Good News & Bad News on Latest Adrian Kempe Contract Talks

Adrian Kempe, LA Kings forward, skates with the puck

The stalemate continues between the Los Angeles Kings and their top player, Adrian Kempe. He's playing out the final season of his four-year, $22 million deal ($5.5M AAV) and is a pending unrestricted free agent. He continues to rack up stats on the young season, now five goals and 14 points in 11 games. But the one big number that hasn't come yet is the double-digit AAV on a new contract.

Insider David Pagnotta, speaking on the DFO Rundown, tells us about some bad news and some good news on the Kempe front. First, the two sides aren't even close to an agreement. That's the bad news.

This is going to be in the 11s ($11M+), from all accounts. And the indication I got this morning: Nothing is immiment at all... This is not close.

Pagnotta is completely puzzled by all this. "For me, it's a big head-scratcher. There's no question Kempe wants to be there. And for the Kings, there should should be no question that the Kings want him in LA long term". He's actually figuring that the structure of the contract and bonuses are the main holdup.

But wait, didn't we say there's some good news in this standoff?

The 'good news' on the Kempe negotiations front with the Kings is better than nothing

"It's not all doom and gloom. They haven't told each other off," said Pagnotta. "They haven't hung up the phone... At any moment, they could have that phone call. So that's a good sign. At least those lines of communication, the window is still open on both sides."

Ok, so that's something. It just doesn't sound like Kempe's plan to have something done by the end of the calendar year is going to come to fruition.

Kempe has 199 goals and 415 points in 641 games in his decade with the Kings.

The final word on this for now goes back to Pagnotta:

"This is going to be a grind."