“He’s a player that we couldn’t lose.”

I don’t think it takes a ton of legwork to understand why the Kings needed to retain the services of Adrian Kempe. With Anze Kopitar retiring, the Kings are already losing a top-six center from their ranks come next season. They certainly couldn’t afford to lose their top scoring winger as well.

Ultimately, while it took some time to get there, the Kings got their man signed, as Kempe committed to an eight-year extension with the club, taking a little bit less to get the deal signed.

“We’re losing Kopitar at the end of the year and I think it was important to keep Adrian,” Kings General Manager Ken Holland said. “Obviously it took some time to find a solution, but when we signed the contract, both sides feel good about this solution, the eight years at 10.6 and we’re thrilled to keep him in a Kings Jersey. He’s a legitimate, first-line forward on any team in the National Hockey League.”

The importance of retaining Kempe’s services for what could be the remainder of his career was not lost on those within the Kings organization, from those who were involved day-to-day, all the way up through the ownership group with AEG.

For Kings President Luc Robitaille, who has been with the organization for Kempe’s entire journey, he recognized the importance of keeping a guy like Kempe on a long-term contract. Kempe is one of the few who has been with the organization from draft day through a big-ticket contract extension.

He was a first-round pick by the Kings now 11 years ago and has developed into the player he has as a member of the Kings, playing the way the Kings play and thriving within that system.

“It’s really important, when you have a player who has been with us, we drafted him, he’s a King and he loves to play here,” Robitaille said during Monday’s Kings/Senators game. “We didn’t take that for granted, we knew it was important. You’re always trying to sign guys where it makes sense for both sides. He gave in a little bit to stay here and we’re very grateful for that and hopefully that helps us in the future.”

Still, the decision to give out an eight-year commitment can’t be taken lightly.

With Kempe, Robitaille called him an “honest player”, someone who approaches the game the right way in his eyes, while also contributing as a top-level performer on the ice. To get that type of commitment, you obviously have to be an impact player beyond just being a professional and Kempe has been that, especially over the last handful of years, as he’s developed into a high-level goalscorer on a team that values defense first.

That’s the type of player the organization not only wanted to keep around, but needed to.

“If you’re going to give a guy an eight-year deal, he’s got to be a good leader, he’s got to do things right,” Robitaille added. “We know how seriously he takes his career, the offseason and everything and that all plays into it, but at the end of the day, it’s still based on performance, the way he’s performing. For us, Adrian has been a really, really good player for us and it was important, moving forward, that we signed him.”

IT’S OFFICIAL

We have signed Adrian Kempe to an eight-year contract extension worth an AAV of $10.625M.

https://t.co/hFHHnG6R0t#GoKingsGo pic.twitter.com/hNRE47QpgW

— LA Kings (@LAKings) November 17, 2025

At the highest of levels, AEG President and CEO Dan Beckerman was happy to see the Kings retain a player of Kempe’s quality.

Beckerman, who I spoke with last week in Washington where he was attending an event with IronBow, one of the Kings’ top partners, called Kempe a “fan favorite”, which was clear to him, and was happy to see a player like that stay in Los Angeles. He says he doesn’t check social media all that often but even he couldn’t help but see the excitement coming from the fanbase around Kempe’s extension.

For Beckerman, Robitaille was an important piece in making sure that everyone is on the same page, all the way from the top of the corporate ladder down to Kempe himself, who maintained a regular dialogue with Robitaille throughout the process.

There’s simply a ton that goes into contract negotiations, involving so many people.

There’s the player himself and there’s the agent who is negotiating on his behalf. There’s the player’s family and what they’re looking for, especially when deciding on a long-term home. There’s the team side, a General Manager, a Team President, a hockey operations staff with tons of ideas on how to improve the team. There’s the ownership group, looking to win while also understanding the financial reality of the industry.

It all factors in and ultimately, the factors in this situation resulted in an important extension for an important player.

