Quoting: SociallyHawkward
Idk. As a hawks fan strome lit it up for a season and only got 3 mil. If Fiala has a great season I still can't see him getting more than a 5 mil 5 year deal.
Strome experienced notable fallback from his trade year (in his contract year). He also was playing with elite players.... and happened to take a bridge deal due to the Hawks cap situation and the state of the league / world.
Hawks fans generally like to compare situations on other teams to the hawks (aside: i mean i get it, but why does it seem like hawks fans do this more than other teams??) but theres no comparing Strome and Fiala.
- Fiala has already had his bridge deal. Players come off bridges either aiming to go to FA, or to get money. Strome is 2 years behind... essentially getting what Fiala already did.
- Fiala already had a proven year in Nashville, followed by a down year that sparked the trade
- His explosion was on a different tier from Stromes.
- Fiala became the face of Minnesota. the faces of Chicago are long established. Your profile picture is one of said faces. Minnesota had no face, then Fiala exploded.
- He's doing this alone. There's not really any star power on this team. he has become a star, and plays with undeniable energy and determination. Watching him late last season, in the playoffs, and even this first game tonight... you know when he is on the ice. He's the teams best player; and I note again that he is able to do this essentially alone. There's no Toews or Kane, heck, there's no DeBrincat level players on this team.
If he builds on the past two years, and at the age of 24, continues to grow, I see no reason why MIN won't hand him a big boy long term contract now. It's the same type of betting on the future that happened with Keller and Hischier. Except I'd argue there's more to look forward to in this case, and more already proven than those two cases.
Wild fans can chime in (
@TanSor @MNBassman ), but if he exceeds all odds again this year and decides to ink long term, I'd expect at least 6.5M....