Sunday: The Los Angeles Kings updated today that Fiala underwent successful surgery due to fractures in his lower left leg. As expected, he will miss the remainder of the season, and will be reevaluated in the spring.
Saturday: Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that Fiala is having surgery today. There still is no word on the precise nature of the injury but Friedman adds that it is indeed season-ending, a significant blow for both Switzerland and the Kings. Fiala will now be eligible to be placed on LTIR but with Los Angeles having ample cap space, it’s unlikely they’ll need to put him there.
Friday: One of the main reasons NHL teams opposed player participation in the Olympics was the concern over injuries that could be avoided. That fear has come to fruition for the Los Angeles Kings. Toward the end of today’s game between Canada and Switzerland, Kevin Fiala had to be stretchered off the ice due to an apparent leg or knee injury.
As mentioned, the injury happened with approximately three minutes left in the game. Fiala absorbed a hit from Tom Wilson and was in immediate pain on the ice. Although the hit was leveled, the incident causing the injury seemed accidental, and more like a freak play. According to Mark Lazerus of The Athletic, after the game, Wilson said, “It’s the Olympic Games and I feel terrible that he may not be able to keep playing. Just sending his family and him my best. You never want to see a guy go down, in a tournament like this, especially.”
Still, accident or not, it doesn’t make the situation any easier for the Kings. Fiala is the team’s second-highest scorer with 18 goals and 40 points in 56 games while averaging over 19 minutes of ice time per game.
Considering how starved Los Angeles is for offense, it’s a worst-case scenario. The team recently acquired high-scoring Artemi Panarin before the Olympic break, but that didn’t relieve all of the team’s goal-scoring woes. No, the Kings haven’t yet played with Panarin on the ice, but losing a player with Fiala’s goal-scoring capabilities will objectively make it more difficult for them to put the puck in the net.
There haven’t been many updates regarding Fiala’s immediate status. Arpon Basu of The Athletic reported that Fiala has been taken to a local hospital, and there are concerns that the injury could be season-ending. If that’s the case, the Kings’ uphill climb toward playoff contention just became remarkably more difficult.
Great statement by Tom Wilson, The Olympics are a useless, And meaningless exhibition, And It’s a terrible idea to shutdown the NHL during the season. Just wait until a major star (Connor McDavid) misses the remainder of the NHL season, Then the decision making clowns may finally get it.
So if you were given the opportunity to represent your country in whatever it is youre good at (assuming there is something), you’d balk at the honor of it and tell everyone its meaningless?
Somehow I doubt that.
And yet tom Wilson is there by choice. All of these players choose to play.
And Fiala is not a main star come on all guys on NHL teams are stars and there for a reason. Like I say Olympics are for amateurs not pros
That’s not the point being made by OP.
What happens when a star player goes down. There’s insurance for this I assure you.
No hockey fan is going to clamour for no more Olympic Hockey. Ever. You should try watching the games before calling the Olympics for amateurs. This is the best of the best. Minus a few countries…
Guys get hurt in NHL games, and that’s what Fiala would be doing if he wasn’t in Milan.
As for a meaningless exhibition, that’s true of the NHL or any other sporting event if you really think about it. What does any of it matter?
Yes. I have always been opposed to NHLers going to the Olympics.
I wouldn’t even bother with Wilf, seacap. He is and always has been a vapid troll that offers nothing to a discussion.
That said, your take is spot-on. Olympic participation is an incredible, one-of-a-kind opportunity, but hockey is hockey. Injuries will happen regardless of where you play, because it is a high-impact, high-intensity game. If it wasn’t, it wouldn’t be the sport that it is today.
Wilf’s argument is as shortsighted and misinformed as one can be. I should be careful though, he might take that as a challenge to do even worse.
If trolling were an Olympic event he’d be there in a heartbeat
I can see both sides of the argument, but the truth is everyone involved wants this to happen; it sure is not a ‘meaningless exhibition’ to the players who are desperate to be involved, and no one is forcing anyone to do it. Just because something unfortunate happened doesn’t mean we have to immediately start casting blame and pointing fingers, it is what it is! (And this is coming from a Kings fan who is pretty bummed about the whole thing!)
@Jaxteller… if trolling were an Olympic event… yeah, he’d be there, but to get on the podium you need to be informed and clever. He wouldn’t make it out of the prelims.
It wasn’t so much the teams and owners that wanted this. Quite the opposite (using the last couple Olympics as an example). This was one of the players requests on the new bargaining agreement. 150 NHLers are at the Olympics, which is less then 1/5th of the league; but I imagine the rest of the league likes the idea of having a couple weeks off. Some players couldn’t participate in the Olympics, because they got injured during the season. That would really suck too.
Who cares?
That’s the same thing right? What you said?
Embarrassing. You should do some deep breathing and go away
@Wilf
Didnt Stamkos suffer a broken ankle the last time the NHL participated? And he was a “major star” at the time.
Its not the first time, nor will it be the last time the league will participate. The league wishes against it because of situations like this, but the players want it and have negotiated it into their side of the CBA and won’t let it go anytime soon.
