Mario Kempe (born 19 September 1988) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

right winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who is currently an

unrestricted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is ...

. He most recently played for

HC Dinamo Minsk Hockey Club Dinamo Minsk (russian: Дина́мо-Минск; be, Дынама-Мінск, ''Dynama-Minsk'') is an ice hockey team based in Minsk, Belarus. They are members of the Tarasov Division of the Kontinental Hockey League. Dinamo has qu ...

of the

Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs ba ...

(KHL) and played for the

Arizona Coyotes The Arizona Coyotes are a professional ice hockey team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Coyotes compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and currently play at the Mul ...

and the

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL) and played for the

Ontario Reign The Ontario Reign are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) that began play in the 2015–16 season. Based in Ontario, California, and affiliated with the National Hockey League's Los Angeles Kings, the team plays ...

of the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

(AHL)

Playing career

Kempe first started skating when he was five years old on an outdoor rink in his hometown of Kramfors. He represented

Ångermanland Ångermanland ( or ) is a historical province (''landskap'') in the northern part of Sweden. It is bordered (clockwise from the north) by Swedish Lapland, Västerbotten, the Gulf of Bothnia, Medelpad and Jämtland. The name is derived from ...

twice in

TV-pucken TV-pucken ( en, the TV puck) is a Swedish national ice hockey tournament for district teams of boys under 15 years of age. Since 2019, girls also compete in TV-pucken with their own tournament. It was created on the initiative of Swedish ice hockey ...

while playing for

Modo Hockey Modo Hockey (or MoDo with uppercase letters) is a professional ice hockey club in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. The team plays in Sweden's second-tier league HockeyAllsvenskan. The club was founded in 1987 and has won one SHL championships; in 2007. ...

's junior teams in

Örnsköldsvik Örnsköldsvik (, ) is a locality and the seat of Örnsköldsvik Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden, with 32,953 inhabitants in 2017. Its natural harbour and archipelago is in the Gulf of Bothnia and the northern boundaries of the Hig ...

, Sweden. During the 2005–06 season, Kempe represented Team Sweden at the 2006 IIHF Under-18 World Championship. MarioKempeFogDevils

That following summer, Kempe was drafted 31st overall in the 2006 CHL Import Draft by the St. John's Fog Devils of the

QMJHL The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (french: Ligue de hockey junior majeur du Québec; abbreviated ''QMJHL'' in English, ''LHJMQ'' in French) is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League. The le ...

. Kempe made the trip to North America and cracked the Fog Devils lineup. He was named an assistant captain during his rookie season. Kempe finished the season tied for 6th among QMJHL rookies in goals and 11th in points, and was voted "Fastest Skater in the Eastern Division". Kempe was ranked 50th among North American prospects on Central Scouting's final report heading into the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. He was chosen in the 5th round, 122nd overall by the

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Well ...

. Kempe returned to his native Sweden after completing two seasons in the QMJHL. He signed with

Rögle BK Rögle BK (Rögle Bandyklubb) is a Swedish professional ice hockey club from Ängelholm that has been playing in the SHL since the 2015–16 season. Rögle has previously played in the SHL (previously named Elitserien) in 1992–1996, 2008–20 ...

of Elitserien in the off-season and recorded two goals and eight assists in thirty games-played. After receiving limited ice time during the first half of the year he was traded to Mora IK of the second-highest level league in Sweden. He signed a two-year contract with Djurgården on 16 June 2010. Following the 2016–17 campaign and after three seasons in the

with

HC Vityaz Hockey Club Vityaz (, en, HC Knight) is a professional ice hockey team based in Podolsk, Moscow Oblast, Russia. They are members of the Bobrov Division of the Kontinental Hockey League. In the first few seasons of the KHL, the team was widely k ...

, Kempe left as a free agent and returned to North America in securing a one-year, two-way contract with the

of the

(NHL) on 16 May 2017. On 28 May 2018, he signed a one-year contract extension with the Coyotes. On 5 July 2019, Kempe signed a one-year two-way contract with the

, joining brother Adrian. He was assigned to the

for the beginning of the 2019–20 season. Named as an alternate captain for the Reign, Kempe registered 3 goals and 11 points through 16 games in the AHL before he was placed on unconditional waivers by Kings in order for a mutual termination of his contract on 19 November 2019. As a free agent, Kempe returned for a second stint in Russia and the KHL, agreeing to a two-year contract with reigning

Gagarin Cup The Gagarin Cup (russian: Кубок Гагарина, Kubok Gagarina) is the trophy presented to the winner of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) playoffs, and is named after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space. The Cup was ...

champions CSKA Moscow on 21 November 2019. At the conclusion of his contract with CSKA, Kempe left the club and continued in the KHL with Belarusian outfit, HC Dinamo Minsk, on a one-year contract on 26 August 2021.

International play

On 9 May 2019, Kempe was named to make his senior international debut with Sweden at the 2019 World Championships held in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Personal life

Kempe's younger brother,

Adrian Adrian is a form of the Latin given name Adrianus or Hadrianus. Its ultimate origin is most likely via the former river Adria from the Venetic and Illyrian word ''adur'', meaning "sea" or "water". The Adria was until the 8th century BC the mai ...

, is currently playing for the

of the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

. Mario is named after the Argentine former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

Mario Kempes Mario Alberto Kempes Chiodi (; born 15 July 1954) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a striker or attacking midfielder. A prolific goalscorer, he finished as La Liga's top goalscorer twice with Valencia and amassed 11 ...

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kempe, Mario 1988 births Arizona Coyotes players HC CSKA Moscow players HC Dinamo Minsk players Djurgårdens IF Hockey players Living people Modo Hockey players Mora IK players Ontario Reign (AHL) players People from Kramfors Municipality Philadelphia Flyers draft picks Philadelphia Phantoms players Rögle BK players St. John's Fog Devils players Swedish ice hockey right wingers Tucson Roadrunners players HC Vityaz players Sportspeople from Västernorrland County