June 30: The team has now officially announced the seven-year extension, which will carry a cap hit of $7.875MM. CapFriendly reported yesterday that the contract includes a no-movement clause in years 2-4 and a limited no-trade clause in years 5-7.
June 29: The Los Angeles Kings have acquired the restricted free agent rights to winger Kevin Fiala from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for their 2022 first-round selection and defense prospect Brock Faber, per The Athletic’s Michael Russo. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report Fiala heading to Southern California.
As confirmed by the league just hours earlier, the Los Angeles selection that the Wild are acquiring will be the 19th overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. The Wild now own picks 19 and 24 in the first round.
It’s important to note an extension between the Kings and Fiala still needs to be worked out, but with the Kings having nearly $20MM in projected cap space this summer per CapFriendly (and Fiala having arbitration rights), the contract itself is an eventuality, with TSN’s Chris Johnston reporting there’s a long-term extension in place. Friedman is reporting a cap hit of $7.9MM, and Johnston is reporting a seven-year term.
It’s hard to think that Fiala won’t become a spectacular fit within the Kings organization. The 25-year-old’s 85 points in 2021-22 would have led the Kings by 18, with Anze Kopitar leading them in scoring with 67 points. It’s also hard to think that Fiala won’t join a line with Kopitar (and likely 2022 All-Star Adrian Kempe) as the Kings’ top unit. Suddenly, with a support group behind them that includes Phillip Danault, Viktor Arvidsson, Alex Iafallo, and up-and-comers like Quinton Byfield and Arthur Kaliyev, Los Angeles looks poised to build on last year’s playoff appearance and solidify themselves as real players in the Western Conference. Of note, it’s also a reunion between Fiala and Arvidsson, who both were developed and got their starts with the Nashville Predators.
While it’s no top-five pick like some expected, the Wild get two quality pieces in return for Fiala as well. Faber, a Minnesota native, exploded onto the scene this year as one of the premier two-way defense prospects in the game, notching 14 points in 32 games with the University of Minnesota and getting the call to the United States Olympic team. Just 19 years old, Faber was the 45th overall selection in the 2020 draft by the Kings. The Wild are also likely to receive a high-upside prospect with the 19th overall pick. Some potential selections, according to TSN’s Bob McKenzie’s rankings based on NHL scout surveys, are another Minnesota native in Jimmy Snuggerud (ranked 17th), Czech utility forward Jiri Kulich (ranked 18th), Russian sniper (and cancer survivor) Ivan Miroschnichenko (ranked 19th), sniper and University of Minnesota-Duluth commit Isaac Howard (ranked 20th), or Swedish forwards Liam Ohgren and Noah Ostlund (ranked 21st and 22nd). While none of those likely have the offensive upside of Fiala, combined with the addition of Faber, it seems to be close to fair value at first impression.
Expect this deal to open the floodgates for moves and deals ahead of the 2022 NHL Draft next week.
The Athletic’s Michael Russo was the first to report the full details of the trade.
I just Googled to see if there was any video of Rob Blake destroying Bill Guerin with a brutal open ice hit…as an analogy for this trade.
JUST a bottom half first rounder and a college kid for Fiala’s rights? Cap hell or no, damn, this was a heist and a half. Blake wiping Guerin out with a hit sounds exactly right.
Great move by the Kings here and retaining all of their top prospects. Tough for the Wild being in a bind. At least they snag a 1st rounder and a prospect when they likely couldn’t retain him if he had signed an offer sheet elsewhere.
Wish the Bruins would take notes here.
Very few teams have the cap space for Fiala’s new contract and an excellent prospect pool to facilitate a trade with a team that is not taking any asset/player that will count against the salary cap for the next 3 years.
Guerin’s hands were tied with the Parise and Suter buyouts and this was more then likely his best offer. Would not be surprised to see Dumba finally traded as well.
We have to assume this was his best offer. The Kings bought one year of RFA and the right to negotiate his first UFA extension. That’s really not much that your getting if you assume the UFA years come at market value. It’s about what they would have given up if they got him with an offer sheet.
That’s the thing, in a trade like this, it’s the other GM’s who (likely) failed, not Guerin.
Doubt he passed on an offer of three firsts because he wanted to move a guy with 5 letters in both names for a guy with 5 letters in both names.
