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

[Flgatorguy87]

Hated the trade then and I hate it now. Incredibly frustrating to quit on a guy with that much potential. He would be not only invaluable to us this year, but financially he would've been an ideal fit for a Nashville team that is suddenly having to make difficult roster decisions.

 

[turkleton85]

He actually got lucky because he lost the puck there. It just looked like a deke.

I'm not so sure

 

[Soundgarden]

I think that popular take is BS. Why would Nashville trade this guy? He is the kind of player you build around. And now the end game approaches, and perhaps Granlund walks and Nashville is left with nothing. Years of control was a huge part of the trade.

At the time of the trade Fiala was a one dimensional scorer who was probably our worse defensive player. Mikael Granlund was only 26 and his previous two seasons would have been the 5th and 7th best offensive season our team has ever had. Nobody could have imagined that Granlund would go from 60 points a year to playing like an AHLer under Laviolette.

Rumored attitude issues when Fiala was sent down that culminated in fighting Arvidsson in practice made it a lot easier to move on from him despite his potential, and picking up Granlund should have been a no brainer.

Glad to see him grow as a person and a player, sad it couldn't have been with us.

 

[Predsanddead24]

Sucks that Fiala playing so well could knock us out of the playoffs, but I do enjoy watching the rather large portion of our fanbase that for some reason hates Fiala with the fire of a thousand suns eat crow on him.

 

[thestonedkoala]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there some rumblings that Wild wouldn't be able to / didn't want to extend Granlund for what he was rumored to ask?

They didn't even try to negotiate ala Burns. But yes, the rumor was I think around 7-8 million.

 

[TaLoN]

They didn't even try to negotiate ala Burns. But yes, the rumor was I think around 7-8 million.

The Wild never reached the point of being able to negotiate. That would have been in the summer... he was long gone by then.

 

[Drewcifer]

One of the reasons the Wild have done so poorly in the playoffs is that they lacked that dynamic scorer who could get them over the hump in close games. Fiala looks like he is on the cusp of becoming that player. They still have work to do to become a contender (center and goaltending) but they may only be a couple pieces away. They already have a top tier blue line. Fiala's emergence along with the addition of Kaprizov could make this a short rebuild.

 

[yeaher]

Nashville squandered a great roster

 

[16thOverallSaveUs]

Wound, meet salt:

 

[MuckOG]

Sixk goal

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

"A simple hot streak" of 55 games.

 

[PuckThumper11]

Was scratched earlier in the year, but now has 13 points in last 14 games while being our best forward for a while now. Has been flashing skills that wild fans haven’t seen out of a player in a long long time.

I watched this guy the other night against Columbus. He's definitely a special talent. He's going places for sure...

 

[Chrisinroch]

Nice backcheck

 

[TaLoN]

 

[TaLoN]

Edit: Nvm, Jerry's won...pt back still

 

[16thOverallSaveUs]

50 points in last 51 games—> put some respect in the name.

 

[TaLoN]

Fiala with 5 goals, 11pts in last 5 games. 12 goals, 23 points in his last 15 games.

 

[Northerner]

Dude...hhe's like 22. He's literally a kid.

 

[TaLoN]

 

[16thOverallSaveUs]

 

[NHL1674]

I can't see Fiala without thinking of this kid.

 

[TheeNorthStar]

Fiala for Hart

 

[SoundAndFury]

So the guy who had no idea and was ridiculed for this trade was right all along. Amazing.

 

[MK9]

So the guy who had no idea and was ridiculed for this trade was right all along. Amazing.

Yeah...neat. There's one in a row.

If Donato can figure it out, that'd be great. Luckily he's still pretty damn young. Hopefully he pulls a Fiala and flips the switch. Til that happens though, Fiala is about the only Fenton-ism that's worked out and that was iffy for a bit there.

And Rask...that's all kinds of lost cause...

So, 1 out of 3 doesn't exactly keep you in the majors.

 

[SMTHook]

Yeah...neat. There's one in a row.

If Donato can figure it out, that'd be great. Luckily he's still pretty damn young. Hopefully he pulls a Fiala and flips the switch. Til that happens though, Fiala is about the only Fenton-ism that's worked out and that was iffy for a bit there.

And Rask...that's all kinds of lost cause...

So, 1 out of 3 doesn't exactly keep you in the majors.

1 out of 3 is plenty if that one is HOF. This will be a decade of fun. Elite offensive skill. Top 5 in the NHL. Enjoy the ride.