Quoting: Wild1205
Could see either Kuinin or Greenway at center hope Fiala is the Player Fenton think he is
The more I think about the trade, the more I like it. I posted this in a previous post but this might provide some optimism for you:
Fiala is 22, Granlund is 27 tomorrow
Fiala is a RFA, Granny only had 2 years remaining before he'll want $8-9M (according to Russo, he was going to ask for this kind of money for his next contract).
In Fiala's first full NHL season, he scored 23 goals. Granlund scored 13. Note: Fiala averaged 15 minutes per game while Granlund averaged 18.
Fiala is more of a shooter (kind of coincides with my last point) and is extremely dangerous 1 on 1
Fiala is a much better skater than Granlund
Fiala has been amazing at even strength, scoring 19/23 and 9/10 goals during even strength last year and this year, respectively.
Fiala's Corsica and Fenwick are insanely good: 55.0% CF over career and 53.6% CF this year (in a slumping year) and 54.7% FF over career and 53.4% FF this year. Compared to Granlunds 50.0% CF career 52.4% CF this year and 50.6% FF career and 53.3% FF this year
Fiala's heatmap is very good. To sum it up, he's better than Granlund at 5v5 but slightly weaker at 5v4.
Fiala still has room to grow, Granlund has probably hit his ceiling.
Fiala's contract extension will be very reasonable.
It hurts now, but I think he could be better than Granlund in the future. Get him a good center that can make plays and I think we have ourselves a player. Here's his heatmap: