Sometimes, it just takes a little time to work things out.
A framework for an 8-year contract extension between the Kings and Adrian Kempe was in place about a month ago. So, what took so long? Just remember: when they say it’s not about the money, it’s always about the money.
As noted at the time, the two sides simply needed to hammer out the distribution of money (i.e. the amount to be paid in signing bonus vs. salary) and any trade protection clauses. Regarding the former, it all has to do with timing. When players receive their money as signing bonuses, that’s paid on July 1 each year. When they get it in regular salary, it’s paid monthly throughout the season. Essentially, it defines the terms as players getting one lump sum or having it paid out over time, like a normal paycheck.
In this case, half of the contract’s total value will be paid out in signing bonus. Which has three major impacts.
For starters, this allowed the AAV (average annual value) to come down a little. Rather than being just north of $11M, it’s just south of that benchmark. This helps leave more cap space for LA in future years. It’s important to note, this contract doesn’t begin until the 2026-27 season, thus it has no impact on calculations related to this year’s 23-man roster.
Second, this structure gets Kempe his money sooner. Again, this is part of the tradeoff. In exchange for lowering the AAV by about $500K in each of the eight years, Kempe — LA’s best homegrown goal scorer in decades — will be receiving his cash much earlier. Why might this be important? As an example, investments; if he has the money sooner, he can invest it and make the interest / gains off of the money, rather than AEG holding onto it and doing the same.
And finally, by paying out more money up front in signing bonus, it lowers the salary left over at the end of the contract. In turn, this make the contract a little more buyout friendly during the final four years of the deal.
Per PuckPedia’s buyout calculator, buying out a player costs a team 2/3 of the remaining salary owed on a contract. In the final two years of Kempe’s extension, his salary is down to $8.75M per season. He’ll be around 37 years old at that point. If the team chose to buy him out at some point, the dollar amount paid out is spread out over twice the remaining years of the contract. For example, if the Kings bought out the final two years of Kempe’s extension, it would cost AEG $11.67M total and that would be spread out over four years. Meaning, their salary cap would take a hit of $2.92M each year for four seasons. That’s more than manageable, especially with the cap continuing to rise.
At the very least, Kempe isn’t going anywhere for four more seasons. His extension includes a No Move Clause the first four years (this begins July 1, 2026). Then, over the final four years of the contract, he will submit a 15-team No Trade list before each season.
Despite what was out there on social media over the past few months, this deal felt inevitable. Both sides had been saying for months they wanted to get an extension hammered out. Kempe saying (multiple times in various interviews) that he wanted to remain with the Kings all but guaranteed they’d eventually work out the details and get it done.
Now, both sides can focus on winning games.
“We are thrilled to have Adrian signed for the next eight seasons. He is an elite competitor who’s developed into one of the League’s most dynamic two-way forwards, and his growth since joining the Kings organization has been tremendous. Adrian’s presence both as a player and a leader is incredibly valuable to the team,” said Kings GM Ken Holland via a press release earlier today. “Throughout this process, both sides were committed to finding a structure that reflects Adrian’s importance to us while keeping our long-term goals of building a team capable of contending every season in mind. We’re excited to have Adrian remain a core part of our organization for years to come.”
Kempe currently sits 14th all-time in games played for the Kings organization at 649 games — and will soon pass Kyle Clifford’s 660 games. Assuming 75 games played this season and each of the eight years of his extension, Kempe could potentially reach over 1,300 games with the Kings franchise. That would put him at least third all-time in LA behind only Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty.
Kempe has already scored 200 goals in a Kings uniform, placing him 10th in franchise history. He’ll most likely climb to at least fifth on that list before his career is over. Luc Robitaille’s 557 is likely out of the questions. Could Kempe get into the top three? He’d need to average about 30 goals per season for each of the next nine seasons (including this year). It’s possible.
With Kopitar set to retire at the end of this season, will Kempe take over as captain? It seems the decision will likely come down to him or defenseman Mikey Anderson. There’s at least an outside chance Doughty will factor into the conversation, as well. Nothing has been decided at this point and that will be a conversation for down the road.
Next up on the contract front will be a new deal for Brandt Clarke. He’s currently in the third and final year of his ELC.
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