Its not a meaningless exhibition if the players want it so bad. Its a exhibition that is meaningless to you. But you have shown numerous times that was is meaningful for you, isn’t equal to what is important to the majority.
@HS93
The teams and owners may claim they didnt want it, but they did. It helps grow the game internationally which helps sell the game to international TV markets. It makes them more money long term, may cause some short term suffering when a situation like the Fiala or Stamkos situations happen, but in the long term its better for franchise valuations and the profit of the sport.
@Fargo
I wouldnt even put him Olympic level. Marchand is Olympic level, Avery was out of the game by 31/32, Marchand kept it going into the late 30s and possibly beyond, including going to the Olympics. Wilf sniffs Avery level at best. At least Avery didnt have to change his name 67 times and throw a steaming pile of crap at every wall 67 times to try and remain relevant on a small website.
To be fair Wilf, you have always been opposed to most NHLers being in the NHL. Your chronic complaining is one of the traits that makes you so amusing.
I think the thing Wilf is most opposed to is not commenting on articles
The Olympics is more important the the Stanley Cup to many.
Does this mean Holland coughs up for Kadri?
Pass, too old, expensive and average in the dot!
wilson is useless idiot
23 goals and 49 points so far. Plays in every situation including PK and PP. Blocks shots, fights, puts players through the boards. Yeah, useless.
Wishing him the best. Never want to see a guy go down with injury.
Kings season is over because we needed to see Canada roll a team with no chance. 4 nations is fine. Ridiculous for the NHL to pause their season for this junk
The players want to participate. Are you aware of this? Getting angry over hockey players playing hockey is quite the take.
Kings weren’t going anywhere anyway. Team still can’t score goals no matter who is coaching or in the front office….
The Kings were already up against it as far as making this season matter, this sure isn’t gonna help. The worst thing about it is if they use this as an excuse for any failure on Hiller’s part; it’s so painfully obvious to everyone he doesn’t have it as a coach!
Theses takes are absurd. The Olympics is far more important than 1 of an infinite number of NHL seasons. The players wanted to play in the Olympics. Thats why they are there.
Holland and Hughes discussing Laine trade.
Kings need a Center, Top 4 Dman and a new coaching staff!
As a monster kings fan. I’m mixed on this. The guy can score no doubt but cannot play defense and takes so many stupid penalty’s. He has had this issue his entire career. Plus let’s face it. He has not had the best season
If. There is a silver lining. The Kings have tons of space and capital to go get help
The silver lining for the Kings here is that this happened prior to the trade deadline. Still hate to see an injury like that happen, but the players wanted to do the Olympics, so the risks were considered.
If NHL players didn’t go, the only way anyone would be remotely interested in Olympic hockey is if that year U20 teams went to the Olympics instead of having World JR’s.
Guessing Foegle stays now, unless they can work out a trade for a top Center!
Came here to say just that.
Swiss newspaper says it’s an injury to the lower leg. So I guess it’s a broken tibia or fibula. Would explain why he wouldn’t even try to turn on the ice
Why not both, perhaps a double dirty spiral fracture?
Same to you!
Hopefully he’s just not that injured. Yeah he went off on a stretcher but maybe they’re just being really cautious. Obviously could be he’s badly hurt. It just isn’t really known at the moment. I’ve seen much more gruesome-looking collisions/accidents that saw the player back in a couple days or even the same game. We just don’t know. I’m loving these games though. Glad the NHLers wanted to play.
hopefully miss wilson gets what she deserves
Is referencing someone as the female gender supposed to be an insult?
Came to like your name. And only in reference to a dog.
The NHL should be getting a cut of the revenue associated with the Olympic hockey tournament. As it is, the league is effectively sponsoring the Olympics. The owners obviously think that’s unfair. They have a point.
How much revenue does Olympic hockey generate?
Another thing is the meaningless of many games. For example, the US is -30000 against Italy. Getting a $10M player injured in a game like that is frustrating for everyone.
Sucks for Fiala but also hate to see this potentially affect Kopitar’s last run. He deserves a good one.
Accidental or not , the tug does it again, hurting players with is dirty play
Did you see the hit? Fiala’s leg was locked out and was just a bad freak accident. Nothing dirty at all here. Coming from a King’s fan.
Not a dirty play at all
You are likely new to hockey.
Players get hurt. Stop whining. They could get hurt in any game. Maybe just play the whole season virtually everyone will be safe.
This turbo sucks. He was arguably our best player, up there with Kempe and Panarin. We need to find someone in the market asap, even though Fiala’s puck handling and shot are next to irreplaceable. Go Kings Go, and man, this really sucks
Pettersson from Vancouver or Thomas from St.Louis should be on the top of acquiring list.
O’Reilly & Trocheck too!
The refs were poor this game. If they kept better control of this it wouldn’t have needed to be heated. The check was clean but I doubt it happens in a calmer game at 5-1 up with 3 to play.
Pros are there because U.S.A. lost in basketball.
Ok, that comment makes absolutely no sense! Can you elaborate? When did the USA lose in basketball?
Also, if the USA lost in basketball…why would that have any bearing at all with hockey?
Such a strange random comment lol