him one of the most mature on the ice at both ends. At the U18’s he showed the kind of power forward he might be one day and was a strong force on Sweden’s second line putting up 7 points in 7 games and a nasty check from behind against Canada that netted him a misconduct. He played mostly wing in the tournament as he did in the Elitserien when he was promoted, so that is one concern I can see for teams desperate for a centre prospect at this stage of the draft. I would however conclude that once he puts on more weight and gets a little older that MODO will give him more trust in the dot. While he’s a shoot first player, he has shown that he does have the ability to make savvy passes when he needs to.
Of the three main “power forwards… this draft has to offer at the top-end, Ritchie, Tuch and Kempe, Kempe is the only one who hasn’t filled out like a “mac truck… by this time. Both Ritchie and Tuch are about 30-40lbs heavier than Kempe and it shows. That’s why Kempe’s determination and style are far more intriguing to me. We’ve seen Ritchie and Tuch push around 180lb guys and dominate smaller junior players on the boards, but when they come to the show, they’ll be two bulls in a bull pen and not in a china shop. Kempe on the other hand to go with in my opinion simply better playmaking and scoring talent, has room to grow and offers more down the line in so far as “potential… goes.
Being one of the younger guys in the draft and such a “raw… player, he’ll likely need at least 3-5 years to develop properly. As we all know, Detroit practically demands you slog away a little in the AHL before making the show, so this in my mind is a really strong fit. Not to mention Sweden being such a prominent fixture of the Detroit identity.
Comparison : Jeff Carter
Thanks for reading.