Kevin Fiala

[VincentVega]

He seems to be one of the less-talked about prospects from this year's draft offensive crop. This is what HF has to say about him:

Arguably one of the most offensively gifted players in the 2014 draft, the Swiss-born Fiala is the latest potential star in a revamped Swiss hockey program. If his SHL numbers are any indication, Fiala could be a big time offensive contributor in the NHL before too long. Fiala is explosive offensively in every way imaginable – he has a great stick, solid hands, excellent vision and creativity, and a very strong base. While his defensive game is lacking and he is a bit undersized, his extremely high-end offensive talent could more than make up for his deficiencies. With an offensively minded coach like Peter Laviolette now behind the bench in Nashville, there could be an interesting and fruitful partnership between the two in the future.

Pretty high praise. Why is he flying under the radar so much?

[mister_mcgoo]

Not under the radar in my leagues, snapped up pretty quickly in fact

[Ice Wings]

What is his likelihood of playing next season? I just picked him up this morning and threw him into an NA slot in my league.

[ultrawhiteness]

He's under the radar because he was a late riser in draft rankings (contrast to Nylander, for example) and was then picked by a southern team with not a lot of media/blogger buzz (contrast to, I dunno, Nylander).

Will be very interesting to see them in competition this year back in Sweden.

[VincentVega]

Not under the radar in my leagues, snapped up pretty quickly in fact

Knowledgeable hockey people in your leagues. In my league, I picked him up after our draft. Mind you, in my league we don't have a roster spot for prospects so if he doesn't play (which he won't this year) he still contributes towards total cap hit. But still many lesser prospects were picked up.

I was thinking more under-the-radar in terms of being talked about on these forums. There are lots of discussions about other guys like Ehlers or Nylander but not so much him.

[VincentVega]

What is his likelihood of playing next season? I just picked him up this morning and threw him into an NA slot in my league.

No clue but he did impress during pre-season and training camp so I'd say he's got some chance of coming over next year. He might start in the AHL first.

[VincentVega]

He's under the radar because he was a late riser in draft rankings (contrast to Nylander, for example) and was then picked by a southern team with not a lot of media/blogger buzz (contrast to, I dunno, Nylander).

Will be very interesting to see them in competition this year back in Sweden.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to watching his progression. They'll be playing in the same league, I presume. Both are listed under SweHL on hockeydb

[Fast Tony DeNiro]

He definitely is underrated, I think a lot has to do with who he was drafted by and the fact he was a late riser playing in Europe. He still needs a lot of work on his all-around game, I'm not ready to say he'll be an NHL'er next season. But he's definitely not far off.

[fungchen3]

I snagged Fiala quickly in my draft. I think him and Ehlers have the potential to be the two most dynamic forwards in the draft within 3-5 years. He's going to walk into a situation (probably in 2015-16) where he can contribute immediately. And the Preds are trending up big-time, fantasy-wise. Weber, Jones, Josi, Neal, Forsberg, Smith and Jarnkrok will give Fiala some nice toys to play with in the near future. I'm going to predict Fiala plays in the NHL next season and has a 45-55 point rookie campaign (better than Draisaitl, Bennett, Reinhart this year or Nylander, Kapanen, next year).

[VincentVega]

I snagged Fiala quickly in my draft. I think him and Ehlers have the potential to be the two most dynamic forwards in the draft within 3-5 years. He's going to walk into a situation (probably in 2015-16) where he can contribute immediately. And the Preds are trending up big-time, fantasy-wise. Weber, Jones, Josi, Neal, Forsberg, Smith and Jarnkrok will give Fiala some nice toys to play with in the near future. I'm going to predict Fiala plays in the NHL next season and has a 45-55 point rookie campaign (better than Draisaitl, Bennett, Reinhart this year or Nylander, Kapanen, next year).

I like the sound of that. Makes me feel better for trading away Wennberg in a questionable deal, which opened up cap space for me to snatch Fiala. I read somewhere that if he were a few inches taller, he would have been in the discussion for top 3 in the draft.

[fungchen3]

I like the sound of that. Makes me feel better for trading away Wennberg in a questionable deal, which opened up cap space for me to snatch Fiala. I read somewhere that if he were a few inches taller, he would have been in the discussion for top 3 in the draft.

Well, to be honest, I didn't dissect your trade in great detail. I like Wennberg quite a lot too. I think Fiala's upside is a hair better though. As for your other part - I think this was an odd draft year to be honest. There were a clump of forwards that were primarily equal and the team picking 20th could have ended up with a Top-3 forward when it all shakes out. Not to compare it in quality to the famous 2003 draft, but I think some of the best players will be taken later than they should have. I think some players were fortunate to receive extra hype and others were short-changed on it - Fiala and Ehlers being at the top of the under-hyped list.

[VincentVega]

Well, to be honest, I didn't dissect your trade in great detail. I like Wennberg quite a lot too. I think Fiala's upside is a hair better though. As for your other part - I think this was an odd draft year to be honest. There were a clump of forwards that were primarily equal and the team picking 20th could have ended up with a Top-3 forward when it all shakes out. Not to compare it in quality to the famous 2003 draft, but I think some of the best players will be taken later than they should have. I think some players were fortunate to receive extra hype and others were short-changed on it - Fiala and Ehlers being at the top of the under-hyped list.

Oh that's alright, it's one of those trades that is an overpayment for a slight improvement of a weakness to my roto league team. Sometimes I do those and end up second-guessing myself for some time after lol.

At any rate, I'm happy with Fiala now, even though the wait for him will be longer. And I agree about the over-,under-hyping of prospects. Also managed to grap Fabbri and Goldobin, two picks that should have been taken earlier.

[fungchen3]

Also managed to grap Fabbri and Goldobin, two picks that should have been taken earlier.

I like both of these kids too. Great draft for you.

[VincentVega]

I like both of these kids too. Great draft for you.

Yeah, I feel that way too. Hopefully they all make their teams next year.

[Shift Disturber]

I took Fiala at #8 in our league's entry draft. I think he's very underrated at this point in his development, especially on this site. 18 year olds are a crap shoot, but I am perplexed that a guy like Fabbri gets so much love and Fiala is ranked so far behind him. Fiala's camp performance speaks for itself.