Kings Rumors: Kempe's Contract Ask Getting Higher

The Los Angeles Kings are not in a great spot after this offseason in which a few players were overpaid for too many years, Corey Perry is now injured and will be out for months, arguably the best player in Adrian Kempe is going into the last year of his contract, and Anze Kopitar may be playing his last season in the NHL.

With all of that bad news, we are going to hone in on Kempe. Contract talks haven't been great between him and the Kings this offseason as he remains unsigned. He has been very good for the past four seasons and the 29-year-old is underpaid at $5.5 million AAV. The cap is rising and the AAV is going to be going up significantly whether the Kings want to pay him or not.

David Pagnotta said "I now believe the player's annual ask may be in between $10 million and $11 million. Considering how things are going, that isn't unreasonable, especially if he signs for eight years before the rule changes. That's eight more years of the cap going up and it could increase by a lot.

Kempe finished last season with 35 goals and 73 points, his second-most goals and second-most points in his career. He was a big plus player and much of his offensive production didn't come on the power play, so that should help his case in getting more money. He averaged 19:09 of ice time per game, the most in his career, and delivered 100+ hits for the fourth consecutive season.

Kempe is a top line player and can score. That isn't something easily found and the Kings can't play hardball too much. If they lose Kopitar after next season, cap opens up, while Drew Doughty's contract is at an end in two years. This team could quickly go from making playoffs every year (and not doing anything with that) to having to rebuild and trade off pieces. The opportunity to win has almost closed for Kempe unless some interesting moves are made, but if LA wants him around, they are going to have to pay him or the team is in trouble.