Da Interviewer: Another long and grueling season has come and gone, and so has another draft. It feels like it was only a few weeks ago that we were sitting down with a young and bright eyed Jonas Kahnwald, the recent 8th pick of the Los Angeles Panthers! And now, here we are again. Welcome back Jonas!

Jonas Kahnwald: Thank you! Good to be back.

D.I: And back as a champion! First season, first trophy! How does that feel?

J.K: It feels awesome! So much work and dedication put into the team to get to this point, it was very much deserved. I was only here for this past season but I know this trophy was a long time in the making, and it is great that the organization was finally able to snag it.

D.I: It feels like winning the 4-star cup came just in time! Sounds like the Berserkers will be losing a few big pieces, Harrington, Minamino and Klompus among those departing.

J.K: Ya I dunno. I don’t think we really viewed this season as an all or nothing season, but I think we all knew how good and experienced of a team that we had this season. Teams like ours don’t come around too often, where you have a ton of guys that are super experienced at the SMJHL level.We only had two rookies in myself and Pod, and we were pretty well protected and sheltered in our roles, also allowing us to flourish. So we knew we had to take advantage of this opportunity. And credit to the team, we did just that!

D.I: You guys certainly did. Do you want to expand more on the roles you rookies played?

J.K: Ya well Pod was a big energy guy on the 4th line, but he showed flashes of skill pretty often. He had lots of big plays, and it was always fun when we linked up. We both helped to set up a big overtime winner late in the season, and that was super exciting. It will be pretty cool to see how he does in the next few seasons as his role increases, I think he will be a dominating presence in our top 6 in a couple of seasons here.

D.I: And what about you, Jonas?

J.K: I was pretty sheltered on the 3rd pairing, started the season off playing with Kierkegaard, finished it off with Renji. Both of them were amazing partners and I learned a lot. And thankfully they had no problems covering my ass when I would go busting up the ice. Which was very often i’ll have to admit!

D.I: Ha! You certainly are not afraid to join the rush!

J.K: Ya, that’s what I like to base my game around, the ability to join and contribute to the offence, even though I’m a defenceman. I think the role of the defenceman has been changing and is continuing to change, and we will become more and more involved in the offence as the years and seasons go on. So I feel like I really had the opportunity in a sheltered third pairing role to do that.

D.I: I would certainly say you were involved in the offence, scoring 15 points on limited minutes. And a stunning +19 rating on the season, which led all rookies! Not only that, you led the entire team in +/- during the playoffs with a +12 rating. That’s impressive stuff!

J.K: Ha, I don’t know how much stock I would put into the +/- stat, but it definitely does do the morale some good when you’re constantly on the ice for goals! Again in a sheltered role, with such strong teammates, I think that was always likely to be the end result as long as I was playing well.

D.I: You sound like a wizened vet already. Which part of your game do you think has grown the most in your first season?

J.K: I would have to say it has actually been the defensive side of my game, especially towards the end and in the playoffs. I really felt that I was improving a lot and going against the best teams in the league repeatedly in the playoffs, I think I held in there pretty well the entire playoffs really. Not just in preventing goals but also in preventing shots too.

D.I: You certainly did. What would you say was your favourite moment of the season?

J.K: Well obviously winning it all at the end was probably my favourite part! The boys were so hype, for many of them like we said earlier, it was their final chance to win the cup so it was super special to get it done for them! Apart from that, I also very much enjoyed scoring my first goal, and having it be one of my best friends Ryuuji Minamino be the one to set it up!

D.I: It was on the breakaway correct?

J.K: Yes it was! I was very excited. Being a defenceman, I do not get to enjoy many of those, so definitely a great moment.

D.I: We could tell you were excited by whatever that celly was that you did!

J.K: Ha, ya I wasn’t quite sure what to do with my arms.

D.I: We could tell. Hope I never have to see that nonsense again! So what do you expect to work on this off-season Jonas?

J.K: Hmm this off-season-

D.I: Other than your celly!

J.K: … this off-season I plan on getting up my skating and strength, some conditioning, and then  there is some more stuff I want to work on with offence.

D.I: No defence work planned for the off-season?

J.K: Not quite, I like where I am defensively at the moment, I want to build more towards what I want to see myself doing in the future, which is being a force offensively. I scored 15 points this season, so a tentative goal for next season is to hit 25 points.