“Kevin Fiala for Brock Faber, yes, it’s too perfect!”
Some other GM should have been able to top this offer and land a high end player for his team, but they tried to low ball.
You also have to take the contract into account. I’m sure there might have been teams willing to match or even beat the offer that was accepted, but maybe weren’t willing to give out the necessary contract to lock Fiala up long term.
Then he should have strung it out for longer. The notion that teams will only pay well for long term contracts is bunk: better packages are paid for lesser rentals with two months left under contract around the trade deadline every year.
You are correct about that. The trick is you have to be able to carry that players cap hit until the trade deadline. I don’t think the Wild thought they were in a position to do that.
I’m just happy to see there are a few Kings’ fans here.
GKG!
Great for the Kings, sucks to be in Cap-Hell for Minny!
Now trade Dumba to the Pens and make Tanger a FA! LOL
Given the situation I think it’s a reasonable return for the Wild.
Everyone knew they had to move Fiala, there’s multiple wingers supposedly available via trade, and Fiala had some leverage being an RFA – very easily could have been other deals contingent on a contract extension to teams Fiala didn’t want to sign with.
All of that needs to be factored in and I think Billy did fine given the hand he dealt himself
Considering everybody knew Fiala pretty much needed to be traded, this is a fine return for Minnesota, even if it isn’t what he is probably worth. I hope this sets the market for cap crunched teams looking to trade off good players on large contracts or unsigned RFA’s. Could make for a very interesting couple of weeks before the draft.
Blake gives way to much money and term to a guy that has had a great season and a half In his career. Wow!!!!
All I can say is Kempe better get the same or more because way better player more upside..
I’ll have whatever you are smoking!
Steal for the Kings.
FYI. Fiala has been a notorious underachiever throughout his career except when he was being coached by Dean Evason. Fiala played for Evason In Minnesota obviously and In Milwaukee.
I like it
How about signing him to his QO and trading him salary retained?
Bet you would get a lot more
Fletcher wake up
Had to move him before he was offer sheeted! A 1st, 2nd, 3rd is about the same as what they got for him.
The Kings are close now. They took Edmonton to seven games without Drew Doughty, Victor Ardvisson and other defense men.
One more run at the cup for Quick and Kopitar…..maybe two or more.
They need better goalie play. Cal seems to have regressed. Quick while he has his moments has a lot of mileage on him.
Well, that puts to rest a Forsberg to LA scenario now. Good news for the Preds.
Kings still have next years first and plenty of prospects/cap
They also have alot of good young players who will need new contracts in the next few yeats. Can’t use up all that cap space now.
The Kings are a good young team, Now they just need Cal Petersen to get his mojo back.
They need to trade Quick, sign a goalie for half of his salary, and have some cap for another acquisition
Any Kings fans have an educated guess what the lines would look like with Fiala?
Iafallo. Kopitar. Kempe
Fiala. Danault. Arvidsson
Moore. Byfield. Vilardi
Lemieux. Lizotte or Tynan. Kaliyev
Thanks.
A quick glance at the roster…if Byfield can make a leap and be a legit 2C OR be the centerpiece in a trade to bring back a 2 C, pushing Danault down to being a high end 3rd line center…that would be an elite forward group with proper balance.
That is for sure but do they need a tough guy to help out with young talent…
7 RFA’s to sign with $12M, PLD would require them to trade about $8M in salary to get…..No?
Strome or Paul would be major additions…still have life in their careers…
So would Byfield and the 2023 1st rounder plus something else (Kaliyev?) to the Rebuilding Montreal Canadians for 1st line Center Nick Suzuki
Byfield and a first sounds like the kind of package Chevy would take for Dubois.
A second line of Fiala – Dubois – Arviddsson would be pretty insane.
as big and hopeful as I was for Faber, this is a great move for my squad… people can worry about Quick and Petersen all they want(Quick’s retiring a King btw), but we’ll get it dialed in by the trade deadline, if not sooner. Cal’s contract isn’t THAT massive and we can add a prospect to sweeten whatever potential deal that will make us even more competitive.
right on Blakey… two hands on the wheel this year and then this bus should be driving itself! #GoKings
Heard rumor once Faber said he was going back to school(could have been made up by a click bait artist) that Brock wouldn’t sign with the Kings at any point.
