GDT: 2023-24 season game 68 LA Kings vs Chicago BlackHawks @7:00pm 3/19/24

[RayMartyniukTotems]

Why are some posters all over Fiala? He's great when he's on and OK when he's not,kind of like most of our top players...yep Minnesota got themselves a good maybe great young D-man but we got scoring prowess and Offense and if I'm not mistaken this team has lacked that seems like forever

 

[kingsholygrail]

If Fiala shows up for the playoffs, I'll give him some grace, but even then coughing up a cost controlled 15-20 year top pairing right-handed dman is an ugly trade now matter how you slice it.

Right now Fiala hasn't given us anything Andreas Athanasiou hasn't, he's just one sereis-losing handoff to McDavid short from being that guy. Fortunately for him PLD may just beat him to it, it's a coin flip, and would be a fun prop bet.

"points to the exclusion of all else" is the polar opposite of "toughness that can't play" and just as useless and the Kings have both!

You've lost your mind. I'm not dignifying the rest of your post.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

You've lost your mind. I'm not dignifying the rest of your post.
View attachment 838934

Huh, that looks Eerily like this, does it not?

 

[kingsholygrail]

Huh, that looks Eerily like this, does it not?

View attachment 838936

What the actual f*** are you talking about?

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

What the actual f*** are you talking about?

That andreas athanasiou statline is almost identical to playoff Fiala.

Until he shows up for the playoffs, I'm not impressed with Fiala and PLD beating up college club teams, and giving up 15-20 years of a top pairing dman for the right to watch it.

 

[King'sPawn]

There seems to be a wide gap of agreement or understanding between the two sides of the Fiala coin.

I'm a Faber fan and didn't like the trade. I still don't. But I think it's fair to say Fiala has a skillset that, if on the right team, could complement them well and could be a dangerous force on the ice.

I just don't think the Kings are the right team, especially at the time they got him.

While he's gifted offensively, he makes extremely dumb and selfish plays every game, sometimes at a rate the Kings can't overcome. They don't have to lead to goals directly. They are momentum killers on the Kings or momentum builders for the opposition.

With the "Kopitar replacement" being an inconsistent malcontent; with the current Kopitar having years of being overplayed catch up to him; with an organization who would slow boil a cremation if they had the opportunity, it's just not a fit.

It's like a 40 year-old dating a 21 year-old. Sure, it can work, but both parties are in completely different phases in life.

 

[YAYSAY]

I love Fiala as a player, he's very fun to watch. I think the main issue is the timing of the trade. Fiala should have been the Carter or Gaborik acquisition. That final dynamic piece that gets an already good team to become a scary threat for the cup. I think most of us would have been okay giving up Faber for Fiala if the Kings were already in a good spot and it got us that necessary inch closer to the cup. It was just a trade made too early imo.

 

[kingsholygrail]

That andreas athanasiou statline is almost identical to playoff Fiala.

Until he shows up for the playoffs, I'm not impressed with Fiala and PLD beating up college club teams, and giving up 15-20 years of a top pairing dman for the right to watch it.

He had six points in three games last year. Your comparison has no merit. At all. You're just mad.

 

[Frolov 6'3]

Fiala's "fun" to watch but like I said, Kings aren't winning shit with him. They had a much better chance of getting somewhere with a young player that would be with them for a decade plus than a shiny toy that'll be broken and thrown in the closet sooner than later, but hey at least he's leading the Kings in points this year, straight to the black hole. You also got deez nutz liking your post so that should tell you something.

Where exactly is this based on, sentiment?
Fiala is 27 as well and not an 32 year old vet.

Odds are LA will not win a cup with either Faber or Fiala rather soon.

This is one of the very worst trades in franchise history.

Lol.

Just keep hitting this agenda.

 

[Sol]

You've got the energy for Fiala like the guy that's ecstatic he married the stripper because she's "hot" only to be shocked when six months later she's banging your neighbor and your savings account is empty. That's fine, you do you.

