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

[Soundgarden]

Poor Nashville. How many of their big trades have worked out for them?

Jones for Johansen - I think everyone knew that Jones would be the better player, but more was expected out of Johansen at this point.
Girard and co. for Turris - another top 4 young Dman moved for a C that has not played the way they hoped
Weber for Subban - was supposed to be a clear win given the age gap and term left but they opted to move off Subban and now bear the risk of recapture down the line
Fiala for Granlund - Granny just has not meshed in Nashville. Good player and had a very good track record with Minny. Just never found his game in Nashville. Fiala, Nashville had hopes for, but they must have felt that Granny would put them over the top now.

Eh, everyone knew we would lose any Jones trade, but we don't make the finals or win the Presidents trophy without Johansen. This one worked out even if we lost the trade handily.

Girard isn't anywhere close to as good as Josi or Ekholm are and we desperately needed center depth so he was a luxury we could afford to trade. Turris started off well here but since then he's been constantly injured or in the doghouse before Laviolette left.

We won both Subban trades handily, again we don't make the finals with Weber instead of Subban, and then when we saw that Subban was declining rapidly we moved him for some good assets without retaining anything.

Granlund is what we were hoping Fiala would turn out to be if we were lucky, in 20+ years Nashville only had 6 players with 67+ points and Granlund had just posted 67 and 69 seasons at the time of the trade, how does he go from that to the most invisible player I've ever seen play?
It's funny though, Poile is always acquiring players with reported "attitude issues", (Johansen, Duchene, Turris, etc) and the one time we trade one away he immediately breaks out.

All of these trades made sense at the time and gelled with our window,

 

[vanarchy]

That Kevin Fiala is so hot right now

 

[16thOverallSaveUs]

Eh, everyone knew we would lose any Jones trade, but we don't make the finals or win the Presidents trophy without Johansen. This one worked out even if we lost the trade handily.

Girard isn't anywhere close to as good as Josi or Ekholm are and we desperately needed center depth so he was a luxury we could afford to trade. Turris started off well here but since then he's been constantly injured or in the doghouse before Laviolette left.

We won both Subban trades handily, again we don't make the finals with Weber instead of Subban, and then when we saw that Subban was declining rapidly we moved him for some good assets without retaining anything.

Granlund is what we were hoping Fiala would turn out to be if we were lucky, in 20+ years Nashville only had 6 players with 67+ points and Granlund had just posted 67 and 69 seasons at the time of the trade, how does he go from that to the most invisible player I've ever seen play?
It's funny though, Poile is always acquiring players with reported "attitude issues", (Johansen, Duchene, Turris, etc) and the one time we trade one away he immediately breaks out.

All of these trades made sense at the time and gelled with our window,

How has granlund been lately? Think he gets resigned?

 

[Soundgarden]

How has granlund been lately? Think he gets resigned?

He started to heat up after Laviolette was fired, but hasn't really shown too much in these past few games.

I doubt he gets re-signed, but he might to save face. From what I've seen so far from him I'd rather re-sign Smith.

 

[TaLoN]

He started to heat up after Laviolette was fired, but hasn't really shown too much in these past few games.

I doubt he gets re-signed, but he might to save face. From what I've seen so far from him I'd rather re-sign Smith.

Maybe the Wild can sign him to play with Staal and Fiala.

 

[Soundgarden]

Maybe the Wild can sign him to play with Staal and Fiala.

I'm sure his career will bounce back as soon as he leaves Nashville.

 

[TaLoN]

I'm sure his career will bounce back as soon as he leaves Nashville.

Wherever I watch Nashville, I see the Preds use him completely different, not at all playing to his strengths. Turris also appears to be the worst possible linemate for him, as he also doesn't play to Granlund's strengths.

Granlund is a player that needs to play with the puck on his stick to utilize his vision, his tremendous passing ability. Nashville seems to want him to park his butt in front of the net, not all that involved in possession etc.

Granlund needs more freedom to make plays.

He's a great zone entry player, very good puck handler and passer, yet the Preds don't let him be involved in any of those aspects.

 

[StreetHawk]

Eh, everyone knew we would lose any Jones trade, but we don't make the finals or win the Presidents trophy without Johansen. This one worked out even if we lost the trade handily.

Girard isn't anywhere close to as good as Josi or Ekholm are and we desperately needed center depth so he was a luxury we could afford to trade. Turris started off well here but since then he's been constantly injured or in the doghouse before Laviolette left.

We won both Subban trades handily, again we don't make the finals with Weber instead of Subban, and then when we saw that Subban was declining rapidly we moved him for some good assets without retaining anything.

