We’ve got a new offering to introduce to you, Insiders!

The Insider Show, hosted by myself and Zach Dooley, will be another way to stay up to date with the Kings and get insight on the team from others around the NHL. We’ll have Q&A opportunities in the comments and hopefully have some insightful guests from around the NHL to discuss the Kings from different perspectives.

To kick things off, I chatted earlier this week with Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic. Our full conversation can be found in the embedded video below, as well as on our audio-only podcast channel.

All future videos will be released on the Kings YouTube, and if you aren’t already subscribed to our Insider Audio channel, you can do that on any podcast platform to get all future episodes.

The conversation with LeBrun jumped right into further insight on the recent Adrian Kempe extension that was announced by the Kings on Monday morning. All parties were accounted for in Toronto last week, as well as the Insider doing the reporting.

“I think it just goes to show you that sometimes face-to-face meetings can really help a process,” LeBrun said. “There had been a pretty open dialogue since the summer between Adrian Kempe’s agent J.P. Barry of CAA and the Kings management. But they met face-to-face Thursday afternoon and I think that really helped things. There was still work to be done after that meeting and I did some reporting on it that day, but what we now know is that the two sides spoke again Friday, Saturday and finally Sunday afternoon is when this deal finally got agreed to as far as AAV.”

LeBrun pointed to the recent deal between Martin Necas and the Colorado Avalanche as a comparable extension which had a big impact on Kempe’s negotiations with the Kings. The discussions took longer than both sides most likely expected they would when they first started broaching the subject over the summer, but there were multiple new deals, including the one for Necas, that helped both sides understand the current NHL landscape”.

“Teams have quickly accepted where this is headed with the new salary cap escalating aggressively the next few years,” said LeBrun. “So you look at all these extensions that have happened since mid-August, it’s just teams acknowledging, ‘you know what, this is where it’s going to end up, we better get ahead of it.’ That’s why all these deals have been done.”

Especially after all the recent signings, LeBrun felt there was extra pressure on the Kings to make sure their star winger stayed put. Not only are they losing the likes of Anze Kopitar when he hangs up his skates after the current season, but other options they could have turned to in the free agent market that would be comparable to Kempe won’t be available.

“It’s a fascinating time,” LeBrun said of the recent deals and the NHL’s expanded salary cap. “But what it tells you too, is that because the UFA class has been thinned out for next summer, I think you’ll see a larger number of trades probably happening in the offseason because the trade route is really going to be the only route if you’re a team trying to upgrade at center or wing.”

Speaking of possible trades, LeBrun stopped short of predicting what we’d see when teams approach the upcoming March deadline, with so many games still to play before the cutoff. Clubs are also still unsure how they’ll tackle the new wrinkle in the rules, which will change how playoff rosters are put together.

“What I’m hearing from teams is that they’re a little concerned they don’t have as much flexibility now,” LeBrun said. “Your active roster on a playoff game night is each player’s full AAV. Brad Marchand barely counted against the Panthers cap last year in the playoffs, now he’d be a full cap hit. I think that teams are still wrestling around their gameplan but if there was a quick first reaction to the playoff cap is that they think there might be fewer big moves at the deadline Mar. 6, but certainly many come the offseason in June.”

With extensive reporting, LeBrun reported the full breakdown of the forward’s new deal, which was extremely front-loaded with signing bonuses during the first four seasons.

Kempe contract:
26-27: $1M salary, $11M signing bonus
27-28: $1M salary, $11M SB
28-29: $1M salary, $11 SB
29-30: $2.5M salary, $9.5M SB
30-31: $9.75M salary
31-32: $9.75M salary
32-33: $8.75M salary
33-34: $8.75M salary
SB total: $42.5M
Salary total: $42.5M
AAV: $10.625M

— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) November 17, 2025

“That’s sort of where things have gone. You look at the Jack Eichel deal with Vegas, very front-loaded, lot of signing bonus money, this is sort of the new frontier and it’s been going on for a while but some teams have tried to lay off that part of the world and the reality is, like the Winnipeg Jets had to give Kyle Connor the most signing bonus they’ve ever given any player because otherwise the deal wasn’t going to get done in terms of his extension.”

As for how the Kings have been playing lately, producing a successful run that included four wins in five road games, with three that came north of the border, LeBrun pointed to their even-strength performance that has buoyed the results.

“I think their 5-on-5 game is starting to round into form and that’s really important because I think that was a little uneven early on. Just talking to Jim Hiller in Toronto the morning of the Leafs game and he was coming off that big win in Montreal and until that point no one had wiped the floor with the Habs until LA did it.”

He then pointed to the recent injury to Drew Doughty as something which will clearly put a strain on the back end of the lineup and be a pressure point for the Kings to try and overcome.

“He was by far LA’s top-minute guy even at his age and was playing terrific in my mind, to the point where I think that he has a very good chance of making Canada’s Olympic team,” LeBrun said of Doughty’s play this season. “As Drew reminded all of us in Toronto on Thursday morning, that matters greatly to him, which should surprise no one. He’s out week-to-week, but it shouldn’t affect his availability for Milan if Team Canada decides to bring him back. But in the here and now for the LA Kings, it’s a big hole to fill because of the minutes that he plays and his durability.”

LeBrun also gave his thoughts on the condensed nature of this season’s schedule, with the league preparing for the upcoming break in February and how it might be impacting the Kings, who have one of the older rosters in the NHL, as well as his experience reporting on Ken Holland’s former teams in Detroit and Edmonton.

Watch the full interview here and stay tuned for more Insider conversations coming soon!