Fiala's "fun" to watch but like I said, Kings aren't winning shit with him. They had a much better chance of getting somewhere with a young player that would be with them for a decade plus than a shiny toy that'll be broken and thrown in the closet sooner than later, but hey at least he's leading the Kings in points this year, straight to the black hole. You also got deez nutz liking your post so that should tell you something.

With the amount of detail you put in your fanfic I think you're talking from experience so RIP to your account. On the note of Fiala though, Kings leading scorer for an eternity has been Kopitar so Fiala taking up the mantle over everyone else proves that he's been a great acquisition. Just because Faber is a good player that doesn't mean Fiala is a bad one. Fiala is a great player, Faber is potentially a great player too. Kings threw Sean Walker as a throw away, Clarke is riding pine, and Doughty whether rain or shine would have been undoubtedly taking the spotlight from Faber. You need to come to terms that Minnesota Faber was most likely not going to be that guy in LA. History proves it. Kings aren't losing or whatever because Fiala isn't a great player. He's a phenomenal player, the Kings as an organization are trash. Its absolutely moronic the lightning rod effect people seem to attribute to Faber as if he was not only going to be the same player in the organization as he is in the Wild, but he was also going to make the Kings a better team. Kings dont have a roster problem, they have a management problem. Learn to appreciate the best talent Kings have had since Palffy rather than getting in your feelings over brain dead hypotheticals.

 

[Telos]

I definitely don't want to enter this debate, but I am typing anyway I would just say that Fiala was a difference maker in the postseason last year and almost tilted the scales to eliminating Edmonton when he entered the series. It is just the ultimate weight on the scale is McDavid and the Kings just flat out don't have an answer for him whenever they go all-in offense or on the powerplay. Overall, King's Pawn is right, Fiala and the Kings are mismatched and at different stages. Fiala would be amazing on a sound contender and is a bit of a liability on a delicate team like the Kings who are all sorts of out of balance now.

However, he has been decent and has cleaned up his game a bit these last couple of months since Drew called him out. You can't really argue that he doesn't care, he clearly cares about winning, scoring, and does listen to his teammates despite his selfish drive.

In the end though, Fiala is like 5-10 on the list of problems or worries for the team and if we are praying to the hockey gods that Fiala carries this team on his back in the postseason we are setting ourselves up for disappointment. PLD showing a pulse and having our centers both show up and match up to the other team are infinitely higher, not to mention defense and goaltending... Can our offense still generate? What's the point of having depth scorers and small/weakish mobile defensemen if they aren't contributing and scoring? The Kings were built to be a speedy, skilled, high-scoring team, and they literally can't be and have to turtle every game, playing 1-3-1 and doing everything they can to overprotect their goaltender and hope they can counter some offense in the meantime. Fiala is one of the few that can effectively do that, but that certainly can't be relied upon.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

View attachment 838939
He had six points in three games last year. Your comparison has no merit. At all. You're just mad.

Now go back to the 'points to the exclusion of all else' line, realize he got crushed anyway, and try to remember when they called his name in a positive way.

CF% in the 30s, only better than Kupari, Grundstrom, JAD. They were 0-3 with Fiala in the lineup.

Glad he got a few PP assists though, I'm really convinced. He showed up big on the powerplay only for one game. Great. Totally worth 8.5 million and a 1st pairing dman and a 1st.

Now to his credit he has been great lately but I don't see at all why it's controversial that we want more from him when it matters.

 

[Sol]

Not only do people seem to have even more brain rot towards Fiala than they accuse him for having, but the playoffs comparison is idiotic too. It takes selective memory to forget that Fiala returned to the Oilers series INJURED. The same medical staff that allowed him to play the next game while he was hobbling on the ice.

