{"id":465305,"date":"2026-02-21T03:12:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T03:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/465305\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T03:12:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T03:12:14","slug":"kings-rumors-la-looking-for-kevin-fiala-replacement-ahead-of-trade-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/465305\/","title":{"rendered":"Kings rumors: LA looking for Kevin Fiala replacement ahead of trade deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kings rumors: LA looking for Kevin Fiala replacement ahead of trade deadline<\/a> appeared first on ClutchPoints<\/a>. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Although the Los Angeles Kings<\/a> are a much better hockey team with Artemi Panarin in the fold, they will sorely miss Kevin Fiala for the rest of the 2025-26 season<\/a> after the forward suffered a devastating leg injury while playing for Switzerland at the 2026 Winter Olympics.<\/p>\n

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With the NHL Trade Deadline now just two weeks away, general manager Ken Holland is reportedly looking to add a middle-six scoring winger<\/a> to replace Fiala, as reported by The Fourth Period\u2019s David Pagnotta.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey wanted to add more after adding Panarin even if Fiala was healthy,\u201d the hockey insider said on the latest episode of \u2018Daily Faceoff Live\u2019 on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re going to amplify their search now, they\u2019ve got cap space, they can add more if they throw Fiala on season-ending LTIR. \u2026Adding at least one more forward up front, Ken Holland has mentioned he likes his D-core, obviously he\u2019s comfortable with the goaltending, it\u2019s up front that needs some adjustments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pagnotta believes that the Kings will try to acquire both a center and a winger, although one of those additions could wait until the offseason.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAnd they need a center. They need a top-two center at the very least by next season. I don\u2019t know if they necessarily pull that off now, we know they poked on [Vincent] Trocheck. LA, at the very least, needs a scoring winger they can add to their middle-six.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we\u2019ll see what they end up doing over these next [two weeks], but it\u2019s definitely an area Holland wants to address. If he can bring somebody on the wing and add someone to that center position, he\u2019d love to do that. I just don\u2019t know if there\u2019s enough runway for him to be able to do both.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s looking like Los Angeles is preparing to buy before March 6, and that\u2019s after already landing the top player on the trade market in Panarin. They also need to look to the future with franchise legend Anze Kopitar in the midst of his final year.<\/p>\n

Kings badly need to improve offensive side of puck<\/p>\n

As Pagnotta explained, the Kings have no issues on the defensive side of the puck, nor in net with Stanley Cup champion Darcy Kuemper between the pipes.<\/p>\n

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But the offense has not come easy for the club in 2025-26; LA is currently scoring just 2.54 goals per game, which is 30th league-wide. That\u2019s not at all acceptable for a franchise with postseason aspirations, and the glaring lack of offense has cost them in the standings.<\/p>\n

Amid the Olympic break, the Kings are 23-19-14 and three points back of the final wildcard berth in the Western Conference with 26 games remaining.<\/p>\n

Getting Panarin acquired and locked up for two seasons is terrific, and he will make an immediate impact. But Fiala was having a great year \u2014 to the tune of 40 points in 56 games \u2014 and he\u2019ll be difficult to replace.<\/p>\n

There are a plethora of decent options on the market, including Jeff Skinner, who was just released by the San Jose Sharks. Other potential fits include Montreal Canadiens sniper Patrik Laine, Vancouver Canucks power forward Evander Kane and Nashville Predators\u2019 Michael Bunting, among others.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019ll be interesting to see if Holland and the front office can bring another scorer or two to California between now and March 6 \u2014 and whether it will make the difference in getting the squad back into the dance for a fifth consecutive campaign.<\/p>\n

Related: Drew Doughty\u2019s NSFW response to Czechia\u2019s 6-men-on-ice Olympics goal controversy<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kings rumors: LA looking for Kevin Fiala replacement ahead of trade deadline appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465306,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5126],"tags":[367,3039,368,690,5,1106,612,1270,186,1760,240,5303,793,145,5304,5302,12137,21,231,4,640,168,881,56437,27],"class_list":["post-465305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-kings","tag-anze-kopitar","tag-artemi-panarin","tag-darcy-kuemper","tag-evander-kane","tag-hockey","tag-jeff-skinner","tag-ken-holland","tag-kevin-fiala","tag-kings","tag-la","tag-la-kings","tag-lakings","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-kings","tag-losangeles","tag-losangeleskings","tag-michael-bunting","tag-montreal-canadiens","tag-nashville-predators","tag-nhl","tag-patrik-laine","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-the-kings","tag-trocheck","tag-vancouver-canucks"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116106438977605280","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465305","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=465305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}