Hockey Club Lugano officializes the signing on a contract valid until the end of the 2023/24 season of Swedish center-wing forward "left" Mario Kempe, born 19.09.1988 in Kramfors (183 cm x 86 kg).
Sweden's U18 and U20 youth national team, Kempe was drafted in 2007 in the fifth round by the Philadelphia Flyers.
After two seasons in the QMJHL, he spent the first part of his career in his homeland under the colors of Rögle, Djurgardens and Modo Hockey.
From 2014 to 2022 Kempe alternated championships in the KHL (279 games, 144 points) with the jerseys of Vityaz Podolsk, CSKA Moscow and Dynamo Minsk with seasons in North America where he played 70 games in the NHL with the Arizona Coyotes and 90 games in the AHL with the Tucson Roadrunners and the Ontario Reign.
In the 2022/23 championship and the first part of this season he finally returned to Sweden where he wore the colors of Lülea.
Kempe has played two World Cups (2019 and 2021) as well as 42 other official matches in the Sweden uniform. In early November 2023 he wore the Three Crowns jersey as part of the Karjala Cup, scoring three goals (one against the Red Swiss) and signing one assist.
If the bureaucratic process for the player's international transfer goes through, Kempe, who will train tomorrow morning with the team alongside Aleksi Peltonen, could be available to the coaching staff for Sunday's game against Zug.
These are the words of HCL General Manager Hnat Domenichelli:
"Mario is a two-ways center that we decided to put under contract to give us a hand until the end of this championship."