Granlund is what we were hoping Fiala would turn out to be if we were lucky, in 20+ years Nashville only had 6 players with 67+ points and Granlund had just posted 67 and 69 seasons at the time of the trade, how does he go from that to the most invisible player I've ever seen play?
It's funny though, Poile is always acquiring players with reported "attitude issues", (Johansen, Duchene, Turris, etc) and the one time we trade one away he immediately breaks out.

All of these trades made sense at the time and gelled with our window,

At the time each move made sense. Just over the life of the deals it hasn’t gone Nashville’s way.

 

[Soundgarden]

At the time each move made sense. Just over the life of the deals it hasn’t gone Nashville’s way.

Yup. It's ok to be that risky with a deal or two, maybe even lose one of them in the long run to win in the short term, but all of those aside from the Subban deal are going to screw us over now.

 

[16thOverallSaveUs]

 

[SCampo98]

Him + Kaprizov should be quite the show, can't wait to watch.

 

[bl02]

Great trade at the time and even more amazing now. Guy always had speed and skill. Only 24 years old.

 

[Dirty Dan]

First career hat trick, and a pretty nice one at that against the best in the league

 

[Future]

Once again turning it on late in the season....

Happy for him after a disappointing start and elevated expectations.

 

[ThatGuy22]

If him and Kaprizov are hot at the same time, Wild are very dangerous team. Colorado is still the class of the division, but I reckon Wilds record when they both score is very good.

 

[AKL]

If him and Kaprizov are hot at the same time, Wild are very dangerous team. Colorado is still the class of the division, but I reckon Wilds record when they both score is very good.

Can you call Kaprizov hot? I suppose he's got 9 points in his last eight games after three pointless games before that, but he's been pretty consistent overall.

 

[16thOverallSaveUs]

I didn’t even bump it this time. 24 points in the last 29 games or something like that

 

[Gurglesons]

I didn’t even bump it this time. 24 points in the last 29 games or something like that

He’s just Fiala’n it out.

 

[16thOverallSaveUs]

He’s just Fiala’n it out.

Yup

 

[ThatGuy22]

Can you call Kaprizov hot? I suppose he's got 9 points in his last eight games after three pointless games before that, but he's been pretty consistent overall.

I think so. Because it's been like 6 goals in those 9 points

 

[16thOverallSaveUs]

25 points in his last 18 games. Will likely just be a very good first line forward for us for a long time. Consistency continues to be the main issue. One of the most technically talented players in the league. Maybe one of these seasons he’ll put together a stretch of consistent play and break a ppg, but I’m more than happy if he continues to score at a 70 point pace like the past 2 season.

 

[Tysonson3]

25 points in his last 18 games. Will likely just be a very good first line forward for us for a long time. Consistency continues to be the main issue. One of the most technically talented players in the league. Maybe one of these seasons he’ll put together a stretch of consistent play and break a ppg, but I’m more than happy if he continues to score at a 70 point pace like the past 2 season.

Definitely had the talent and potential to be this good when he was in nashville but like you said, he’s always been inconsistent. I think 50-60 per year is what he ends up being but I could see 70 over a full season if he puts it all together.

 

[16thOverallSaveUs]

Definitely had the talent and potential to be this good when he was in nashville but like you said, he’s always been inconsistent. I think 50-60 per year is what he ends up being but I could see 70 over a full season if he puts it all together.

70 over a full season would be my expectation if he just continues his inconsistent play. Over the last two shortened seasons (111 games), he has 93 points, good for a 69 point pace over 82 games. If he finds consistency and consistent linemates, 80 points isn’t out of the realm of possibility.

 

[Nino Noderreiter]

Definitely had the talent and potential to be this good when he was in nashville but like you said, he’s always been inconsistent. I think 50-60 per year is what he ends up being but I could see 70 over a full season if he puts it all together.

I mean he has 85 points in his last 93 games. That’s ~75 points per 82 games for over a season now. Half of that time has been spent playing with the likes of Nico Sturm, Ryan Hartman, Marcus Johansson, and Nick Bonino—or basically bottom 6 level talent.

I think this version of Fiala for this last 93 games could be a PPG player with true 1st line caliber line mates. That said he’s the kind of player who will have streaks of 15 points in 10 games and ~6 points in 10 games. Though, I would like to find out if that inconsistency is because he isn’t playing with top line or even top 6 caliber linemates because it seems like if he didn’t have to create entirely for himself essentially to score he would be able to produce at a better pace even when he’s not on his A game.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

Good player