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Fiala watch.


Protec
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Minnesota hated Kevin’s arrival after Fenton traded Granny the night his Wife was having a baby. Fiala rolled in on a superfast-stickhandle streak with many, many rushes dying in a giveaway. As time went on and to Kevin’s credit, he improved on his aptitude for individual hockey. The ridiculous-lockdowns year saw #22 begin to really show his talents and become a Minnesota favorite, eventually scoring over 80 points in a season. Then after last season’s playoffs we saw Fiala traded to LA. The reactions were polarizing. Fiala had become a great regular season player but the playoffs were not his pinnacle in MN. The flashes of rookie-playoff quality Fiala had in Nashville before he broke his leg never materialized in MN.

Now he’s had another good year in LA, and the Wild got Faber who has also had a good year but is affordable. Fiala is now retuning to action and might be able to play in game four. Will the Kings go seven games with EDM and will Fiala get a chance to disprove those who think he isn’t a playoff performer? Will he cause MN fans to regret and scorn the decisions made to trade him? It’s fair to say if he returns and the Kings only play a few games before elimination, it’s not a nice sample size. If the Kings beat the Oilers and Fiala is instrumental we’ll be happy for Kevin and sad for ourselves. Will Fiala be another example of a player who leaves MN to do bigger and better things while the hindsight-factor stings the State of hockey?

 

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Even if Fiala becomes a consistent 80-point scorer for the rest of his career, I won’t regret the trade one bit. 

Faber has essentially erased any concern from me about the next generation of dmen producing  an NHL starting-caliber dman. Spacek, O’Rourke, and another guy I can’t remember off the top of my head look like they need more time (and maybe a new development system). They all wore letters in their previous levels of play. I really hope they’re the next generation of the Minnesota defensive core as a whole. 

But Faber is definitively the dman I trust the most in all situations. He’s always in position, takes care of his play. He’s starting to remind me of Detroit’s Lidstrom and his defensive play. That alone is as valuable to me compared to Fiala’s offensive output. 

Oh yeah, and then there’s the future potential of Ohgren. 

Maybe under a different coaching regime I would’ve regretted the trade a bit. But Dean never really bought into Fiala’s offerings and there is no good sense in letting Dean go, so Fiala trade it is. 

Faber for Fiala is looking like a win-win. Faber seems to have filled a big flaw, where the Wild seem to have three complete d-lines now. A lot of this is already based on hindsight. Also, it’s crazy how much hindsight has seen acquired value just explode with Gustavsson, Nyquist, Faber, Mojo, Sundqvist, and Reaves in their respective ways. It’s really weird seeing trades work out so well for the Wild.

 

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6 hours ago, Protec said:

Minnesota hated Kevin’s arrival after Fenton traded Granny the night his Wife was having a baby. Fiala rolled in on a superfast-stickhandle streak with many, many rushes dying in a giveaway. As time went on and to Kevin’s credit, he improved on his aptitude for individual hockey. The ridiculous-lockdowns year saw #22 begin to really show his talents and become a Minnesota favorite, eventually scoring over 80 points in a season. Then after last season’s playoffs we saw Fiala traded to LA. The reactions were polarizing. Fiala had become a great regular season player but the playoffs were not his pinnacle in MN. The flashes of rookie-playoff quality Fiala had in Nashville before he broke his leg never materialized in MN.

Now he’s had another good year in LA, and the Wild got Faber who has also had a good year but is affordable. Fiala is now retuning to action and might be able to play in game four. Will the Kings go seven games with EDM and will Fiala get a chance to disprove those who think he isn’t a playoff performer? Will he cause MN fans to regret and scorn the decisions made to trade him? It’s fair to say if he returns and the Kings only play a few games before elimination, it’s not a nice sample size. If the Kings beat the Oilers and Fiala is instrumental we’ll be happy for Kevin and sad for ourselves. Will Fiala be another example of a player who leaves MN to do bigger and better things while the hindsight-factor stings the State of hockey?

 

Meant to reply to your post

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I think both Faber and one of Ohgren/Yurov have to work out pretty well for people to not regret that trade long-term. It also depends on where Fiala gets LA. If he helps them to a Cup Final or something, it might not really matter what happens to Minnesota unless they can win, too. 

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Kevin with two assists and a drawn penalty in the first period. 

Good for him, but sucks there wasn't much playoff production here. I will say Vegas and STL were tougher defensive teams than EDM in my opinion. They can give up 4-5 goals and still win hockey games.

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