Samuel Fagemo opened a lot of eyes at his first ever NHL training camp before he was sent back to the Frölunda Indians, his Swedish team. No one really expected him to make the Los Angeles Kings this season, but he performed quite well for a recently drafted rookie. He recently chatted with hockeysverige.se about his experience and which players stood out most to him.
Patrik Bexell from Habs Eyes on the Prize was kind enough to translate the interview for us.
“I have had an awesome experience for almost three weeks. I have seen a lot of the city and I have had great practices, and a great experience. I feel like I have performed on a high level and that is a good feeling to have.”
Talk about training camp
“It’s similar to Sweden, you show up at 9am and you are done by 1pm, a lot of work in the gym and a lot of skating on the ice, added to that there are a lot of practice/friendly games. It has been fun, but I have also learned a lot from different situations, its been great to meet a lot of people, including some great players. Awesome.”
Who was the best player?
“[Anze] Kopitar and [Drew] Doughty. Ever since I was a kid I have seen a lot of them on TV. They got two Cups each, great to see them in action. I spoke with them quite a bit, they are very kind, you get the feeling that the whole organization is humble and loyal. Everyone wants to talk to each other, that makes it feel extremely good and I am excited to be part of that in the future too.”
What else did you do?
“It’s not difficult to guess, beaches and Hollywood. I spent a day at Universal Studios. It was a big adventure and you got to experience a lot because of the free time that we had. Mostly it was spent on the beach and in the water.”
What went well and what do you bring with you home?
“To be at that level, the SHL is a good level, but this is a step up and just to be practicing at that level is good, you get another tempo. But also to meet everyone and to play in all the big arenas.”
And you felt you could handle it all?
“Exactly and that was the biggest thing, for me that was the most important thing, to feel that I could handle it all. I am very excited for the future, but the focus is naturally to preform here with Frölunda.”
When the decision was made what was your thought process?
“It felt good, I mean it felt really good at the camp and everything was great. But the plan was always to come back here to play hockey here at home with Frölunda for another year that will be the best for my development. I am very excited for the chance to restart over here.”
Do you get extra motivated once you been over and having experienced it all?
“Of course, you want to be part of all that. My whole life that has been my goal [to play in the NHL]. When you have experienced it once you want to be there again. I am excited for next year.”
Full focus at Frölunda
“There are so many good forwards here at the moment, so all I have to focus on is to be the same player I was here during the preseason.”
For an 18-year-old rookie, Fagemo stood out at camp in a lot of great ways. The winger was poised under pressure and appeared to have a good hockey sense. It’ll be really interesting to see how he develops over the course of the year with everything he learned at camp this summer.
Thanks again to Patrik for translating and transcribing this interview for us!