Outside of Los Angeles, if you were to ask the average NHL fan who some of the best Swedish players in the league were, the names you’d get would be Mika Zibanejad, Erik Karlsson, Elias Pettersson, and Victor Hedman.
Consequently, Adrian Kempe can get lost amongst the names of some of the countries’ elite talent, even though he is just four goals shy of hitting the 40-goal mark for the first time in his career.
Right now, Kempe has 36 goals and is on pace to lead the Kings’ in the category for the second consecutive season after setting a career-high with 35 tallies in 2021-22. Historically, he’s never led his country in goals during the regular season but is looking to join the list along with Hall of Famers like Mats Sundin, Daniel Alfredsson, and Daniel Sedin.
Even though he will most likely come up short of the country’s single-season record of 50, set by Hakan Loob in 1987-88, he should join the short list of 40-goal scorers from his home country.