The goal for every NHL team, the Los Angeles Kings included, is to build the best possible roster under the salary cap. For teams to be able to do that, they have to make smart choices with the contracts they give out relevant to the talent level of the players.
In some instances, teams will be able to sign players early and they will continue to develop or surpass expectations. The Kings certainly have players that would fall into this category and based on what they did last season, these are five players that should outperform their average annual value for the upcoming season.
*All AAV values courtesy of Puckpedia.com
5 LA Kings who will massively outperform their contracts this upcoming season
Adrian Kempe
2025-26 Average Annual Value: $5.5 million
Without question, the player who is the biggest bargain for the Los Angeles Kings at this point has to be Adrian Kempe. However, that will not be the case past this season, as he will be looking for a new contract that should have a significant salary increase.
Kempe has arguably been the Kings best player for a few seasons now with 70 or more points in consecutive seasons. When he has the same or less AAV of players like Quinton Byfield, Phillip Danault, and Kevin Fiala is a perfect example of why he is the biggest bargain and the player significantly out-playing his contract.
Andrei Kuzmenko
2025-26 Average Annual Value: $4.3 million
The Los Angeles Kings would bring Andrei Kuzmenko back on a one-year deal after he had an excellent finish to the season after he was traded from the Flyers to the Kings. He helped transform the power play unit and his addition helped drastically improve that for the team.
If the per game averages since joining the Kings is over a full 82-game season, he will finish with 19 goals, 44 assists (19 of which would be on power play), and over 60 points. If Kuzmenko can keep that pace, the $4.3 million AAV would be an absolute steal.
Warren Foegele
2025-26 Average Annual Value: $3.5 million
Warren Foegele signed with the Los Angeles Kings as a free agent and had an excellent first season with the team. He would finish the season third on the team in goals and tied for first in game-winning goals with seven. Both of those totals would be career-highs for the former Oilers and Hurricanes forward.
Where he made the most impact was in 5-on-5 as 22 of his 24 goals were when both teams were at full strength. At the very least, he should be able to get close to matching those totals and if he does that, he will continue to outperform the contract he signed just over a year ago.
Mikey Anderson
2025-26 Average Annual Value: $4.125 million
Mikey Anderson is going to be one of the best bargains on the Kings for a long time as he is entering only the third season of his eight year deal with an AAV of $4.125 million. He has finished each of the past five seasons with an average ice time over 20 minutes and this past season was a career high at 22:41.
He also would set career-highs in goals with six and assists with 18 and for the third straight season had double digit assists. The fact that the Kings are able to get one half of their top defensive pairs for a salary under $5 million is a great example of a player who is outperforming their contract.
Darcy Kuemper
2025-26 Average Annual Value: $5.25 million
The final player is goalie Darcy Kuemper, who returned to Los Angeles last offseason as part of the Pierre-Luc Dubois trade with the Washington Capitals. At the time there were questions if Kuemper could play at the same level that Cam Talbot did the season prior.
However, he did that and more and was one of the best goalies in the NHL as a Vezina Trophy finalist. He finished the season with a 31-11-7 record, a save percentage of .921, and a goals against average of 2.02.
The fact that the Kings have one of the top goalies and his AAV is outside of the Top 20 for his position just speaks to how much of a bargain he is.