“I think this contract shows a commitment on both sides, his commitment to the team and our commitment to him for all that he’s done and all that he’s going to do,” Beckerman said. “It feels like it works for both sides. Both sides wanted to get a deal done – he wanted to stay and we wanted to keep him. You’d like to think that that’s a perfect recipe for getting it done.”

While Beckerman’s job oversees several areas of AEG as a whole, the Kings are one of the most important parts of the company and he serves on the Board of Governors at the leaguewide level. Kempe is naturally one of the most important parts of the Kings, so even at the top, making sure that Kempe was taken care of and signed long term was a priority for everyone.

It was there he cited his relationship with Robitaille and Holland and his trust in them to make decisions. AEG isn’t an overbearing ownership group, in that they trust their hockey executives to make those decisions in the way that they believe best advances the team towards on-ice success. Having that open line of communication helps to trust that process and that was what Beckerman saw with getting Kempe extended and committed for the long haul.

“Ken was really running point with J.P. Berry from CAA on this, but it was definitely a team effort,” he said. “Luc was very involved and the relationship that he has with Ken, bringing in Ken, the relationship he has with Juice and knowing him for so long, since we drafted him, I think the three of them made a good combination. We were in constant communication about how things were going, because, like I said, it was a high priority for us, so we were all following it very closely. Just glad that it was able to get done.”

In speaking with Holland, he confirmed there weren’t any restrictions on signing Kempe when it came to term or dollar figure. The eight-year term was the maximum on the table and that was offered by the Kings from the start. Holland also indicated that Drew Doughty’s $11 million per season cap hit was not an imposed ceiling, in that if the Kings needed to go higher than that, there were no restrictions coming down from above, however they also have to keep future planning in mind, establishing a salary-cap structure within the new and evolving cap world we live in. That’s why Kempe taking a little bit less to stay was important, because it gives the Kings that little bit of additional flexibility to try and add other impact players around him, in hopes of improving the roster. With Kopitar’s pending retirement, there’s a top-six center position that needs to be filled and the Kings might need an additional top-six forward as well. It might not feel like all that much, but even $500,000 or $1,000,000 per year savings could be a different maker in making other moves work.

In a rising cap world, the Kings have always been afforded the financial resources to compete. Now, they face the task of trying to replace Kopitar, which is a task they haven’t had to think about for 20 years. Having Kempe signed certainly helps, which carries on a track record of drafted and developed players at a high level wanting to stay in Los Angeles. That’s why Kempe taking a little bit less to stay was important, because this

“I think we have a pretty good track record of our critical, core players wanting to be here, wanting to sign here, wanting to stay here and wanting to win here,” Beckerman added. “You start with Brownie, Kopi and Drew and now Juice. I think everybody sees what we’re trying to do here, trying to compete every year and build a team that can do just that.”

As the Kings continue to push for success, with the goal of extending their time in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the homegrown core is now surrounding Kempe in the longer run. But it’ll have to grow beyond that. Players like Quinton Byfield, Brandt Clarke and Alex Laferriere are either signed or under team control and the Kings have a ton of flexibility with the salary cap to add another key piece to the group from the outside.

It’s probably a move to come, maybe even a little further down the road, and Holland indicated that should a younger, top-six center become available, the Kings will expend all resources to acquire that player, “in there, kicking and swinging” to try and acquire that player if he became available.

Should it come via free agency, with an open bidding war, Beckerman is hopeful that the organization’s track record in treating players well, evidenced by key players continuing to re-sign, is something that can help bring a potentially important piece into the fold, should that situation arise.

“I think players, hopefully, see the commitment we have for them and it’s a two-way street, obviously,” Beckerman added. “We’re committed to building a great team around them. I think our players enjoy it, I think they like playing in LA and I think they like playing for the Kings. I think they can recognize what we’re trying to build.”

Ultimately, it felt like a commitment to building a team that can break through the barrier that has proven to be very difficult to overcome. Good to know that the resources will be there, should they be needed.

What they’re trying to build got a little bit easier with Kempe’s commitment, a commitment that came in below what he would’ve gotten on the open market. A commitment that can, hopefully, be a small part in long-term success.