(KDLM) – After weeks of speculation, the Kevin Fiala era is over in Minnesota.
The Wild traded the restricted free agent forward to the LA Kings this afternoon in exchange for the 19th overall pick in the upcoming NHL draft and defenseman Brock Faber.
Fiala set career highs with 33 goals and 52 assists for the Wild last season, trailing only Kiril Kaprizov in points.
According to sources, the #mnwild have traded the rights to pending restricted free agent Kevin Fiala to the #lakings for their 2022 first-round pick and University of Minnesota captain Brock Faber
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) June 29, 2022
Fiala has already reportedly signed a seven-year contract with the Kings, worth nearly $8 million per season.
Since being acquired by the Wild from the Nashville Predators in the Mikael Grandlund trade in 2019, Fiala has led the team in goals (79), assists (107), points (186), games played (215), powerplay points (53), game-winning goals (17) and shots (642).
With the Wild’s salary cap situation over the next few years with the buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter totaling $12-15 million dollars in empty cap space over the next few seasons, the Wild really had no other option than to trade Fiala, as they couldn’t afford his anticipated $8 million per season salary.
Faber, who currently captains the Minnesota Golden Gophers, was selected by the Kings with the 45th pick in last year’s NHL Draft.
The Wild now have two first-round picks (19 and 24) and two second-round picks (47 and 56) in the 2022 NHL Draft, which is July 7-8 in Montreal.