 

[Bandit]

With the amount of detail you put in your fanfic I think you're talking from experience so RIP to your account. On the note of Fiala though, Kings leading scorer for an eternity has been Kopitar so Fiala taking up the mantle over everyone else proves that he's been a great acquisition. Just because Faber is a good player that doesn't mean Fiala is a bad one. It's one of the most low IQ logical fallacies that people like you perpetuate. Fiala is a great player, Faber is potentially a great player too. Kings threw Sean Walker as a throw away, Clarke is riding pine, and Doughty whether rain or shine would have been undoubtedly taking the spotlight from Faber. You need to come to terms that Minnesota Faber was most likely not going to be that guy in LA. History proves it. Kings aren't losing or whatever because Fiala isn't a great player. He's a phenomenal player, the Kings as an organization are trash. Its absolutely moronic the lightning rod effect people seem to attribute to Faber as if he was not only going to be the same player in the organization as he is in the Wild, but he was also going to make the Kings a better team. Kings dont have a roster problem, they have a management problem. Learn to appreciate the best talent Kings have had since Palffy rather than getting in your feelings over brain dead hypotheticals.

- I never dated strippers, only hookers.
- I have never said Fiala is a "bad" player, but if you want to make shit up, be a dick and throw insults and see who gets banned first, I can play that game.
- The Kings have both a roster problem and a management problem

 

[kingsholygrail]

Now go back to the 'points to the exclusion of all else' line, realize he got crushed anyway, and try to remember when they called his name in a positive way.

CF% in the 30s, only better than Kupari, Grundstrom, JAD. They were 0-3 with Fiala in the lineup.

Glad he got a few PP assists though, I'm really convinced. He showed up big on the powerplay only for one game. Great. Totally worth 8.5 million and a 1st pairing dman and a 1st.

Now to his credit he has been great lately but I don't see at all why it's controversial that we want more from him when it matters.

We want more from everyone when it matters. But you're saying Andreas and Fiala are the same player and you're just flat out wrong on an astronomical level.

 

[Sol]

- I never dated strippers, only hookers.
- I have never said Fiala is a "bad" player, but if you want to make shit up, be a dick and throw insults and see who gets banned first, I can play that game.
- The Kings have both a roster problem and a management problem

Isn't that pretty much your identity on HF? I didn't know I was going below the belt lol. I'll be nicer.

Yes the Kings have a management problem by far.

 

[AbsentMojo]

[..]

With the "Kopitar replacement" being an inconsistent malcontent; with the current Kopitar having years of being overplayed catch up to him; with an organization who would slow boil a cremation if they had the opportunity, it's just not a fit.

Thats hilarious lolol. Let them cook (ie boil)

 

[tny760]

There seems to be a wide gap of agreement or understanding between the two sides of the Fiala coin.

I'm a Faber fan and didn't like the trade. I still don't. But I think it's fair to say Fiala has a skillset that, if on the right team, could complement them well and could be a dangerous force on the ice.

I just don't think the Kings are the right team, especially at the time they got him.

While he's gifted offensively, he makes extremely dumb and selfish plays every game, sometimes at a rate the Kings can't overcome. They don't have to lead to goals directly. They are momentum killers on the Kings or momentum builders for the opposition.

With the "Kopitar replacement" being an inconsistent malcontent; with the current Kopitar having years of being overplayed catch up to him; with an organization who would slow boil a cremation if they had the opportunity, it's just not a fit.

It's like a 40 year-old dating a 21 year-old. Sure, it can work, but both parties are in completely different phases in life.

in my head, i still tend to think of danault as the "real" "kopitar replacement" because yknow, had things not changed with and following the fiala acquisition, we'd be looking at kopitar retiring this offseason and QB potentially being groomed more as a 2C on a bad team on the upswing. PLD is purely an ill-advised double down to me but the fiala trade is the crux

i don't hate fiala either, i think his contract is swallowable at worst, but he's now symbolic of the pivot management made and i think that makes him a lightning rod naturally. i do think though, like you say, it's a wide gap of agreement among most here

don't mean to parrot @Herby 's post here but this is an awful nasty hindsight to be stuck looking at: LA KINGS 2023/4 Regular season discussion especially because that's not even like "man if we woulda drafted erik karlsson instead of colton teubert" fantasy, it was just fumbled right there at arm's reach

 

[Sol]

I think if people get hard-stuck on how prospects perform on other teams then it’s honestly going to be extremely miserable to be happy about anything on the Kings. The Kings were never going to give up 1D and 1C to anyone else. And that’s a fact. Doesn’t matter how good anyone is playing on other teams. Those spots simply were never going to get filled. Clarke can’t even stay on this roster regularly. Kaliyev is riding pine for no reason. Vilardi got traded while he was breaking out. Turcotte was left to rot in the minors for so long so random goons can headshot him.

