MEET THE KRAKEN: Vince Dunn on Adam Larsson, escaping to the rink, and his grandfather's legacy

Seattle Kraken defenseman VInce Dunn's sit-down with Mike Benton ahead of the 2024-25 season, in the latest of Meet The Kraken. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's time to meet the King with Mike Minton. Been's
done back now for season four. Great to see you
once to get in my man, you look great first,
Ill will jump into it for you. How was the
summer and would you say it was maybe a blur
just right or was it summer too long for you?

Speaker 2 (00:17):
It was a pretty complicated summer in all honesty. I
think I was balancing my health and then balancing my
free time with the length of the summer that we had,
so it was interesting. But I think I got a
lot done for myself hockey wise, and spent a lot
of time with friends and family, and got a little
downtime for friends and family, so it was pretty good

(00:38):
balance for me. I think I'm just excited to be
back here. Everyone knows at home how much I love
my routine and being back in the group of things
here is nothing but the best things for me.

Speaker 3 (00:47):
How much time do you need to unwind, you know,
to stay away from the game for the entire summer
until you fully get back into training and eating right
and get into a routine.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Pretty constant all year round. I think for me, my
time done wine. I only need a couple hours and
usually that's maybe after a game or maybe the couple
few days after the season, and I'm kind of back
into the ground for myself. That kind of keeps my
brain going and my body healthy and feeling good. I

(01:20):
think when I'm in my routine and just doing the
things that make me feel the best, then I feel
better as a person and I'm a better energy to
be around. So I think everyone around me in the
summer can see how ansy I was getting to be
back here, and it's just my comfort zone playing hockey.
I think it's my my escape and the place that

(01:40):
I love to be is the hockey rink, as much
as I like to do other things outside of the rink,
I think when I come here, I feel free and
I'm just able to rely on my natural talent to
drive me through every day.

Speaker 3 (01:52):
What have you missed most about the guys over the
last few months.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Oh Man, I think everyone just brings a different dynamic
to the room. You got so many different personalities and
people from coming from so many nations and places around
the world. So you catch up and you learn about
their summers or maybe what they did, or maybe things
they changed about their lifestyle or their gameplay. So I
think there's always just constant change, and everyone's always adapting

(02:17):
to each other and learning how to get along with
each other and hopefully perform with each other on the ice.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
When you first found out that your defensive partner was
getting an extension, first reaction, what was it?

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Yeah, I was so happy for him, more than a
means to me. I think knowing him as a person
and how happy he's been here, I think this place
is wonderful for him and his family, and they've been
very happy being a part of the organization and moving
forward in their lives and welcoming their child not too
long ago into the world. So I think having him

(02:50):
having his extension, I think that's probably a lot of
weight off his shoulders and he now he can just
rely on playing hockey to the best he can. And
obviously for me, it's nothing but special. I love playing
with him, and he's been nothing but great for my
career and definitely helped me to move in the right
direction as a player and as a person. So I'm
happy for him selfishly for myself, but more importantly for

(03:13):
him and his family.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
When was the last time he made you laugh?

Speaker 2 (03:16):
Probably ten minutes ago. Last he's really funny. I think
he doesn't try to be, but everyone finds a way
to laugh at him or with him.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
Your grandfather, Chris an important figure in your life to
this day. What's his legacy in the family and for
your career?

Speaker 2 (03:34):
I mean everything was hockey for him. He was the
one who always drove me around and got me to
my practices in my games when it was really crappy times,
either really in the early in the morning or right
after a long day of school, or and then pulling
me back or driving me back after a late night practice.
So all the inconvenient times, he was there to pick

(03:55):
me up and drive me around and never missed a
gamer a practice when I was out there. So so
just for me, how much he cared about me and
how much he gave me the ability to follow my dreams,
I owe it all to him. And I think everyone
who grew up around me always knew when he was
in the rank because he never missed a game, so
just his presence around was always noticed and felt. So

(04:18):
that's just kind of the way I want to be
when I'm around people. I want everyone to kind of
know I'm in the room, and I just want to
be that good energy everyone can be following and stealing from.

Speaker 3 (04:26):
The fund your family started after he passed, getting kids
into the game. How much does that reflect the core
values that you carry on to this day.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
Yeah. I think everyone, what the platform we have, should
be giving back and it's not too hard to do that.
And I think for him, when he passed, he wanted
to give back. He wanted to do a little fundraiser
in his name to give back to the community and
maybe help those kids that maybe don't have all the
luxury advantages that other people do like I did. You know,

(05:01):
I didn't have a like nobody in my family played sports,
and we didn't really know what we were doing growing up.
When I was playing hockey. We were kind of just
rolling with the good times and trying to trust the
people that were around us. So, you know, I think
donating into these organizations and and fundraising things like like
he wanted to, you can you can lead kids in
the right direction, help them follow their dreams.

Speaker 3 (05:22):
He's certainly smiling right now looking down on you at
this point here, Ben's thank you very much, appreciate you,
thank you.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
You're home for the Crack Sports Radio ninety three point
three k j r FM,