2024 Kings Seasons In Review – Adrian Kempe

The end of the road.

The final season in review is forward Adrian Kempe, who was voted as the team’s MVP by the media in Los Angeles. Kempe led the Kings in scoring for the first time in his career and was among the team’s most impactful forwards throughout the course of the season. He certainly was the team’s most impactful player in the playoffs. A look into Kempe’s highest-scoring NHL season below.

Adrian Kempe
LAK Statline –77 games played, 28 goals, 47 assists, +13 rating, 72 penalty minutes
LAK Playoff Statline – 5 games played, 4 goals, 1 assist, -1 rating, 4 penalty minutes
NHL Possession Metrics (Relative To Kings) – CF% – 53.5% (-1.5%), SCF% – 52.3% (-1.7%), HDCF% – 51.4% (-2.9%)

Trending Up – Simply put, Kempe was the most impactful Kings player during the first-round series against the Oilers. Four goals and five points and a series-long performance that delivered what was needed and expected from him. Kempe plays a game that is built for the postseason and it’s what we saw against the Oilers. It’s what we’ve seen against the Oilers from Kempe for three straight seasons now. No Kings forward had more shots on goal in that series and no Kings forward had more high-danger chances for. Kempe buried them too, collecting four goals, all at even strength, to lead his team offensively. The type of player who elevates his game consistently at the right time of the year and the Kings need more in that department going forward.

In the regular season, Kempe delivered the highest-scoring season of his professional career from a points standpoint. He led the Kings in overall scoring for the first time as he set career highs in assists (47) and points (75). Over the last two seasons, Kempe established himself as an elite goalscorer in the NHL. His performance this year was that of an elite player, not just an elite goalscorer. He was just shy of his third straight 30-goal season and the underlying numbers suggested a player that, at 5-on-5, created right around the same chances this year as he did last year. The biggest difference was a player who led the Kings in power-play goals last season and led the team in power-play assists this season. Kempe was also, far and away, the team’s best player at generating open looks from the slot this season offensively. An area the team would do well to replicate around him and with perhaps a bit better puck luck, and area that should see him over 30 goals again next season.

There’s also the leadership angle when it comes to Kempe and that’s important as well. When the Kings rebuilt, they kept Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty but traded away nearly their entire secondary leadership core. In Kempe, the Kings have slowly developed a player who has become a leader within the room, wearing an “A” for the first time late in the season. Kempe isn’t the most vocal player on the team but he’s growing in that area and he leads by example on the ice. A nice step forward for a player who is finding his influence within the room as he enters his prime years.

Trending Down – The assists and points went up, without a doubt, but the questions entering training camp centered around whether Kempe could potentially push for 50 goals, not whether he would score fewer than 30. The underlying numbers suggested individual chances that were closer to mirroring what we saw last season, though his 5-on-5 scoring dropped from 1.2 goals per/60 to 1.0. At the end of the day it’s goals scored that matter though, not the numbers that make up the expected goals. The next stop in Kempe’s ascension is to bring the goals and assists together. If he can do that, he’s got a good shot at becoming the first Kings player to exceed 80 points since Kopitar in 2017-18. Important to pinpoint both going forward.

Minus the downtick in goals, it was hard to find a ton wrong with Kempe’s season. I looked too. He was among the team’s most effective penalty killers. He was shooting the puck at a similar clip to last season, just scoring fewer goals. There was no defensive drop off in terms of chances against or goals against. Dude had a good year and the Kings will need that to continue heading into next season.

2024-25 Outlook– Kempe’s contract is among the better values in the NHL. He signed a four-year contract off his breakout season in 2021-22 and has vastly outperformed that deal in Years 1 and 2.

Kempe now enters Year 3, his second-to-last season before unrestricted free agency at the end of the 2025-26 season. Kempe’s place within the Kings lineup is unquestioned. He is arguably the team’s top offensive threat and he developed this past season into an impact player at both ends of the ice. He’s formed good chemistry with Kopitar, though he’s also shown an ability to contribute elsewhere in the lineup as well. My assumption would be RW1, next to Kopitar, is his most likely home entering next season, but with the Kings evaluating things this offseason, Kempe has the versatility and ability to play in multiple spots in the lineup. A good thing, for sure.