What do you expect from Fiala this year? He's shown flashes of being one of the very best players in the league when he's hot, but he also needs to establish chemistry with good players first.

Yeah, I don't think we can say for sure that he'll be a PPG player next season, cause remember he sort of needed Matt Boldy to come along and give him a jolt before he took off last season. That said, if Fiala gets less than 75 points next season, the heat is going to be on LA in a jiffy. Kopitar and Kempe seem like good linemates to develop chemistry, but we'll see

Kopitar has notoriously struggled to create chemistry with many wingers. The only ones he's had real success with were Williams, Gaborik and Brown. Kempe last year was the first sign of someone else in the modern iteration of the LA Kings where he's had success. It's seemed like a problem for a long time. However, I think Fiala fits with him because of the style that Fiala plays. Possession with speed should allow Kopitar to get set up in the offensive zone and start working the corners like the horse he's been for over a decade.

As far as your lines, the biggest question remaining is whether Viktor Arvidsson is healthy or not to start the season. There's been little to no communication with fans where he is at in his recovery, so many of us are assuming he's out to start the season. Place Vilardi in for him if he's out. That being said, the Kings won't break up the best 2nd line in hockey last year (Moore-Danault-Arvidsson) until it shows some wear-and-tear. So bank on that to start the season if everyone is healthy. That puts Iafallo down to the third line with Byfield and Kaliyev. And then the question of who gets the 4th line duties, Vilardi or Lemieux, is the last one the Kings need to answer. I think Grundstrom has solidified a spot, but we'll see.

I think Grundstrom has earned a spot as well, but I think Iafallo is a better fit with Danault and Moore than Arvidsson is

Kings seriously only have 1 right handed forward?

I know right?

Exactly, Fiala had faded behind Kaprisov until Boldy showed up. And when he was scoring a ton it was on the second line. He'll be on the first line in LA so maybe more opportunities translates to more points, but maybe more responsibility means he doesn't play as well.

I could see Fiala hitting 90 points and also finishing in the low 60s. It's tough to see how it'll work out. I definitely expect him to start slow and then improve in the second half of the season. He's always been a streaky player and down the stretch he could be great, especially playing in the Pacific.

I mean that's the thing. Fiala got away from his scoring identity to try and be the feisty tough guy when the playoffs came around. He essentially lost his way. We might argue he is liable to make it hard on himself to generate chemistry with his linemates should he stray from his identity as a player

Everyone on Minnesota seemed to fade in the Playoffs except for a select few like Kaprisov. As a Canucks fan Fiala was a top-5 player in the 2020 bubble. That was the year he got red hot for like 15-20 games before the stoppage and was scoring highlight reel goals every other night. I keyed in on him since the Wild were matched up against the Canucks in the play-ins. He was a top-5 player in the entire bubble that year even though he only played 4 games. He was a deadly scoring threat from anywhere on the ice with no time or space and he could skate freely with the puck whenever he wanted. That was before Kaprisov got there, so Fiala was getting all of the prime offensive minutes. It's tough to say how he'll do this year but it's also tough to bet against a player who I watched closely as he absolutely dominated.

I keyed in very closely on Fiala at that time as well. I thought he might steal the series for Minnesota all by himself. Well...he tried

It's obvious that LA is counting on him as their primary scoring threat so maybe that bodes well for him