Kevin Fiala, reborn (23 points in last 10 games)

[SupremeNachos]

royal we. he did, and does, think he's as valuable as Kaprizov. don't get me wrong i'd love to live in that magic fantasy land where he wanted like $5m/year for 8 years. that place would be great.

I'm hoping for a 3yr deal at 6.5 and that will get him to 28 and the next year the cap is projected to rise a bunch and we get the big contracts off the books. Still plenty young to cash in for a huge payday. Money talks, but Fiala wants to win just as bad. Just have to hope the CBA talks don't f*** everything up though.

 

[rynryn]

i think our best bet at a below market value deal would be him calculating the risk of not doing as well in a different situation.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

I'm hoping for a 3yr deal at 6.5 and that will get him to 28 and the next year the cap is projected to rise a bunch and we get the big contracts off the books. Still plenty young to cash in for a huge payday. Money talks, but Fiala wants to win just as bad. Just have to hope the CBA talks don't f*** everything up though.

I guess there is a bit of precedent with that, because that's what Reinhart did with Florida. But Fiala is also heading into the situation a much better player/producer than Reinhart was.

 

[42]

i think our best bet at a below market value deal would be him calculating the risk of not doing as well in a different situation.

I wonder if he's calculating the opposite, imagining the boost in production if he got top PP minutes.

 

[Dirty Dan]

I guess there is a bit of precedent with that, because that's what Reinhart did with Florida. But Fiala is also heading into the situation a much better player/producer than Reinhart was.

He's on par with kaprizov on p/60 5on5 and close to guys like matthews and barkov

with increased scoring this year 5on5 play is once again very valuable and hes vital for minnesotas secondary scoring

Hell 5on5 only really Huberdeau and Gaudreau are noticeabaly outproducing him esp in the last 3 months

 

[rynryn]

I wonder if he's calculating the opposite, imagining the boost in production if he got top PP minutes.

his contract negotiations probably feature that prominently. he has to look at his history however and think there might be a reason coaches have kept him shackled. or he could just go the route the average fan does and think it's some ridiculous personal vendetta.

 

[AKL]

He's officially a 30 goal scorer now so you can't say he's not anymore

 

[16thOverallSaveUs]

1+1 today. 75 points in 76 games. Preparing now for the disappointment I’m going to have when we get a 2nd + Blais type return

 

[rynryn]

he'd be crazy not to test free agency at this point.

 

[16thOverallSaveUs]

he'd be crazy not to test free agency at this point.

He’s an RFA

 

[rynryn]

He’s an RFA

embarrassed. but point is if I were him and no one is giving me $8m i'd sign another one year deal for an arbitrated amount and get to the big payday rather than just taking whatever lowball offer someone is chucking for long term. especially if i'm super high on my own abilities. edit: for clarification I wouldn't sign with the Wild for less than $8m/year if I were him and my overriding concern was $$

 

[seafoam]

Does he primarily play LW or RW? NYI may be looking for a "hockey trade" this summer, I wonder if something around Wahlstrom and Fiala would interest MIN?

 

[unicornpig]

I'm hoping for a 3yr deal at 6.5 and that will get him to 28 and the next year the cap is projected to rise a bunch and we get the big contracts off the books. Still plenty young to cash in for a huge payday. Money talks, but Fiala wants to win just as bad. Just have to hope the CBA talks don't f*** everything up though.

Pipe dream

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Does he primarily play LW or RW? NYI may be looking for a "hockey trade" this summer, I wonder if something around Wahlstrom and Fiala would interest MIN?

It's probably the type of trade that would be done, but I don't think Wahlstrom should be the best asset coming our way.

 

[Peasy]

The ball really is in his court. Id have to imagine if Fiala went to arb he would get ~7m on a one year deal, possibly even higher. Minny would likely have to move a player at that point to keep him for the one year, but it would walk him directly to FA and I doubt the wild would be okay with that.

