Player Discussion Kevin Fiala

[57special]

Good thing we don't have to give a contract right now. At the end of the season Guerin can sit back and evaluate what he wants to do with him. He will be 25yo, and for all his promise, has only had one season where he has scored more than 50 pts. I don't see where he will command an enormous contract. He is obviously very talented, but has yet to prove that he can be consistently productive.

 

[Ban Hammered]

Greenway and Ek are great at what they do, and either one of them could play on a scoring line with two skilled, offensive players, but having two of them with just Fiala is putting a lot of pressure on Fiala to create on that line, and he's slumping right now, so the confidence is gone.

It shouldn't be putting pressure on him too badly. Ek leads in goals...Greenway in assists. So those two are doing something right. Fiala just seems to be pressing even though his line is scoring.

 

[57special]

At what point do we start to worry about his lack of production? He looks good when he isn't making dumb turnovers, but isn't producing. He gets lots of PP TOI, and has reasonably good linemates most of the time. He seems to have first line talent, but second line production, and not even high end second line scoring. He should not be tied with Brodin in scoring.

 

[GuerinUp]

At what point do we start to worry about his lack of production? He looks good when he isn't making dumb turnovers, but isn't producing. He gets lots of PP TOI, and has reasonably good linemates most of the time. He seems to have first line talent, but second line production, and not even high end second line scoring. He should not be tied with Brodin in scoring.

this is why i said bridge him for 4.5... hes not consistent.

 

[57special]

this is why i said bridge him for 4.5... hes not consistent.

You might be right. I love his speed, skill, and tenacity, but he's got to be more efficient, and stop making those high risk, low reward passes.

 

[Bazeek]

At what point do we start to worry about his lack of production? He looks good when he isn't making dumb turnovers, but isn't producing. He gets lots of PP TOI, and has reasonably good linemates most of the time. He seems to have first line talent, but second line production, and not even high end second line scoring. He should not be tied with Brodin in scoring.

He's 3rd on the team in goals, so I don't know that his production is suffering all that much. He hasn't found the same chemistry with linemates that we see with Kaprizov/Zuccarello or Greenway/Eriksson-Ek, which I think has hurt him in the assist department. I'm hoping that he's got something brewing with Hartman, but we'll have to see.

 

[guitarhunterdude]

At what point do we start to worry about his lack of production? He looks good when he isn't making dumb turnovers, but isn't producing. He gets lots of PP TOI, and has reasonably good linemates most of the time. He seems to have first line talent, but second line production, and not even high end second line scoring. He should not be tied with Brodin in scoring.

He's a pretty high-volume shooter and a transition machine. Put him beside a capable playmaking center (Rossi?) and I don't have any problem with him at 5.5-6 per into his early 30s. Seems like a good contributing piece. I mean, we're calling this year a disappointment, and he's on a 30-goal pace. Scoring is always streaky; volume of chances is the key and Fiala generates them enough for me to be comfortable with him at the price I think he'll get.

 

[57special]

He doesn't seem to get a lot of easy goals and points. Everything has to be highlight real stuff, which is a lot of fun to watch, but not what you can live on. He should be in his prime right now. Under .6 PPG is not something that he, or we, should be happy about.

 

[ThatGuy22]

Not concerned in the slightest to be honest. Goal scoring rates are exactly on par with last year, 5v5 Assist rates are a little lower but still pretty good.

Lack of overall counting numbers are basically solely related to the power play issues. Which is at least partly just bad luck(along with a combo of system/player usage) which should rebound to some degree.

 

[MuckOG]

Fiala seems to sulk a bit when things aren't going his way....and when he is pressing, it definitely has impacted other parts of his game for the worse. That's why it was nice to see him start chipping in again the past few games....hopefully he continues to build on that.

 

[Nino Noderreiter]

You might be right. I love his speed, skill, and tenacity, but he's got to be more efficient, and stop making those high risk, low reward passes.

I would call them high risk / high reward passes and I would argue the opposite. Turnovers rarely lead to goals against, especially with our defense and goal-tending. On the flip side, high danger chances are often converted to goals. The reason the Wild are scoring as well as they are and have as many high danger chances as they do is, to a large extent, the fact that Fiala/Kaprizov are pretty much always skating into or throwing pucks into high danger areas even if it doesn't always work out.

