Fiala done for the season. Now what?

What a roller coaster this season has been.

It started off high with the Kings going into free agency with $22 million in cap space, only to see Holland waste $9 million on Ceci and Dumoulin. The lows kept coming throughout the season when the Kings played the exact style of hockey we all knew they would with the D-core they had, and they’re still fighting just to make the playoffs.

Then the shining light of the roller coaster shot straight up after trading for Panarin. Add in the fact that the Olympics are coming up and we get to watch the best players in the world play together I didn’t think this high would ever end. I started playing “what if” with the lineup. Holland has said he needs a centre, so what if they get this guy? What if they get that guy?

Then, the plummet. Fiala out for the season.

We didn’t even get one shift of a full lineup with the addition of Panarin before it all gets ripped away. Like the title says: now what?

My guess is Holland is still looking for a centre with term, but now also needs a top-six winger as a rental. Seems easy to do when you see the Kings have $15.5 million in cap space and once that’s gone, they can tap into Fiala’s $8 million if needed.

Not so fast. The big problem is the cupboard is bare. Not just bare it’s completely empty, ripped off the wall, and thrown in the garbage. The Kings have zero blue-chip prospects. I think Cihar is great, but he’s all there is on the player side. The Kings have a bunch of goalie prospects, but I’d hold off on trading them since the starting goalie right now is 35 years old. They might need one or two of them in the near future.

So who can you realistically get with picks? Can you get Pettersson? Can you get Robert Thomas and Jake Neighbours? I don’t think so and sadly, I think those are exactly the types of players they need.

My fear is the only players Holland will be able to get are Nazem Kadri and Evander Kane. Kadri is a great player but not who the Kings need. They need a centre will force Hiller to move Kopitar down the line up. He cannot be the Kings first line centre in the playoffs. Evander Kane brings some intangibles but he is way past being able to help in any meaningful way on the top 6. This is wishful thinking but Holland and Jim Montgomery are best friends. Have to hope he can pull off a Thomas deal somehow.