And the price has to be right.

Completely agree. My preference would be to keep Fiala and get him a complementary player. Just easier said than done with a few of the anchor contracts we have.

What would you do with him though? Pay him 7M for 3 years and then 10M+ after that? Or try to get someone for <=5M who can get you 50 ppy?

Why are the only options paying him 7M for 3 years and then 10M, or trading him and replacing him with a much worse player?

what would you do is the question

Sign him to the expected 6.5-7M 5-6 year contract he wants.

Where have you seen it reported that that's what he wants? The most I've seen is this:

"I do get the sense from talking to folks around the league that Guerin has tested the trade waters with Fiala, who expects to be paid handsomely this offseason after scoring 43 goals and 94 points in 114 games during his two-year, $6 million bridge deal." M. Russo, The Athletic, 6 July 2021.

I wouldn't correlate "paid handsomely" to the contract you describe. Especially when KK will get at least that.

Do you think he currently makes 6M per year?

No. Where did you see that he would take 6.5-7M/year for 6 years?

Then why did you edit your post that said 7M is a 1M pay increase over his current contract?

Let me ask this first: what do YOU think "getting paid handsomely" means for Fiala, in terms of AAV, on a "long term" contract (which it's been reported he wants). Let's say long term is 5-7 years, and what informs your opinion of that, where did you come up with that number from?

Because I made a mistake there and corrected myself before I saw your response.

If it's 5-7 years, I expect he'd want to join the 8-10M AAV club. The cap will certainly go up in years 4-6 and he's not going to want to be underpaid over the life of the contract. Also I could see Fiala being upset that KK shows up and can get that 8M offer while he can't.

So you think his basis for getting 8-10M is "because he wants it"? Is that it?

Marner, Eichel, Seguin, and Doughty were 60-70 ppy guys for the two years before their 8-11M AAV contracts. If he's the game driver you think he is and he's going to be a consistent 70 ppy guy, then that's what he should want on a 5-6 year term.

You're comparing him to Marner, Eichel, Seguin and DOUGHTY?

Marner had 94 points the season before his new contract started
Eichel had 64 in 67 and 57 in 61
Seguin had 80 in 82, 78 in 82, and even beyond that, he was a point per game player for SIX straight years before he signed his current contract

So no, they weren't 60-70 point players when they signed
Not to mention Eichel and Seguin are CENTERS, Doughty is a DEFENSEMAN

Here are your wingers that have signed 5+ year contracts in the last several years, along with their two prior seasons point totals/games played:

Guentzel, 5x6M, 76 in 82, 48 in 82
Teravainen, 5x5.4M, 76 in 82, 64 in 82
Kucherov, 8x9.5M, 128 in 82, 100 in 80
Bjorkstrand, 5x5.4M, 44 in 56, 36 in 49
Stone, 8x9.5M, 73 in 77, 62 in 58
E. Kane, 7x7M, 54 in 78, 43 in 70
Anderson, 7x5.5M, 4 in 26, 47 in 82
Connor, 7x7.1M, 66 in 82, 57 in 76

So the idea that he's going to get 8-10M after what he's done in this climate? I have no idea where you get that idea from, and you've done nothing to support the notion that he could get it.

Stone, Kane, and Connor are all in scope of what I'm suggesting, while the others, excluding Kutcherov ( who I think we can agree is a different animal), are in scope of where you're thinking.

I'm just reading the tea leaves here. He nearly held out on his last contract and was late to training camp because of it. He has a very high opinion of his abilities and where he should be (reportedly). He may chafe at not being the top dog on this team. So I think he's going to go for the high side of the estimate (7+) with a shorter term rather than the low end 5-6M and a longer term.

By the way, where did you see that he wants the offer you cited? "sign him to the expected 6.5-7M 5-6 year contract he wants."

Stone is not in the scope of what he's looking for at all. There is not a reasonable person in the world that thinks Fiala and Stone should get similar contracts.

Kane, Connor are certainly in the scope at 7M, but equally so is Guentzel, so is Teravainen, so is Bjorkstrand. So based on those comparisons, he's looking at something between 5.5 and 7.2ish on a 5-7 year deal. So to answer your question, the term is based on the reports that he wants a long term deal, the AAV is based on similar contracts similar players have signed lately.

If he's going for the high side (7+), that means he's likely going to sign for less than that. He has no claim to 8-11M at the moment, he will not get that anywhere he goes. And given that, again, it's been reported that he wants a long term deal, it probably means he's not looking for 7M on a bridge so he can get 8-10M later on.

Sounds good. I hope it all comes together that way. I'd rather have Fiala than some of the trade options.

Agreed, if Fiala wants anything more than 5 in a bridge deal or 6 in 4+, he can have a change of scenery.