This seems pretty fair, not understanding why people are so far on the Kings’ side. I think Kings got the better end but Fiala wasn’t going to be around in Minn any longer and everyone knew it. A mid first round pick could very well be an equal player to Fiala, plus that contract won’t even start on the entry level portion for a year or two. With the cap penalties replacing players that are getting contracts like Fiala just got with potentially high end cheap players is important.
Wild probably want to unload Dumba soon, and it’s be nice if they could rid themselves of Spurgeon in the next couple of years. They need right defenseman to replace them and Faber looks like he’s going to be a great player…. Who also is not even on his entry level deal yet.
No, on form, the 19th pick probably WON’T be equal to Fiala. Going back from the 2018 draft?
2018: Jay O’Brien, has yet to see pro action
2017: Joshua Norris, good pick, but not yet a Fiala
2016: Kiefer Bellows, so far a 3rd liner
2015: Evgeny Svechnikov, so far barely a FOURTH liner
2014: Anthony DeAngelo; good on the ice, at least, but still no Fiala
2013: Kerby Rychel; (snorts)
2012: Fellow named Vasilevskiy.
2011: Oscar Klefbom; certainly a useful player and borderline star.
2010: Nick Bjugstad; topped out as a middle-sixer, but he hasn’t been that much the last three years.
2009: Chris Kreider; certainly superior to Fiala.
2008: Luca Sbisa; middle-pairing D-man at best.
2007: Logan MacMillan; peaked as an AHL scrub, out of hockey for three years.
2006: Mark Mitera; four seasons as a minor-leaguer, long out of hockey.
2005: Jakub Kindl; played a few seasons as a #6-7 D man for the Wings. Back in Europe for several years.
2004: Lauri Korpikoski; had two decent middle-six seasons for the Yotes, several more as a 4th liner.
So there you have it. Fifteen years of #19. One superstar. One other elite player. Three other top-line/top-pairing guys. Five useful NHLers, but no stars. The others, AHLers at best.
Hell, run the same for the top FIVE picks in the draft and you come up with croppers: guys who weren’t as good as hoped (Ladd, Bogosian, Jack and Erik Johnson, Pouliot, Alzner), guys who were horribly late to develop (Niederreiter), guys who were near busts (Gudbranson, Dal Colle, Schenn) and guys who WERE busts (Barker, Yakupov, Reinhart, Hickey).
A first rounder for Fiala just doesn’t match the odds. TWO first rounders would.
I agree with parts of what you’re saying but you’re leaving things out and changing what I said at the same time.
I said very well could be, not probably will be.
Looking only at pick #19 isn’t fair at all, every player picked at 19 or later is an option in any of those drafts.
You’re leaving out the entire argument for Faber.
You’re leaving out the cap situation.
You’re leaving out the Wild are in a corner and the entire league knew they were going to have to trade Fiala.
That all being said I agree that draft picks are a lottery ticket, but for the situation they’re in I don’t think they did bad. I don’t see them getting much more than what they did given all those circumstances.
You think the numbers aren’t a whole lot worse running it from #19 to later? I would have posted those instead, except that I figured you’d complain that they had a better pick than lower rounds.
Yeah, the Wild are in a cap situation, and yeah, it was expected by most that they needed to trade Fiala, but so what? He’s an elite player all the same, and nothing prevented the Wild from stringing it out.
And yes, I’m leaving out Faber. He’s a *prospect*. He hasn’t played a single pro game yet. Do I need to spell out how VERY many “great prospects” who were 1st rounders never did much of anything? There is no “argument” for Faber. There’s just wishful thinking. On form, even if he did pan out, he’s four years away from the NHL.
1 Arvidsson Kopitar Kempe, 2 Iafallo Danault Fiala. Imagine play by play people saying Iafallo and Fiala all night, Could be comical.
As much as we want to declare victory for one side or another It’s simply Impossible to know the outcome of this transaction at least for now and likely for several seasons.
This is very much a Kings type move for a scoring forward. I’m not sold on Byfield yet so leaving him on the 3C with AHL line mates may work out best. If they need to get rid of salary either for a LHD or for flexibility, Iafallo is the contract that needs to go.