I also don't generally think he's had good linemates. That being said, he didn't really click when playing with Greenway/Ek but it's a little weird to say that Bjugstad/Parise/Hartman are quality linemates.

For what it's worth, it seems clear that Fiala has taken a step forward in playing a complete game.

 

[grN1g]

Fiala is a takeaway machine and he's having problems getting the puck on the wing. imo he's playing like a frigging center on wing.

Ez fix. Zuccarello Fiala Kaprizov.

 

[nickschultzfan]

If Johansson is healthy, I would give him a run at LW across from Fiala, and then put Hartman in the middle, who adds some grit and playmaking. That should light Fiala up.

 

[AKL]

If Johansson is healthy, I would give him a run at LW across from Fiala, and then put Hartman in the middle, who adds some grit and playmaking. That should light Fiala up.

I would put Fiala with Kaprizov and put Zuccarello and Johansson on Hartman's wings. Can you imagine Fiala getting passes like Zuccarello and Rask get every night? 50 goals. Easy.

 

[Webster]

I would put Fiala with Kaprizov and put Zuccarello and Johansson on Hartman's wings. Can you imagine Fiala getting passes like Zuccarello and Rask get every night? 50 goals. Easy.

Eh...no. You need to think whats best for the team, not make things worse because you're a fan of Fiala.

 

[AKL]

Eh...no. You need to think whats best for the team, not make things worse because you're a fan of Fiala.

Wow, this needs to be framed and hung up in the HF Wild break room.

 

[guitarhunterdude]

Eh...no. You need to think whats best for the team, not make things worse because you're a fan of Fiala.

Exactly. Think of the contract we'd have to sign him to. Webster with the 4D chess moves

 

[57special]

Doesn't Fiala get to play with Kaprizov and Lizard on the PP? How's that working out?

 

[AKL]

Doesn't Fiala get to play with Kaprizov and Lizard on the PP? How's that working out?

This would be a good point if you thought the reason our power play sucks is because Kaprizov and Fiala play on it together and not for another reason(s).

As presented though, it's not a good point.

 

[Spurgeon]

Someone teach Fiala to play C.

 

[16thOverallSaveUs]

At what point do we start to worry about his lack of production? He looks good when he isn't making dumb turnovers, but isn't producing. He gets lots of PP TOI, and has reasonably good linemates most of the time. He seems to have first line talent, but second line production, and not even high end second line scoring. He should not be tied with Brodin in scoring.

He’s scoring at a similar pace to last year 5v5. He was a deadly powerplay producer last year, this year he’s losing production due to an inept powerplay and decreased PP time overall. Not concerned about him nearly as much as I am about the powerplay on this team. I don’t really have any doubts that he’s a 1st line caliber player.

 

[Obvious Fabertism]

I would call them high risk / high reward passes and I would argue the opposite. Turnovers rarely lead to goals against, especially with our defense and goal-tending. On the flip side, high danger chances are often converted to goals. The reason the Wild are scoring as well as they are and have as many high danger chances as they do is, to a large extent, the fact that Fiala/Kaprizov are pretty much always skating into or throwing pucks into high danger areas even if it doesn't always work out.

I also don't generally think he's had good linemates. That being said, he didn't really click when playing with Greenway/Ek but it's a little weird to say that Bjugstad/Parise/Hartman are quality linemates.

For what it's worth, it seems clear that Fiala has taken a step forward in playing a complete game.

I generally agree but a couple of his passes last night definitely fell into the high risk low reward category, which was the main issue he had early on with us. Just one game but it was definitely an off one for him. Overall think his play has been good but not great this season, room for improvement but he’s not that far off from his stellar play last year.

 

[2Pair]

Fiala isn't smart enough to play with Kaprizov.

 

[ODoyle]

Fiala has definitely been the biggest disappointment of the year for me. I get that he’s looked better than his stats, but he needs to start producing. His next contract is going to be interesting.

 

[KaprizovEntitlelist]

Fiala has definitely been the biggest disappointment of the year for me. I get that he’s looked better than his stats, but he needs to start producing. His next contract is going to be interesting.

I was thinking would you trade him for Conor Garland?