Kopitar: 'I feel great and barely wait for season to start'
Anze Kopitar held a press conference Thursday and talked about a smattering of things, including his rehab progress, his new teammates and his expectations of the upcoming season. In all, your basic "Hey everyone, I'm all
good. Let's get this going" interview from Kopitar. Next week we'll see
how he looks when he gets to L.A.
Oh yeah, season starts in a month!
By Luka Dolar
Via AnzesEleven.com
On Monday, Anze Kopitar will head off to California, where he will join his teammates in Los Angeles training camp. During this official closure of his training and rehabilitation time during this summer, he has shared few details over his summer activities and his thoughts of upcoming season.
His training base this summer was town of Bled, where he has gone through most of training steps. Joined by Gasper, his younger brother and few other Slovenian players, he was trained and guided by father Matjaz.
Oh yeah, season starts in a month!
By Luka Dolar
Via AnzesEleven.com
On Monday, Anze Kopitar will head off to California, where he will join his teammates in Los Angeles training camp. During this official closure of his training and rehabilitation time during this summer, he has shared few details over his summer activities and his thoughts of upcoming season.His training base this summer was town of Bled, where he has gone through most of training steps. Joined by Gasper, his younger brother and few other Slovenian players, he was trained and guided by father Matjaz.
"Summer has not been different as any other so far. Close to zero off days, no vacation and lots of training. Most of my program was similar to past summer workouts, but we did increase intensity. I am in optimum (shape) and I hope that management in Los Angeles will confirm it as I come over. I feel great and barely wait for season to start."It has been five months since Kopitar hurt his leg.
"Everything about (my) injury is normal. My leg doesn't hurt anymore, it actually didn't all through summer and I could focus on my workout. Obviously there were some drills that (had to be) modified, but all in all it went better than planned."Kings made many steps into becoming serious Cup contenders through all five seasons Kopitar played; this season should be another important step forward. Mike Richards, Simon Gagne and late addition of Ethan Moreau should give more punch to the team.
"We were one of very active teams on the (free agent) market during summer. We landed strong deals and we did get players that will help us on our path to final goal. On the other hand, we did lose Wayne (Simmonds) and Brayden (Schenn) in these deals and I hope that they will both fit into (their) new teams. I (haven't talked) to them yet, but I am hoping to have a chat once I am back in (the) States."Besides Simmonds and Schenn, team lost also Michael Handzus to San Jose, Ryan Smith left to Oilers and Oscar Möller returned to Europe. As a player, Kopi tarwants to develop each season, he wants to give more to the team and Anže has higher goals as he did in the past,
"The goal is clear, that is no secret. But there are many steps to it. As a team we need to be much more constant through all 82 games and of course making the play-offs. For the past two seasons we were eliminated in first round, now we must take this huge step forward and go past round one."
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