Fiala is an amazing player and there was a spot for him, you can’t say that for Faber. So it doesn’t feel like we lost anything really. And on top of that I am more pissed we lost Vilardi when we in fact had a spot for him. He was doing great on this team. And the worst part, they traded him for a bum.

This management is a joke and many great young players have been shafted due to it. Only Byfield realistically made it from the rebuild.

The anger should be reserved for Vilardi being traded not Faber. Vilardi had a spot on this team and he was shining. There was no real spot for Faber which most likely he would never have shined. Faber would not even be allowed to leapfrog Roy. There should be more anger for the Kings losing Sean Walker as a throw away rather than a guy who was recently traded for a first and is performing well. At worst with Faber the Kings got a really good Faber. We’ve lost a lot of good players for much less.

 

[Bandit]

OR people can be disappointed in more than one thing about this franchise. There's an idea

- Disappointed they traded Faber
- Disappointed they traded Vildardi
- Disappointed they traded for PLD
- Disappointed they dicked around Clarke
- Disappointed they haven't been fired for being incompetent dickweeds

It's possible that one can believe in ALL of these things, and shouldn't have to address all of them every time they talk about one of them.

 

[Sol]

OR people can be disappointed in more than one thing about this franchise. There's an idea

- Disappointed they traded Faber
- Disappointed they traded Vildardi
- Disappointed they traded for PLD
- Disappointed they dicked around Clarke
- Disappointed they haven't been fired for being incompetent dickweeds

It's possible that one can believe in ALL of these things, and shouldn't have to address all of them every time they talk about one of them.

Be disappointed sure, I don’t have an issue with that. I have an issue with people’s disappointment over the trade bleeds into dishonesty about the caliber of player Fiala is.

I have zero issue with people not like any of the moves. I have an issue with the vitriol people have towards Fiala WHILE he’s the leading scorer on the team. You can hate the trade and acknowledge he’s a fantastic player all at once.

 

[DoktorJeep]

There’s nothing to read into from last night. As a fan you take the easy win and quickly move on. Even if you're hoping for a playoff miracle, you’re looking ahead to Saturday night against the lightning.

Assuming we beat a so-so team in the Wild, if Tampa waxes us right after, what’s the point of dreaming of the impossible?

When your ceiling is mediocrity, then you live and die with short term results.

 

[King'sPawn]

I admit it's really disorienting being on the outside of a fight. Who has the digital popcorn? Or are there nachos? I like nachos.

 

[bland]

Where exactly is this based on, sentiment?
Fiala is 27 as well and not an 32 year old vet.

Odds are LA will not win a cup with either Faber or Fiala rather soon.


Lol.

Just keep hitting this agenda.

My agenda is to support a team that makes the best decisions it can to be worth my time supporting it.

I don't know what you are trying to say here, but you are failing miserably.

 

[bland]

We want more from everyone when it matters. But you're saying Andreas and Fiala are the same player and you're just flat out wrong on an astronomical level.

They have identical impact on this organization.

Which is, that the team plays better without them.

Stats mean nothing, they are just trumped up window dressing folks misuse as a tool to explain something on a base level. It doesn't matter one bit who "leads the team in scoring". So what? The team is mediocre, Fiala is a mediocre "best" player on a team that finished in the exact same place as they did the year before with Athanasiou in that "skilled but cannot play with other skilled players" role.

Fiala was a ridiculously expensive bandaid. He is a second page scorer, meaning you have to click on page 2 to find him on a leader board. He has talent to be one of the best, but frankly just isn't smart enough to maximize it. He was a half measure at the expense of a world class player.