D Jonas Kemps - USNTDP/Michigan State (2026 Draft)
- Thread starter BKarchitect
- Start date
So I know this kid pretty well since they are from the same area and played for the same youth teams my son (who is now 14U you as well).
Jonas is from Sonoma County originally, and played mite and maybe a year or two of 10U for the Santa Rosa Flyers, but the Flyers basically field B and BB with the odd A team here or there, so the elite kids often move to a club an hour or so away to play tier level. That's what Jonas did - so does my younger son. Jonas played his bantam years for Golden State Elite (GSE) 14U AA level, the same team and same position (No. 1 LD) that my son plays, although my son hasn't hit puberty yet and stands only 5'1" (I'm 5'10" and his older brother is 5'9"). My son left his AAA team last year to join this team so it's a really good team and has a really good coach (same one Jonas had). So Jonas double rostered with the local HS team and 14U AA team (you can do that here) - my son cannot as he's still in 8th grade. He then moved to Jr. Ducks and played 15O AAA and went to Optum Academy at Great Park Ice in Irvine where the Ducks practice. He then made USNTDP early this summer and is heading to Plymouth, Michigan.
Jonas and my son played a little pick up hockey this summer at the local Santa Rosa rink during public sticktime. Great kid - coached my son up, too. Says his favorite coach is still the 14U GSE coach. Outside of stick time, I last saw him play his 14U year. I can tell you that he is a legit 6'5" and possibly 6'6". He is a great skater. He looks as smooth as my son (who reminds me of Jordan Spence as a skater, great edges and lateral quickness and transitions). I've never seen someone that big skate that smoothly. At 6'6", you'd think that he's a defensive defenseman, but he's got really good offensive skills, great shot, great vision and his skating ability walking the line is top notch. The downside is that he is a beanpole. I mean really thin. It's gonna be a bit of time for him to fill out. He's not afraid of contact or hitting, but he'll probably need to put on some strength. I'd say he's about 170 lbs, which is the weight as my older son, who is a bulked up swimmer. But he also has a pretty good wingspan and stick with that reach of his.
Bottom line - he's got 2 years before draft year. It's a long time. But he's a first round draft pick and might work his way into the lottery. You just can't teach that size and skating ability on defenseman and he's got really good hockey IQ but he's a little bit behind in his development probably because of the California roots.
A little side note. Ben Kevan (also a possible 1st rounder this year) also came from the GSE program. He did not overlap with Jonas as Jonas is one year behind and Ben left his major 14U year for Jr. Kings. But two potential NHLers on a youth team in northern California. Unheard of... that would've been fun.
And don't get caught up in the AA versus AAA game. Some of the AA teams in California are better than the AAA teams.
Jonas is from Sonoma County originally, and played mite and maybe a year or two of 10U for the Santa Rosa Flyers, but the Flyers basically field B and BB with the odd A team here or there, so the elite kids often move to a club an hour or so away to play tier level. That's what Jonas did - so does my younger son. Jonas played his bantam years for Golden State Elite (GSE) 14U AA level, the same team and same position (No. 1 LD) that my son plays, although my son hasn't hit puberty yet and stands only 5'1" (I'm 5'10" and his older brother is 5'9"). My son left his AAA team last year to join this team so it's a really good team and has a really good coach (same one Jonas had). So Jonas double rostered with the local HS team and 14U AA team (you can do that here) - my son cannot as he's still in 8th grade. He then moved to Jr. Ducks and played 15O AAA and went to Optum Academy at Great Park Ice in Irvine where the Ducks practice. He then made USNTDP early this summer and is heading to Plymouth, Michigan.
Jonas and my son played a little pick up hockey this summer at the local Santa Rosa rink during public sticktime. Great kid - coached my son up, too. Says his favorite coach is still the 14U GSE coach. Outside of stick time, I last saw him play his 14U year. I can tell you that he is a legit 6'5" and possibly 6'6". He is a great skater. He looks as smooth as my son (who reminds me of Jordan Spence as a skater, great edges and lateral quickness and transitions). I've never seen someone that big skate that smoothly. At 6'6", you'd think that he's a defensive defenseman, but he's got really good offensive skills, great shot, great vision and his skating ability walking the line is top notch. The downside is that he is a beanpole. I mean really thin. It's gonna be a bit of time for him to fill out. He's not afraid of contact or hitting, but he'll probably need to put on some strength. I'd say he's about 170 lbs, which is the weight as my older son, who is a bulked up swimmer. But he also has a pretty good wingspan and stick with that reach of his.
