Why haven’t the Los Angeles Kings prolonged Adrian Kempe by now? They should get it done
Sportsnet: Dennis Bernstein on The FAN Hockey Show with Mike Futa and Matt Marchese talking about Adrian Kempe and why he hasn’t signed a contract extension with the Los Angeles Kings yet.
Futa: “How essential it’s, and the way close are they to get Kempe done, Dennis?”
Bernstein: “They’re not close. Now, here’s the thing. The market shifted on the King. They may have had it for $10 million over the summer, they usually offered lower than nine.
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After which, you already know, guys like Luke Hughes and Jackson got nine. So, after all, and Kyle Connor, Connor’s a distinct story. (Kirill) Kaprizov’s a distinct story. It’s probably gonna cost, probably gonna cost them 11 and a half million, they usually’re not there yet.
But here’s the thing, Mike, they should bring this guy back. Two years ago, they lost Matt Roy. Last yr, lost (Vladislav) Gavrikov. You may’t have guys keep walking out, especially this player. This player may very well be the captain, the subsequent captain of the Kings. He desires to stay. I talked to him in Vegas after we did the media tour with him. He would sign for eight years. The player desires to stay. Holland has to pay him. It’s so simple as that. That’s where the market is at once. Market shifted on him. It’s unlucky for them that he desired to hold the road, but at once they got to pay him.”
Futa: “I feel that’s, we said that there’s certain teams, LA being one in all them, this guy is homegrown talent, and he evolved into something. The one thing we were concerned about after we drafted him was his natural ability to attain goals.”
Marchese: “I feel he figured that out.”
Futa: “No, but he never was an enormous offensive producer.”
Bernstein: “Right, he wasn’t.”
Futa: “Every goal he scored was like, you’re like, the way you shoot the puck like that, and be a ten or 15 goal scorer? Now, he’s got the boldness. He’s got the 200-foot game. He loves it there. He’s like, they call him ‘juice’ for a reason. The guy’s all LA. And, I mean, with (Anze Kopitar) moving on, that is the guy that mainly has got to fit him with (Quinten) Byfield for, to be the long run of this, just like the core of this group.
I, I cannot imagine that he’s not, you only don’t have a look at what happened with Connor and say, Well, if he’s a little bit lower than Conor, then you definately’re right. You fit right in at 11, 11.5 and get it done. So that you don’t have any of these items weighing on the children throughout the season.”
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Marchese: “The thing that I don’t understand about how that, like this deal to me, must be, this must be a simple one for LA to do. They don’t really have any guys coming up that you simply’re like, well, we got to brace ourselves for this big extension.”
Bernstein: “Yeah. Yeah.”
Marchese: “And that’s the part that confuses me essentially the most, is that I have a look at the player and I say, ‘perfect fit.’ And offensive, offensively gifted, and he’s responsible in his own end. Like, these are the kinds of guys that A) you wish to keep around, but you’re completely happy to pay to maintain around. Like, why do they not need to recover from that $10 million mark, Dennis? Like, that’s the part that I don’t understand.”
Bernstein: “I don’t know. I don’t know, and I’m sure it’s unsettling for the player. And I talked to him about if you’re going to sign, he goes, ‘Look, I get that straight deadline and I’m not signed. That’s an enormous problem.’ Like he says at Christmas, possibly Thanksgiving.
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But here’s the thing, Matt, there’s no alternative player. Take a look at their have a look at their prospect pool. There’s no player coming like that. They draft, you already know, they get drafted guys, and it’s worked by guys like Alex Laferrier, right? That’s, that’s the kind of, that’s the model they drafted. They don’t have a 35-goal alternative for this team.
So I don’t know why it’s taking so long, but, you already know, sometimes one phone call makes a difference.Bbut they should get it done. I can be stunned if he’s not an LA King, because that’s a, that’s a serious misstep, because he desires to play. He deserves that. He’s performed. He’s dangerous. You already know, the final thing the Edmonton Oilers to need to see within the playoffs again, though they won 4 straight, is Adrian Kempe. He’s a killer within the playoffs. It’s, it’s stunning, given what’s happening available in the market with other comparable players at once.”
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