Adrian Kempe signs massive 8 year deal on Sunday.

The Los Angeles Kings will be keeping their man.

The 2026 free agent class has been rapidly drying up long before we even get close to July 1st, 2026 and on Sunday another big name was taken off the list of potential free agents for that class when Adrian Kempe and the Kings agreed to a new deal.

This is a massive contract, an eight year deal, one that will carry an average annual value of $10.625 million per season. National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman was the first to report the news.

Kempe and the Kings have been going back and forth in negotiations for a while but there was always a belief that things would get done with the Kings wanting to keep Kempe and Kempe himself wishing to remain in Los Angeles. His excellent start to the season has no doubt helped move things along with Kempe averaging a point per game so far this season, recording 6 goals and 13 assists for 19 points over 19 games.

There is of course a big risk here for the Kings and that is the fact that Kempe is already 29 years old and that means that he will be 37 years old by the time this contract has run its course. That will likely take Kempe beyond his prime years, but that is a price that the Kings were willing to pay to keep one of their most important players for the foreseeable future.

This looks like a win for both sides with the Kings getting Kempe at a very reasonable cap hit when you consider some of the contracts we have seen handed out this year, and hopefully both sides are happy with this deal as a result.