Fiala To World Championships + Insider Q&A

Good Morning, Insiders!

First, a small piece of news – IIHFiala!

Kings forward Kevin Fiala was a late addition to the tournament with Team Switzerland, after he was not included on the original roster, but he will represent his country as a big addition for the Swiss. Fiala was officially announced earlier today. Switzerland has already begun its tournament, but Fiala will join the squad midway through.

Fiala is a dynamic offensive player in the NHL and his style of play should thrive internationally as well, with open ice and wider rinks opening up even more space for a speedy and crafty offensive player.

This tournament marks Fiala’s fifth time representing Team Switzerland at the senior international level, his first appearance since 2019. Fiala was a part of Switzerland’s silver-medal winning squad in 2018 as the team won its second medal of any kind since 1953. Fiala had an assist in the gold-medal game as Switzerland eventually lost in the shootout.

Team Switzerland is off to a 2-0 start to their tournament, sitting second in Group B as of this writing. Their schedule is as follows –

May 13 vs. Slovenia (7-0 W)
May 14 vs. Norway (3-0 W)
May 16 vs. Kazakhstan
May 18 vs. Slovakia
May 20 vs. Canada
May 21 vs. Czechia
May 23 vs. Latvia

Fiala will join fellow NHL forwards Nino Niederreiter and Denis Malgin as the leaders up front for Team Switzerland, a group that consists of several former NHL players who are now playing professionally in Europe.

Fiala joins forwards Martin Chromiak, Carl Grundstrom and T.J. Tynan, as well as goaltender Cal Petersen, as organizational representatives at the tournament.

Additionally, Insiders, how about an offseason Q&A!

First things first, this week will be a return to more normal activity from a posting standpoint. Last week was my “dead week” in terms of posting. Some time to focus more on some behind-the-scenes work and some time to step away a bit. I really did not check the website much at all beyond a post or two and did not touch the moderation site. That will return to a more normal focus starting this week and beyond into the summer, with the season in review series beginning this week, looking at every player on the roster throughout the season.

So, consider today a transition day. A few notes and talking points I’m hoping to work in here throughout the offseason from a “business” standpoint, as summer projects here on LAKI.

1. Site Rules – A revamped look at the site rules and how website moderation is conducted. I believe this area needs some revision and overhaul to properly keep this thing moving the right way. I have a few ideas on how we can achieve this and it’s an area I plan to work on here in the coming weeks so that the site rules can perhaps better reflect the website and so that the moderation team on the backend is enforcing those rules more quickly and efficiently than we did this past season. Open to any suggestions on how we could improve in that area.

2. Website Performance – A few ongoing issues that I think we have all seen and pointed out, which are the first focus for me to get up and running. Couple of things related to Disqus, one related to Safari on mobile and a couple of other areas I have pinned in my email that users have relayed to me. Hopefully this is the easiest fix, but some areas here that have been long overdue to make corrections on. Hope to see some things implemented soon!

3. Future Content Ideas – This is probably a later in the summer focus, but taking a look at both our summer and in-season content for potential areas of improvement. The metrics we get show trends of what types of content, and what times content is posted, works the best and also what doesn’t. However, your feedback is also received from the comment section and would be received and taken into account moving forward as well.

4. Offseason Meetups – Open to suggestions on if the group would like to arrange any sort of offseason meetup opportunities, whether in smaller groups or as a larger group! Open to these both from a focus group standpoint to talk about the site, as well as simply an enjoying each other’s company standpoint in whatever capacity that is. Happy to run point or to defer to the group, but would love to have an opportunity – or opportunities – this summer to meetup.

Taking questions throughout the day around a few meetings I have in the afternoon. Whether on the above topics or on anything you have related to the offseason, fire away and I’ll do my best to answer.

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