So it really seems like the options are:
Wild move out a player and sign him long term
They trade him because he wants more than what they can afford

 

[Obvious Fabertism]

Guerin will likely take flak for the one year deal but at the time they said he Fiala needed to show he had the all around game to be worthy, prior to this year he hadn’t shown enough consistency or defensive acumen to be a long term commitment. He has taken massive steps forward in both regards this year, probably motivated by those comments and contract action. He said himself that playing on the PK was really huge for developing and maintaining proper defensive positioning and reads, over the last half season that has paid huge dividends in his all around play. He won’t compete for Selkes but he is vastly improved and his D play is now leading to more offensive opportunities through turnovers and rushes.

That 1 year deal may cost MN the player but I think it helped him become a far superior hockey player than he was, and Fiala is better for it. He is worth more than we can reasonably pay him, it would take a sweet heart signing to keep him, or he will be worth a haul in a trade. The team acquiring him will be getting a very good hockey player, capable of bringing fans to their feet every game with his dazzling talents and ability to break a game open.

 

[rynryn]

The ball really is in his court. Id have to imagine if Fiala went to arb he would get ~7m on a one year deal, possibly even higher. Minny would likely have to move a player at that point to keep him for the one year, but it would walk him directly to FA and I doubt the wild would be okay with that.

So it really seems like the options are:
Wild move out a player and sign him long term
They trade him because he wants more than what they can afford

exactly the situation. It's a deal, too that will exist when it's time to decide on re-signing Kaprizov and we'll have had to pay Boldy who will hopefully be a first line talent. nevermind Rossi. not sure what the goalie situation will be either.

 

[16thOverallSaveUs]

2 goals tonight. 77 points in 77 games

 

[ThatGuy22]

you shouldn't have given him 8x8 before this year unless you had no other offensive force and no prospects of such either. he is inconsistent (or has been the rest of his career) on a game-to-game basis and prone to funks, but he's having a career year like so many others this year. he is ridiculously skilled. i would have definitely given him $6m and hoped it all worked out. you never know with prospects but adding Boldy to him has been fantastic. one other worry about letting him go now is seeing if Boldy looks less shiny without Fiala. But if we're talking about the cap crunch and BEFORE this last half season smart money would be on retaining our 3rd line and 3 top 4 D. Still probably a lot smarter to do that than sign Fiala.

I'm very curious to see what happens here. I think he could get a lot more than we can afford even if we do jettison Dumba. Equally curious to see how that works out for him...I think it'll take him a while to mesh on a new team and in the meantime he's going to revert back to that frustration prone turnover machine he's been most of his career so far, which will limit his minutes with most coaches and thus limit the quality of his linemates. On a less deep team he might struggle but if we didn't have Kaprizov and we were headed into next year with otherwise the same roster I'd very much want the Wild to throw all the money at him. As it is Boldy looks great, and Rossi looks very very good in the AHL. Our D has looked a lot worse off without Dumba and though there are a few really optimistic people out there who think Addison is a top 4 D I'm not one of them--especially when he'll be carrying his pair.

edit: just to emphasize his metrics have been good season wise but game to game is where coaches seem to have trouble trusting him. he's a mess some nights or streaks of games and that makes it hard to justify deploying him every night with first line minutes.

Off the topic of the thread, why would Addison need to carry the pair. He'd almost certainly be paired with Brodin while Spurgeon and Middleton remain together.

 

[NHL1674]

Guerin is so screwed. I mean screwed like he's never been screwed before.

 

[north21]

Pay him Guerin!

 

[42]

Guerin is so screwed. I mean screwed like he's never been screwed before.

More screwed than Kaprizov screwed last summer?

 

[NyQuil]

I know he was a big target for Ottawa but he’s probably unavailable for the Sens now with how he’s performed.

Oh well. We aren’t exactly a top contender so not so attractive to potential options.

 

[LudwigVonKarlsson]

I know he was a big target for Ottawa but he’s probably unavailable for the Sens now with how he’s performed.

Oh well. We aren’t exactly a top contender so not so attractive to potential options.

Fiala and Giroux are pipe dreams. Sens only sign bottom of the barrel players who are 30+ and cost less than 2M.

 

[NyQuil]

Fiala and Giroux are pipe dreams. Sens only sign bottom of the barrel players who are 30+ and cost less than 2M.

Exciting times!