Joined: Jul. 2021
Posts: 1,053
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I’m trying to judge only the trade here, not the signing, though given the timing they are obviously connected.
Good trade for LA. They’re already a playoff team and they add a top 6 winger in his prime without giving up a roster player. They may have to make some other moves to stay under the cap, but they got good value in this trade.
Everyone is saying that Minnesota had to trade Fiala, but I’m not convinced that they couldn’t have found a way to keep him, at least for this coming season. Yes, the buyouts are hurting them, but they have $6.5M in cap space with all their other core players signed. They do need to spend some of that on a couple of depth players and a backup goalie, but it didn’t seem insurmountable to me.
On the other hand, if Fiala didn’t want to sign in Minnesota for a number that the team thought was fair, and they want that cap space for something else (Fleury?), then trading him for the best package of draft picks and/or entry level players they could get makes sense. If somebody signed him to an offer sheet, the compensation would have been a 1st, a 2nd and a 3rd round draft pick, so if Faber is better than a 2nd and a 3rd, this is a good return. My opinion is that a good prospect from a recent draft is better than a pick in an upcoming draft because, being a little older, he should be closer to NHL-ready and more of a known quantity.