{"id":458235,"date":"2026-02-14T21:31:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T21:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/458235\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T21:31:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T21:31:18","slug":"kevin-fiala-injury-is-the-latest-at-the-olympics-that-could-also-hurt-an-nhl-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/458235\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin Fiala injury is the latest at the Olympics that could also hurt an NHL team"},"content":{"rendered":"

MILAN (AP) \u2014 Kevin Fiala going down with a gruesome leg injury and getting taken off the ice on a stretcher is a cruel reminder of the risk hockey players take participating in the Olympics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fiala had surgery<\/a> Saturday on his left leg, and he won’t play again in the tournament after getting injured when he got tangled up with Tom Wilson during Switzerland’s game against Canada<\/a>. Given the likelihood that it’s severe enough to end his NHL season, too, it’s not just a blow to Switzerland but also the Los Angeles Kings as they push to try to make the playoffs.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt sucks for him and for us,\u201d Kings teammate Adrian Kempe said after Sweden’s game against Slovakia<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s really tough for him personally and for us as a team. You know how much he means to our team back home in L.A. It\u2019s just very unfortunate for him that it comes in a tournament like this that we\u2019ve been looking forward to playing in for so long.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NHL is back<\/a> in the Games for the first time since 2014, when John Tavares’ season with the New York Islanders was cut short when he tore ligaments<\/a> in his left knee playing for Canada in Sochi. Owners decided not to go to Pyeongchang in 2018 for various reasons, and losing players to injuries at the Olympics has always been an argument against taking part.<\/p>\n

Two decades ago in Turin, six-time Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender and two-time NHL MVP Dominik Hasek tore an adductor muscle, just below his groin, and did not play again for the Ottawa Senators. They lost in the second round when backup Ray Emery allowed 16 goals in five games, and owner Eugene Melnyk in 2021 before his death in 2022<\/a> said Hasek’s injury cost his team a shot at the Stanley Cup.<\/p>\n

Brock Nelson was on the Islanders 12 years ago when they had to go the rest of the way without Tavares and missed the playoffs.<\/p>\n

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\u201cJohnny was our leader at the time,\u201d said Nelson, who’s playing for the U.S. in Milan. \u201cDevastating. You\u2019re happy for him to go over there and represent his country on the biggest stage, but to see him go down was tough. And then for us on the Island, you have to try and bridge that gap as best you can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nelson knows exactly how Kempe and the Kings feel from that experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously you\u2019re never going to replace guys like that \u2014 both Johnny and Kevin \u2014 but there\u2019s opportunity for guys to be had and I\u2019m sure it\u2019ll be a group mindset for them to try to overcome it,\u201d Nelson said.<\/p>\n

The Kings acquiring high-scoring winger Artemi Panarin<\/a> in a trade with the New York Rangers just before the roster freeze on Feb. 4 is certainly a boost, but Fiala’s absence still creates a void. He’s their second-leading scorer with 40 points in 46 games.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s really tough,” Kings teammate Joel Armia said after Finland’s game against Italy. “As soon as I saw it, I was so sad. Yeah, it\u2019s not great.\u201d<\/p>\n

A team spokesperson said general manager Ken Holland and coach Jim Hiller will address Fiala\u2019s status when L.A. resumes practice on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The Kings are three points out of the second and final wild-card spot in the Western Conference with 26 games remaining and will attempt to close that gap without Fiala.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope it\u2019s a speedy recovery for Kevin,\u201d said Kempe, who leads the team with 46 points. \u201cHe\u2019s an unbelievable player, a great teammate and obviously it sucks to see something happen like that to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Kempe, Nelson and the rest of the NHL players at the Olympics expressed empathy over Fiala’s injury. They understand anything can happen when they step onto the ice.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s hockey: You can injure yourself in a practice, in a game,” Slovakia’s Martin Fehervary said. \u201cHockey\u2019s a hard sport, and you never know when you can get injured.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fehervary has played with Wilson in the league with the Washington Capitals for the past five years. Before that, Czechia’s Michal Kempny won the Stanley Cup with Wilson and the Capitals in 2018 and found it incredibly difficult to watch the play on which Fiala was injured.<\/p>\n

“I think it was an unlucky accident,” Kempny said. \u201cI know Tommy very well: a great man, a great guy, a great teammate. He\u2019s a guy that he\u2019s tough to play against, for sure, but the play last night, I think it was an unlucky play \u2014 an accident.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Accidents and injuries happen in every sport, as evidenced by Lindsey Vonn’s horrific crash up in the mountains<\/a> that broke her left leg. Those involved in hockey at the Olympics do not want to use Fiala getting hurt as any sort of excuse not to participate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very conscious of it,\u201d U.S. coach Mike Sullivan said. \u201cIt\u2019s a violent game, it\u2019s a physical game and you\u2019re always going to assume risk. It\u2019s the nature of the sport. Everybody understands it. But these guys are hockey players. That\u2019s what they do, that\u2019s what they love and they\u2019re going to play hockey.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP Winter Olympics: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN (AP) \u2014 Kevin Fiala going down with a gruesome leg injury and getting taken off the ice…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[366,3039,1034,5,1730,973,611,1270,145,5926,25549,159,35,4,25,28445,881,30830,280,109],"class_list":{"0":"post-458235","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-adrian-kempe","9":"tag-artemi-panarin","10":"tag-brock-nelson","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-hockey-players","13":"tag-joel-armia","14":"tag-john-tavares","15":"tag-kevin-fiala","16":"tag-los-angeles-kings","17":"tag-martin-fehervary","18":"tag-michal-kempny","19":"tag-new-york-islanders","20":"tag-new-york-rangers","21":"tag-nhl","22":"tag-ottawa-senators","23":"tag-ray-emery","24":"tag-the-kings","25":"tag-the-olympics","26":"tag-tom-wilson","27":"tag-washington-capitals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116071123192241641","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}