2025 Kings Seasons In Review – Adrian Kempe

The end of the road for the season evaluations brings us to forward Adrian Kempe, who hit the 30-goal mark for the third time in his NHL career. Kempe was perhaps the team’s most consistently productive offensive player this season, carrying a strong start into his first best-on-best international tournament, capping things off with a productive postseason. More on Kempe below.

Adrian Kempe
LAK Statline – 81 games played, 35 goals, 38 assists, +22 rating, 36 penalty minutes
LAK Playoff Statline – 6 games played, 4 goals, 6 assists, -8 rating, 4 penalty minutes
NHL Possession Metrics (Relative To Kings) – CF% – 51.4% (-2.6%), SCF% – 50.2% (-4.7%), HDCF% – 53.2% (-3.2%)

Kempe continued to establish himself as an elite player in the NHL with another strong season in 2024-25. Kempe fits the Kings quite well with the way he plays the game and took even another step forward with his game this season. Kempe is now an established top-line player in the NHL at this point in his career and he led the Kings in scoring both during the regular season and the postseason.

Trending Up – For the second time in his career, Adrian Kempe was a 35-goal scorer. That total was tied for the Kings lead this season and he ranked inside the Top-20 in the NHL both in total goals and 5-on-5 goals. During the playoffs, Kempe scored all four of his goals at even strength and led the Kings in scoring with 10 points from the six games played during the postseason. Kempe also collected 38 assists this season and his 73 points led his team in scoring, the second straight season he’s done so. Additionally, no Kings forward was on the ice for more 5-on-5 goals than Kempe this season, with 61. Kempe has taken on the role of being perhaps the best player in the organization and he’s blossomed into a star player in the NHL over the past few years. Just another step in that area this season for Kempe, who checks just about every box both via the eye test and the numbers.

What was great about Kempe’s production too is how he seemed to be able to produce when others struggled. At the start of the season, when it took a bunch of guys time to get up to speed, Kempe scored at nearly a point-per-game pace to help shoulder the load. In January, where essentially everyone else on the team struggled, Kempe scored seven goals, accounting for nearly one-third of the team’s total offensive output in that month. He finished the regular season on a high note as well and was paramount to playoff wins in Games 1 and 2, leading the team in scoring during the postseason as well. While it wasn’t the highest goal or point total of his career, I think it might have been Kempe’s most consistently impactful season offensively from Game 1 through Game 88.

Lastly, I also think it is important that Kempe was selected as one of two players to serve as alternate captains of the Kings while Drew Doughty was out of the lineup. Kempe is not a loud leader but he leads by example and has grown more comfortable over the years in speaking up when he has something to say. He is very highly respected in the Kings locker room and it’s clear he is considered to be among those considered to be leaders within the room. While a letter on the jersey isn’t the only way to be considered a leader, it’s telling that Kempe was thought of in that way and as time goes on, I’d be surprised if that role didn’t become a more regular thing.

Trending Down – The metrics shown above feel lower than they should be for a player of Kempe’s ability, especially when the eye test for me made me think they’d be much higher. Kempe rated as one of the lowest forwards on the team in most possession metrics, despite ranking extremely positively when it came to actual goals, both individually and on-ice. No Kings regular had a higher PDO than Kempe, which measures on-ice shooting percentage + on-ice save percentage. That typically points towards regression. Ultimately, that shouldn’t be held against a player’s season, because the tangible results were excellent, but it is one to look out for going forward.

While Kempe led the team in playoff scoring, he also posted a -8 rating during the playoffs, which was the lowest rating on the team. In even-strength situations specifically, Kempe was on the ice for 13 goals against, compared to three goals for, the highest number among Kings forwards, with many of those goals against coming in best-on-best matchups against Edmonton’s top players. While he was probably the best player for the Kings specifically in Games 1 and 2, he also scored just once in Games 3-6, with a number of goals against in between. I think Kempe did his part in the postseason, overall, but it’s fair to point out that it wasn’t perfect.

2025-26 Status – Kempe has one season remaining on the four-year deal he signed with the Kings in the summer of 2022, carrying a cap hit of $5,500,000 for next season. Kempe is eligible to sign an extension with the Kings as of July 1 and could sign a contract for up to eight seasons at that time. He has stated that he’d like to remain in Los Angeles and the team would like to keep him here. Kempe has solidified himself as a clear first-line player, someone who can play in that role on just about any team in the NHL. Would expect him to be among the first names on the sheet in all situations next season as one of the most influential players the Kings have on their roster.