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

[bland]

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.

You need to go ba k and watch thise games because the Kings were capable of winning that series right up until Fiala came back and they got caved in.

His reckless style of play is infectious - EVERYBODY would love to play care-free, blind pass, dumb offense-only hockey. His first game back and the Kings changed their style, got out to a big lead, then were never able to dial in back in and got routed.

 

[RayMartyniukTotems]

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.

If they had waited on Fiala he would landed elsewhere...there was no waiting for Blake and the Minnesota Cap Crunch

 

[Telos]

You need to go ba k and watch thise games because the Kings were capable of winning that series right up until Fiala came back and they got caved in.

His reckless style of play is infectious - EVERYBODY would love to play care-free, blind pass, dumb offense-only hockey. His first game back and the Kings changed their style, got out to a big lead, then were never able to dial in back in and got routed.

While I agree that he is a high-risk player, he was pretty lethal against Edmonton, and they struggled to keep him off the board when he entered. He certainly may have cost them goals against, but were also directly responsible for igniting the offense and putting up 2 PPG during the series. He finished a plus player in both the regular season and the playoffs, and has taken steps this year to get better at cleaning up his game. He will never be perfect, but all I am really saying is that while Fiala deserves some criticism and concern, he is also our leading scorer, the most directly talented player on the team, and not our biggest problem really by a mile. The trade looks out of place, but is no where near our worst. PLD is so vastly worse and it is unconceivable to compare the two (not that you or anyone here is).

 

[Frolov 6'3]

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.

It’s actually borderline trolling to call a PPG player a second line winger (of course, points suddenly mean nothing anymore when it fits your narrative) and to call this one of the worst trades in franchise history.

Than you can’t be taken seriously anymore.

That’s what this miserably failing person is saying here. You can dislike the trade, fine, but get out of here with that other nonsense. You only waste bandwith.

 

[YAYSAY]

If they had waited on Fiala he would landed elsewhere...there was no waiting for Blake and the Minnesota Cap Crunch

FOMO isn't a good reason to make a move though. It's not like it was Fiala or bust. And again, I like him, he's fun to watch, I just wish he had been the final piece they needed rather than trying to use him as the building block of the team.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

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.

That's not what I said. But you also said you were done 3 posts ago so if you're going to just put words in my mouth instead of look at the literal data I provided, just agree to disagree and move on.

I'm willing to grant he's injured but if you're digging in your heels on 'but he scored' in response to my 'points over all else is the problem' I don't know what else to tell you. He's a fantastic offensive player that, so far, hasn't done much more than hurt us when the going gets tough. That is how he is similar to AA. He's obviously a more skilled player. I'm rooting for him, he's putting int he work lately. But objectively, over his whole career, he's been a playoff pushover.

And ultimately it's just circling back around to where we started, I appreciate that Blake went out to get offense, but he started spending assets like a binge gambler getting high on his own supply and make teams around the league--including those we're in direct competition with--better while we're literally worse.

 

[Frolov 6'3]

And ultimately it's just circling back around to where we started, I appreciate that Blake went out to get offense, but he started spending assets like a binge gambler getting high on his own supply and make teams around the league--including those we're in direct competition with--better while we're literally worse.

How is Blake a gambler and did he make teams, we are in direct competition with, better.

You too, gave Blake credit for this trade and thought it was a good trade for both teams with Faber being an asset for Minny but one we could easily move.

Now he suddenly has failed.

 

[kingsfan28]

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