NHL Rumors: A Pause in Talks Between the LA Kings and Adrian Kempe

Contract talks between the Los Angeles Kings and Adrian Kempe have been put on hold for a bit

Daily Faceoff: David Pagnotta said that as of Thursday, the Los Angeles Kings and Adrian Kempe’s camp are going to take a bit of a break with regards to their contract extension talks.

** NHLRumors.com transcription

Carter Hutton: “Is he a guy that we see the next guy to drop here, as guys, as contracts start to fall off the boardhere?”

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Pagnotta: “You know, I thought so, up until a couple days ago, and up until morning. They’re taking a pause in negotiations right now, from, from what I’ve been hearing and what I was told morning.

So, talking to a couple people on both ends of the spectrum, it looks like the Kings and Eichel, excuse me, the Kings and Kempe’s camp are just going to say, ‘hey, let’s take a little time out. We’ve been going back and forth for a little while. Let’s just take a breather,’ and reconvene, I believe, later this month. It’s still early. The season just started. You know, Kings pulled out a nice W in an upside-down all over the place game.

But there’s no surprise, no secret, I should say, that Kempe wants to stay, and obviously the Kings want to keep him. But you know, with Kenny Holland sometimes, you know, takes a little bit longer to lock in these types of deals, with these, these caliber players.

So they’ve just decided, you know what, let’s hit pause. Let’s, let’s, let’s get a few more games in, and then let’s reconvene. So that’s kind of where the campaign situation is at the moment.”

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Tyler Yaremchuk: “I want to jump in really quick with one here. I heard some reporting about the, you know, the Lane Hudson thing, where I was like, hey, maybe he was comfortable with this number. Then he saw a couple of other contracts get signed, and he was like, hold up. Maybe I want a little bit more. Is that maybe what, what’s having an effect on Kempe? He’s seen the Kyle Connor deal, and he’s like, hold up.”

Pagnotta: “I don’t think that, that’s affected it. I think Kaprizov affected the winger market. I think that, that played a factor in solidifying (Kyle) Connor’s deal with the Jets. I think it’s going to affect Kempe. It’s going to affect (Alex) Tuch. It’s going to affect (Artemi) Panarin and so on. (Martin) Necas and whatnot.

But I don’t think the Connor deal really, you know, affected Kempe’s side. I think they understand where they’re at. He’s in the elevens by all accounts. I think at the start of the offseason, when they started discussions, where’s your starting point? It’s closer in the 10s. And LA was under nine. And, you know, I mentioned this yesterday on as well with Irf. That’s kind of where things were at then, and then just obviously, with the marketplace, that where it’s at, everything kind of shifted.

So I don’t think it’s, it’s really that. I think it’s, you know, they, the team understands where the ask is, but the player, you know, understands where the team ask is. They’ve got to find a way. There’s still a bit of a gap there, which I think is why they’re just going to kind of pause things for the time being and then, and then get back at it in a few weeks.”

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