The Los Angeles Kings are preparing for the 2025-26 NHL season. Training camps across the league begin this week. And the preseason starts on Saturday, with the St. Louis Blues facing the Dallas Stars. However, some teams still have business to conduct, including Los Angeles and their discussions with Adrian Kempe.
Kempe is one of the most important members of this current Kings team. He enters the season as a top-line wing, and Los Angeles will rely on him to be among their offensive leaders for the upcoming campaign. However, they need to sign him to a new contract.
The Kings star is a free agent next summer. He is signed at a $5.5 million cap hit for this upcoming season. Given his track record, he will be in line for a massive payday. And his camp is currently talking with the team about a new deal.
Kempe recently spoke with David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period. He was asked about the contract discussions and where they currently stand. The Kings star said there is no rush to get something done on his end.
“I would like to get it done as soon as possible, but I don’t want to rush anything,” he said. “But I also don’t want to come around after Christmas and the (trade) deadline’s coming up and I’m sitting there not knowing where we’re at or we’re not on terms. Before Christmas would be great, before camp would be great,” Kempe said, via Pagnotta.
Adrian Kempe Has Become A High-End Goal Scorer
Kempe debuted in the NHL back in the 2016-17 season. He has spent his entire career with the Kings to this point. At first, things weren’t clicking for the former first-round pick. However, he started putting things together in 2021-22.
Kempe scored 35 goals that season. This began a string of four straight campaigns in which the Kings star scored 28 goals or more. Furthermore, he has led the Kings in points in each of the last two seasons.
His quality as a goalscorer is not limited to Los Angeles, either. Dating back to 2021-22, he has scored 139 goals. This places him 20th in the league for goals since 2021-22. He has more goals in this span than Nikita Kucherov, Brady Tkachuk, and Matthew Tkachuk.
Kempe is certainly an important part of this team. He is not only one of the best goal scorers in Los Angeles. He is one of the best goal scorers in the NHL.
Kings’ Kempe Doesn’t Want Contract Talks To Drag
Kempe is not rushing to sign a new deal at this point. He is willing to take his time and see how things play out. However, he does want to remain in Los Angeles. And he doesn’t want these talks to span the length of the season.
“For me and the team, I don’t think it would be a good thing doing that. For me, I feel if I haven’t signed before the deadline, then you don’t know what’s going to happen. I love L.A., my family likes it, that’s the place I want to be, but it has to be fair for me and has to be fair for the team to come to an agreement. That’s what we’re working on right now,” Kempe said, via Pagnotta.
The Kings begin their preseason on September 21 against the Anaheim Ducks. They begin their regular season on October 7th against the Colorado Avalanche. It will certainly be interesting to see if Kempe and Los Angeles have struck a deal before then.