D.I: Oh, that is pretty ambitious. While I understand you will be losing a few teammates, it is starting to sound like only one of those teammates will be a defenceman. Do you think you will actually be getting that much more ice time?

J.K: To be honest, I believe I will be getting paired with a rookie, someone who was in the same situation as I was this past season, so perhaps I may even see myself getting a bit less ice time! But I believe I will improve enough to give myself the chance to reach that goal. And if not, I am sure I can still accomplish something I will be proud of.

D.I: Aim for the moon, and even if you don’t make you’ll land among the stars eh? That’s commendable. Are you looking forward to mentoring a defensive partner the same way you were mentored this past season?

J.K: Very much so, it will be an exciting and new kind of challenge. I only hope I can do as good of a job as Elias and Renji did for me!

D.I: I’m sure you will. So, moving onto this draft. 8th overall pick! How does that feel, as a mostly unknown player to go 8th overall?

J.K: I won’t lie and say I am not proud, that’s for sure! I have put a good amount of work in, and I am glad that the great people in Los Angeles recognized it and decided to put their trust in me to be one of the future faces of their franchise. It’s extremely exciting, and I think when I eventually make the move from Newfoundland, it will be a massive change of scenery. St. Johns and Los Angeles are two vastly different places so that should be interesting!

D.I: That they are, small town to big city. It is interesting that Sve7en is the one who drafted you, seeing as I believe you said in our last interview that you guys had had some conversations before your junior draft?

J.K: Yes, it’s funny how these things work. We had some good conversations before my junior draft ya, but I was ultimately drafted by Newfoundland (which worked out really well for one of us, ha!) but it seems like he has his prize now, if I could be so bold.

D.I: You cheeky bastard!

J.K: Aha jokes my good man. I know at the moment he is just the interim GM, but I am very excited at the prospect of being able to play under him. At the risk of offending all my teammates, coaches and managers here in Newfoundland, I think he is a really great dude and from what I’ve seen, a good manager. He led Carolina to a 4 star cup in s54, and he very well might have led them to a 2nd in a row had we not spanked them in the conference finals this year.

D.I: Spanked? Did it not go to 7 ga-

J.K: The final series tally flatters them, to be honest. Should have been done in 6 games at most. Stupid 5 heat mechanics…

D.I: 5 what?

J.K: Nothing, nevermind. Point is, I think highly of my new Interim manager.

D.I: Oh well that is good. You’ll still be in the SMJHL for a few more season though I would think?

J.K: Oh yes, I am in no rush to hurry my development, and I think Panther management would agree with that. I am planning on staying in with the Berserkers for at least 2 or 3 more seasons, depending on how things go here. In a couple seasons I may have the #1 role, and that will be a good opportunity for me to test out my leadership.

D.I: This is true. With all the experience you guys have on defence, there is sure to be a mass exodus after the next season. Where do you see the Panthers organization being by the time you are ready to break into the SHL?

J.K: Well, at the moment the panthers prospect pool is pretty dry if I am being completely honest. However, after this recent draft I think that there are definitely a few good players in it right now. Wagner will be called up I believe, and then there is Kierkegaard, my teammate on the Berserkers and internationally, then Grimstad, myself, Afalava and Grape Fruit are all pretty top end prospects. Give us a few seasons more of good drafting and suddenly we have a very good young team that I believe will be challenging season in and season out.

D.I: That certainly is a great vision. Do you have any long term goals for yourself?

J.K: Not quite yet, but I do know that I want to be one of the best offensive defencemen the SHL has ever seen. My conscience won’t allow me to be trash at defence at the same time just to achieve that goal, but I still believe I can be elite offensively and still protect my own end well. I’ve got good people to talk to as well about how I will go about achieving that.

D.I: Being elite offensively while still being good defensively will indeed be a challenge for a defenceman. Especially one who does not have a more physical aspect to his game.

J.K: Well, I don’t think you need to be physical to be a good defenceman. You just need to be good at stopping the other team from creating chances, and there are other ways to do that besides laying the body.

D.I: Although that may seem the most straightforward choice!

J.K: True that, but hopefully the Panthers don’t expect a big hitter out of me, because they will not get one!

D.I: Ha, fair enough! Thank you again for joining us Jonas, it’s always a delight to have you on and hear your thoughts. This will be our last post draft interview together!

J.K: Thanks for having me! And yes, I suppose it will be. I don’t plan on being drafted again.

D.I: I wouldn’t expect it. Until next time Jonas!

J.K: Take care!