Minnesota Wild trade high-profile RFA to the LA Kings
Coming into the off-season the Minnesota Wild knew they were going to be hard-pressed to find the cap room to re-sign pending RFA winger Kevin Fiala. Fiala played last season on a 1-year deal that was signed after an arbitration hearing. It paid him $5.1M.
Given his salary last season and the fact the Wild only have $6M in cap space it was almost a forgone conclusion they would have to move him. Fiala's new deal would put the Wild over the cap with 4 roster spots to fill.
According to Minnesota reporter Michael Russo, the Wild have traded Fiala to the LA Kings in exchange for a 2022 first round pick (#19 overall) and prospect Brock Faber.
Fiala is coming off of a 33-goal, 85-point campaign and will surely get north of $7M on a long term deal from LA. The first round pick in this year's draft will be 19th overall and gives Minnesota 2 picks in the first round now. Brock Faber is the University of Minnesota's captain and was drafted in the second round of the 2020 draft.
All in all, this is a good trade for both teams as LA gets a proven commodity that can step into the lineup for the retired Dustin Brown and Minnesota saves themselves some cap space that they don't have and adds a quality prospect and some additional draft capital.
**Update, per Elliotte Friedman, Fiala's new AAV will come in at around $7.9M**
