The Los Angeles Kings are entering a pivotal season for the franchise as it appears to potentially be the last for Anze Kopitar, who has hinted at retiring after the season. However, it could also be the final season for Adrian Kempe and if it is then the Kings have no one to blame but themselves.
Kempe has been the team's best player the past two seasons and has developed into one of the top forwards in the game. He has had 35 or more goals in three of the past four seasons and has averaged over 67 points per season during that stretch.
He is still very much in the prime of his career and will only be 29 years old this season. It seems like with a rising salary cap, this would be an easy contract negotiation to get done but the Kings are reportedly starting negotiations well below what is expected for a player of his caliber.
LA Kings beginning negotiations well below market value for a player of Adrian Kempe's caliber
According to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, the Kings began negotiations under $9 million per year, while Kempe is looking for something in the $10 million range. In the final year of his contract, Kempe has an AAV of $5.5 million, so something around $9 million would be a sizable increase for the Kings' forward.
However, it would still be well below what forwards currently are receiving around the league. That number should only go up as the salary cap is expected to increase the next few seasons.
While it is surprising that the Kings wouldn't start around $10 million, it isn't completely surprising based on their history. Last year, the team was reportedly in discussions with Vladislav Gavrikov as far back as the trade deadline.
However, negotiations continued to linger into the summer and Gavrikov would end up leaving for the New York Rangers for a reasonable contract that the Kings should have been happy to offer.
There is no question that the Kings should be looking to sign Adrian Kempe at the lowest possible AAV. It helps them manage their salary cap and gives them more room to make moves.
However, Kempe is arguably the most important player to this franchise moving forward. It is not something that they can afford to fumble and see him leave in free agency next summer. They still have time but securing a deal before the season would ease alot of anxiety about the future of this franchise.