The LA Kings checked off another box this offseason on Friday, locking up forward Adrian Kempe to a four-year contract extension that will keep him in Los Angeles through the 2025-26 season.
The 25-year-old tallied a career-best 35 goals this past season, and he will come at a yearly $5.5 million cap hit.
Prior to the 2022 NHL Draft, the Kings also acquired Kevin Fiala from the Minnesota Wild and extended the RFA on a seven-year extension at a $7.875 million AAV salary.
After the two deals, the Kings are left with just under $6.5 million in cap space, according to our friends at CapFriendly.
However, Los Angeles still has notable free agents in Carl Grundstrom, Mikey Anderson, Sean Durzi, and Brendan Lemieux.
Evolving Hockey projects them to fetch the following deals:
- Carl Grundstrom: 2 years, $1.389 million AAV
- Mikey Anderson: 2 years, $2.213 million AAV
- Sean Durzi: 2 years, $3.236 million AAV
- Brendan Lemieux: 2 years, $1.655 million AAV
If the Kings were to bring back all of them at these projected values, they would be over the salary cap by about $2 million.
Keep in mind that Kings GM Rob Blake also indicated last week that he would like to bring back either Alex Edler or Olli Maatta as a veteran presence on the left side of the defense. Edler makes the most sense of the two, but he’ll likely need to take less than the $3.5 million earned last year.
Let’s see if Blake moves a player off the roster with a decent cap hit to create some financial flexibility. Alex Iafallo, who now projects to slot in along the bottom-six forwards, could be a trade candidate to move his $4 million cap hit off the books. Sean Walker could be another, given the log jam on the right side of the defense, but Blake indicated that the 27-year-old could play on his off side next year.
At any rate, the Kings essentially have no cap space left as they approach the July 13 free agency frenzy period. Someone or a couple of someones will have to be moved to create some cap space.
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