![\"Adrian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2144983713-e1755780833881.jpg\")
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Is Adrian Kempe the answer for the Toronto Maple Leafs?<\/p>\n
The Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> aren\u2019t afraid to make moves, backlash be damned. Since trading away Mitch Marner<\/a> to the Vegas Golden Knights<\/a>, they have added Dakota Joshua, Matias Maccelli, and a few others in the hopes of addressing the lost offense.<\/p>\n Heavy.com proposed a deal that would solve the Maple Leafs\u2019 scoring woes for a long time. This proposal would see them acquire Adrian Kempe from the Los Angeles Kings<\/a>.<\/p>\n Maple Leafs Acquire:<\/p>\n Kings Acquire:<\/p>\n This proposed deal would be massive for both teams. The Maple Leafs would add a speedy winger who can reliably put the puck in the net. The Kings add an offensive-minded blueliner who can help their powerplay.<\/p>\n Kempe would be a great addition to the Maple Leafs\u2019 top line with Auston Matthews<\/a>. The 28-year-old winger was drafted 29th overall by the Kings in 2014<\/a>. The 6-foot-2, 200 lb forward recorded a 35-goal and 73-point season in 81 games.<\/p>\n In adding Morgan Rielly<\/a>, the Kings get a powerplay quarterback to help them improve their special teams performance. The 31-year-old blueliner<\/a> was drafted fifth overall by the Maple Leafs in 2012. In 82 games this season, the 6-foot-1, 225 lb Rielly scored 41 points, 14 of which came from the man advantage.<\/p>\n Adrian Kempe is a Great Fit For the Maple Leafs<\/p>\n While the Maple Leafs would love to add the Championship pedigree of Evan Rodrigues<\/a> or the powerplay dominance of Erik Karlsson<\/a> \u2013 Kempe is no slouch.<\/p>\n Kempe brings goals in spades. In the past four seasons, he\u2019s registered 35, 41, 28, and 35 goals.<\/p>\n Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet has reported that the Maple Leafs could consider trading Rielly for a top-six forward.<\/p>\n \u201cGiven the blue line is in a good place and forward is where the Leafs have more questions and holes to fill,\u201d Kypreos wrote in July<\/a>. \u201cMight they look to flip a blueliner for, ideally, a top-six scorer?\u201d<\/p>\n With Kempe\u2019s goal-scoring history, adding him to the roster would be the top-six help they desire.<\/p>\n Maple Leafs\u2019 Morgan Rielly Can Help the Kings<\/p>\n The Kings had the sixth-worst powerplay in the NHL last season. Motivated to improve their powerplay, GM Ken Holland signed former Edmonton Oilers forward Corey Perry.<\/p>\n David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period linked the Kings<\/a> to Bowen Byram<\/a>. However, since the Buffalo Sabres<\/a> and the young defender reached a contract extension, a trade seems less likely now.<\/p>\n Rielly represents an alternative with a long track record of powerplay production. Of his 513 career points, 173 of those have come from the man advantage. In the last four seasons, he has recorded 23, 17, 20, and 14 powerplay points, respectively.<\/p>\n This Proposal Has One Major Hiccup<\/p>\n The biggest hurdle to a deal coming to fruition is a contract extension between the Kings and Kempe.<\/p>\n Pagnotta wrote about Holland being motivated<\/a> to get a deal done. Kempe is in the last year of a contract paying him $5.5 million.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, I\u2019d like to sign him to an extension,\u201d Holland said. \u201cHe\u2019s an important guy on the team. I believe he wants to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n Pagnotta wrote that he believes Kempe is, \u201clooking for around $10 million per season on his next contract.\u201d<\/p>\n Regardless of his contract status, the Maple Leafs should push their chips in and trade for the Kings\u2019 sniper.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tCaleb Kerney<\/a> Caleb covers the NHL for Heavy.com. He has covered professional hockey since 2022, including bylines at Dobber Prospects, The Hockey Writers, and The Hockey News. More about Caleb Kerney<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Maple Leafs\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Is Adrian Kempe the answer for the Toronto Maple Leafs? The Toronto Maple Leafs aren\u2019t afraid to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-86783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}