Kings Acquire Kevin Fiala

Kings Acquire Kevin Fiala

We officially have our first big splash of the upcoming 2022 NHL offseason. The LA Kings have entered the chat with an aggressive bid to officially land Kevin Fiala via the Wild. Minnesota will acquire the 19th pick in the Draft and Brock Faber.

Michael Russo from The Athletic was the first to report the news:

According to sources, the #mnwild have traded the rights to pending restricted free agent Kevin Fiala to the #lakings for their 2022 first-round pick and University of Minnesota captain Brock Faber

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) June 29, 2022

Fiala, 25, is coming off an 85 point season which is easily career high. A massive leap from his prior career high of 54 points two years ago. How much of that point total has to do with playing with Kirill Kaprizoz? We’re about to find out.

Regardless, Fiala’s 85 point season from a year ago was 18 points better than anybody on the Kings. It’s not hard to see why Los Angeles was interested. Anže Kopitar led the Kings with 67 points. After a playoff appearance, maybe Fiala is the piece that takes the Kings towards real contention. Watching Fiala on the top line with Kopitar and Adrian Kempe (who’s low-key damn good) is enticing.

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It remains to be seen what type of contract we’re looking at for Fiala. With the Kings having $20 million in cap space, signing Fiala doesn’t really seem like an issue. The Wild were likely faced with this option. Trade us Fiala now so we can negotiate this deal ourselves without an outside bidder or watch this offer sheet we’re about to drop on your ass. With Minnesota facing cap hell (Link to season preview) after buying out Ryan Suter and Zach Parise, trading him now for a pick and prospect feels like the only real alternative.

UPDATE:

Kevin Fiala and the #LAKings have a seven-year extension at slightly less than $8M AAV.

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) June 29, 2022

We have news on a Fiala contract extension. With Minnesota entering the offseason with virtually no cap space, it’s not surprising this trade was made given the price tag it took to sign Fiala.

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