Everyone knows how nice it felt to see Kevin Fiala back with the LA Kings last night.
The common theme, though, when people have spoken about Fiala, has been how frequently those around him and the team have highlighted what people don’t know.
Head Coach Peter Laviolette spoke about it during Fiala’s ramp-up process of getting back in the lineup. Drew Doughty and Quinton Byfield both spoke about it, as players who have also suffered injuries that have cost several months of action. Fiala’s wife, Jessica, even said it in a post on social media yesterday, in advance of her husband’s return to the Kings lineup.
The setbacks, the procedures, the appointments, the workouts, the bad days……she laid it out better than anyone could.
After his season debut last night, Fiala himself said it alluded to the same thing – a lot more went into this than people understand.
“It was pretty challenging, to be honest and I think it’s more complicated than a lot of people think about this injury,” he said. “It’s been a lot of up and downs. I’m back to playing now, so I’m very happy to put it behind me and look forward.”
Everyone can see the facts of the situation. Fiala sustained a leg fracture at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. He missed the remainder of the 2025-26 season as well as the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Shortly before training camp, Fiala underwent a second procedure that you had to think of as a setback, one which cost him all of training camp, as well as the start of the season. Through 16 games, Fiala was not in the lineup for Los Angeles. Until he was.
Knowing what we do, Fiala’s return to action is obviously great. It’s what brought him to that point, though, which seems to make his return that much more impressive to those intimately familiar with it.
I think that today, despite the team’s on-ice struggles, is a day to take a slight step back and appreciate what brought Fiala to that moment last night. It’s not to overshadow another loss at home or paint Fiala as a season-saving savior. Rather, it’s to highlight the work that he’s put in over the last nine months, the work that made last night’s game a possibility. Work that was certainly noticed by those around him.
Two seasons ago, Doughty broke his ankle during the preseason in Las Vegas and didn’t return to the lineup until late-January. Taking it back a couple of seasons before that, it was Quinton Byfield who broke his foot in a preseason game, costing him a spot on the opening-night roster as well as the first few months of the season.
Doughty’s injury was recent and it required what I assume was a similar commitment to the return, though perhaps not even to the level that Fiala experienced. From being around the team, though, from observing behind the scenes, Doughty saw first-hand what Fiala went through and the work he put in, when people weren’t watching.
“I’m just really happy for him, I saw how hard he worked to get back to playing, a lot of people don’t know about that,” he said last night ‘So I’m happy he played and looked good.”
For Byfield, he tried his best to be a resource throughout the process, because he was in that position himelf.
The life of an injured player is strange, because you are still a part of the team, but for long stretches, you aren’t on the same schedule as the team. Your practice is at different times of the day. You gym schedule isn’t with the rest of the group, nor is your assignment while in there. When the team hits the road, you’re still at home, often working alone. That’s tough.
Byfield went through a similar situation himself and, throughout Fiala’s recovery process, he tried his best to be involved with him as much as he could.
Sometimes it was as simple as reaching out. Maybe a small conversation. In those moments, the smallest of moments can make the biggest difference for a player who maybe feels like he’s on his own timeline. As someone with that experience, Byfield felt his biggest role was simply to try and help.
“It’s really hard, you’re by yourself, you’re always in there before all the guys, so there’s not too much interaction until later on,” he said. “Just being able to communicate, trying to ask him how he is, try to be a part of it, try to help him. It’s difficult getting through those injuries, but he’s done a real good job. As you can see, he looks great out there, so all the work that he’s put in is paying off.”
They weren’t the only teammates, either.
Mats Zuccarello, who was also out injured as Fiala got closer, spoke about the serious nature of Fiala’s injury and how nice it was just to see him back on the ice, looking like himself. Trevor Moore said he saw the “battles” Fiala had to fight through during his rehab process. Joel Edmundson understood that Fiala has “been through a lot” over the past year. It all led to natural excitement in finally seeing him back amongst the group.
For Head Coach Peter Laviolette, what stood out to him along the way was Fiala’s positive approach to a negative situation. It wasn’t necessarily surprising to him, as Laviolette coached Fiala in Nashville, but it was still an impressive, standout trait.
“When you’re talking about an injury like he has, that took him out of play for eight or nine months, there are peaks and valleys inside that return to play,” Laviolette said. “He’s always had a positive attitude with his work and he works extremely hard. He put himself in the best position to return to the lineup……I think his positive attitude has been a benefit to him and his journey back to the ice and back to playing games.”
Photo by Rob Curtis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
So, to see him progress was uplifting along the way. First skating on his own, then with the group in a non-contact capacity, finally practicing as a full-contact participant. Each step was managed almost with one more day at each stage than you might have thought, a level of caution that rightfully accompanied the process of getting back.
When he finally got out there last night, it was the realization of all that he did. The things that did get noticed and the things that didn’t.
On Fiala’s first shift, he went hard into the corner for a loose puck. Instead of just trying to swoop in and pick it up in stride, which he might’ve been able to do, Fiala went a different direction. He didn’t shy away from the contact. He sought it out. Fiala initiated a reverse hit, before getting engaged into the battle. That helped him to settle in.
“It kind of naturally happened, I mean, on the first shift, it was a puck in the corner, I saw it and I’m like ‘I’ve got to get in there, I’ve got to go into it as quickly as possible to feel in the game.’ think that moment helped me, for sure, to feel like I’m here. Especially after nine months of missing games, you’ve got to get in there.”
That contact was important, because for all that practices can do to replicate game situations, that’s all it is. Replicating.
Fiala didn’t get a preseason. His last game played was with Team Switzerland, resulting in his injury. Even as a full-contact participant during practice, there’s only so much you can do, because you’re never going to get the same level of battle and physicality from your teammates as you do during a game, against another team. So, Fiala wanted to get that first hit out of the way early and that helped him to settle in.
“I felt ready, but I mean, after so much time you miss, you can practice so much, but games are always a little bit different. Contact is going to be different in games than in practice and the speed and all that. So, it still has to get adapted, of course, but I’m looking forward to getting better each day.”
As he settled in, Fiala probably got better at the game went on. You could see glimpses of the player he’s always been and his impact on the power play was noticeable. It was the first glimpse into a power-play unit which had Fiala on one flank and Artemi Panarin on the other. It was a 5-on-3 situation, so there was naturally more room, but the quick touch passes found seams the Kings have struggled to find this season at times. The result was a Quinton Byfield power-play goal, with Fiala tallying the secondary assist, his 300th in the NHL, as he became the first Swiss-born forward to reach that milestone.
The hope is that things only continue to get better for Fiala, as he now settles into what everyone hopes is an extended run with everyone available. The Kings need even more from Fiala as he works his way back and hopefully he is a player who can raise the levels of his teammates around him, because the Kings need more from a lot of guys.
With that being said, though, it was nice to see 22 out there. He got the first one out of the way and there’s pride to be taken in that. Now, he’ll try and do it again, hoping for a different team outcome.
“Just getting in the game, that’s very exciting and I’m very happy about that,” he added. “But at the end of the day, it’s about winning games. So, hopefully we can do that on Saturday.”
QB qleans up! https://t.co/XeKmQZjTgL
— LA Kings (@LAKings) November 13, 2026