Advertisement

Kings' Kevin Fiala: The Give and Take

connor doyle
·2 min read

Kevin Fiala has been the most dynamic offensive player on the Kings since he arrived in 2022-23. In two-plus seasons in Los Angeles, his 157 points rank second to Anze Kopitar's 161, with the captain appearing in 13 more games.

Fiala is as dangerous as any forward in the league when he's in a rhythm. He is shifty, powerful in his pivots, and has the hands to dangle in a phone booth.

The give-and-take with Fiala is that there will be penalties. There will be good penalties and bad penalties. Outside of individuals who have dropped the gloves for the Kings this season, Fiala ranks tied for second on the team in penalty minutes (12) only to Brandt Clarke (18). The Swiss forward has 126 PIM in 166 games in a Kings uniform.

In contrast, he had 147 PIM in 215 games with the Minnesota Wild. His average TOI has slightly bumped while in LA (17:45) vs. Minnesota (16:48).

It's troubling if he's not scoring, and fortunately for Fiala, he's operating at his usual pace (15gp, 5g, 7a, 12p). The critical thing for Fiala is to stay on the scoresheet because some of his warts become exposed when he is not. He has already had incidents under old and new management that have seen his ice time shrink.

In the early stages of last season, Coach Todd McLellan sent a message to the dynamic forward by 'welding him' to the bench. Fiala responded well, and so did McLellan afterward::

"I thought it was a real good response, we shouldn't be put in that situation where we have to do that. We talked about it and talked about it. Those players have to play with risk in their game. We understand that. Especially a creative guy like Kev. But it's happening a little too often. Water under the bridge now. We all learn, and I think for not having played a few shifts, he actually woke our team up. Which sometimes it works in our favor, too." (Dec 23rd, 2023).

Fiala has already been a healthy scratch this season due to an issue with his iPad alarm, which caused him to miss a team meeting. He appeared to be benched again after a brutal turnover and lackluster backcheck against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night. However, Coach Jim Hiller elected to give him a slap on the wrist this time, sending him out in his regular rotations for the final 40 minutes.

Fiala is one of the Los Angeles Kings' scoring pillars. The trio of Kopitar, Fiala, and Adrian Kempe have combined for 474 points in the last two-plus seasons. Since Kopitar and Kempe play on the same line, it is imperative that Fiala be a net positive impact player further down the lineup.

There will always be give and take with players, but you'll take the occasional Fiala penalty as long as he fills the opposing net. On the flip side, asking him to be more disciplined is not an unreasonable request from his bench bosses.