With the season underway, the Los Angeles Kings have one less worry about the future. Kings forward Adrian Kempe is now locked up long-term, agreeing to an 8-year deal worth $85 million, with an average annual value (AAV) of $10.625 million. A deal that was waiting to be done is now complete, and Kempe now looks to be a King for life. With him now out of the way what does this deal mean for Los Angeles?
The specifics of Kempe’s deal look like this. In years 1-4 of the deal, he has a no-movement clause. In years 5-8, he has a modified 15-team no-trade clause. This protects both Kempe and the Kings.
His salary breaks down like this. In 2026-27, he will earn $1 million in straight salary and another $11 million in signing bonuses. This will be the same situation for the 2027-28 and 2028-29 seasons. In the 2029-30 season, he will earn a base salary of $2.5 million and the signing bonus will go down to $9.5 million. In the 2030-31 and 2031-32 seasons, he will have a base salary of $9.75 million. In the 2023-33 and 2033-34 seasons, he will earn $8.75 million. His signing total bonus comes to $42.5 million and so does his base salary. His AAV will be $10.625 million.
While this seems cheap for Kempe’s talents and other contracts out there, this deal does not handcuff the Kings in the near future. Next season, Los Angeles has a projected cap space of $23.1 million. That should be enough to sign unrestricted free agents Corey Perry, Andrei Kuzmenko, Jeff Mallot, and Jacob Move rare, plus restricted free agents Brandt Clarke and Samuel Helenius.
This deal is a good one for Kempe and Los Angeles. For Kempe, he no longer has to worry about a deal and can just play hockey. For Los Angeles, they signed their top goals scorer long-term and do not have to worry about replacing him in free agency, We all saw Kempe as a King long-term but it came down to signing a new deal. Now that that deal is agreed upon, GM Ken Holland can frame this team around Kempe for the foreseeable future. going forward expect Kempe to continue to produce offensively and be the top scoring threat for the Kings.
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