Bottom line - he's got 2 years before draft year. It's a long time. But he's a first round draft pick and might work his way into the lottery. You just can't teach that size and skating ability on defenseman and he's got really good hockey IQ but he's a little bit behind in his development probably because of the California roots.
A little side note. Ben Kevan (also a possible 1st rounder this year) also came from the GSE program. He did not overlap with Jonas as Jonas is one year behind and Ben left his major 14U year for Jr. Kings. But two potential NHLers on a youth team in northern California. Unheard of... that would've been fun.
And don't get caught up in the AA versus AAA game. Some of the AA teams in California are better than the AAA teams.
Hockeyville USA
Registered User
Rare that a top hockey talent is coming out of the North Bay. Not many from the Bay Area in general, so this is good to see.
There's a few that are starting to trickle out. My son played for Macklin Celebrini's youth Jr. Sharks coach last year. I think the youngest brother is pretty good too and he's only 12U still. He's played 4 years of 12UAAA hockey (9-12), but he's gone back to BC I think for this year. One of Kemps' teammates is at Shattuck and she'll probably go D-1 some place. Ben Kevan is listed around 50 in early mock draft stuff and is going to ASU. Just finished played for the US U18 team in the Hlinka Cup. A couple of kids just moved to Michigan.
Hockeyville USA
Registered User
Didn't even realize Kevan was from the North Bay. Assumed he was from SoCal since he played minor hockey for the Junior Kings. Nice to see Kemps and Kevan coming out of NorCal.
Yep. Came from the same program (GSE) where he played his minor bantam year (13). He's from Fairfield, CA. He just moved to Jr. Kings his major bantam year (14), which the good ones often do. Kemps just did it his 15O year. Right around 13/14/15, you'll see the elite NorCal kids move to So.Cal. or the mid-west or northeast.
Pavel Buchnevich
"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
I like Kemps game a lot. He has a chance to be the highest drafted American in 2026.
He's a mammoth left-shot defenseman that plays a pretty solid game in all zones. You'd think he might just be a lug that rings the puck around the boards and never moves off the blue line and can't skate, but none of that is true.
He's a very good skater for 6'6, he moves the puck well, and he shows surprising offensive instincts for that size. A player like Jacob Rombach from the 2025 draft has a lot in common, but one reason why I think Kemps has higher potential is because he's a lot more aggressive offensively. Rombach's puck game isn't bad for 6'6, but it comes with also taking minimal risks with his positioning on the ice. Kemps actually takes a surprising amount of offensive risk. I know he has a 0 in the point column this year, but it looks to me like one of those bad puck luck anomaly things early in the season. Not saying he should be PPG or even .5PPG right now, but he should have much more respectable totals. And I think with time I could see a player who theoretically if he hits his potential could be like a 35 point player in the NHL at his peak. I could see a left-handed Parayko out of him.
He's very good defensively, and not raw on the defensive end, like you might expect from a player that size. I feel he's the best of the 2008 NTDP blue liners at this early stage of their time in junior at actual defending.
So we're talking about a provisional projection in round 1 or 2. If no points shows up the next two seasons, round 2 seems more likely. If some show up, maybe late round 1 is a rough range. And you never know if it all comes together, and he's viewed as a Silayev or Simashev. I think that's possible, but he has a lot of work to do to reach that.
He's a mammoth left-shot defenseman that plays a pretty solid game in all zones. You'd think he might just be a lug that rings the puck around the boards and never moves off the blue line and can't skate, but none of that is true.
He's a very good skater for 6'6, he moves the puck well, and he shows surprising offensive instincts for that size. A player like Jacob Rombach from the 2025 draft has a lot in common, but one reason why I think Kemps has higher potential is because he's a lot more aggressive offensively. Rombach's puck game isn't bad for 6'6, but it comes with also taking minimal risks with his positioning on the ice. Kemps actually takes a surprising amount of offensive risk. I know he has a 0 in the point column this year, but it looks to me like one of those bad puck luck anomaly things early in the season. Not saying he should be PPG or even .5PPG right now, but he should have much more respectable totals. And I think with time I could see a player who theoretically if he hits his potential could be like a 35 point player in the NHL at his peak. I could see a left-handed Parayko out of him.
He's very good defensively, and not raw on the defensive end, like you might expect from a player that size. I feel he's the best of the 2008 NTDP blue liners at this early stage of their time in junior at actual defending.
So we're talking about a provisional projection in round 1 or 2. If no points shows up the next two seasons, round 2 seems more likely. If some show up, maybe late round 1 is a rough range. And you never know if it all comes together, and he's viewed as a Silayev or Simashev. I think that's possible, but he has a lot of work to do to reach that.
