Kempe's Rumored Next Contract With The Kings

The Los Angeles Kings are not in a great place after the first half of their offseason. They arguably overpaid for the free agents brought in, their entire top line is entering the final year of their contracts, the back-end doesn't look great, and they have failed to get out of the first round since winning the Stanley Cup in 2014.

While Anze Kopitar will be waiting for the season or after the season to negotiate his next deal if he's going to continue playing, the Kings are just as desperate for Adrian Kempe, so is heading into the final year of his four-year, $5.5 million AAV deal.

According to The Fourth Period, Kempe is believed to be looking for around $10 million AAV on his next contract. That is completely fair considering he tied for the team lead in goals with 35 and recorded the most points on the Kings last season with 73. He is a top line, top power play guy who is in his prime at age 29. He can absolutely not walk or the Kings should just dive into a rebuild.

Comparables to Kempe include players like Jordan Kyrou, Cole Caufield, Matt Boldy, and they're all around $8 million AAV. The difference here is that these contracts were signed multiple years ago, so not only has the cap risen and will continue to rise, Kempe is arguably even more of a driving force on the Kings than any of those players mentioned are on their teams. Some might have led their team in goals, but not points like Kempe.

Those teams also didn't have to contend with pending UFA status. All were RFAs at the time of signing their contracts. This increases the price for Kempe to re-sign with a team that hasn't accomplished anything more than making the playoffs in his time in the NHL. The Kings have cap space to be able to sign Kempe for this amount and I don't see an eight-year deal being signed anywhere south of $9.5 million AAV.