2025 Kings Seasons In Review – Kevin Fiala

Moving on from Quinton Byfield to his running mate in Kevin Fiala. It certainly took some time to circle back to that pairing but once they were reunited, both players played at a very high level. It was a very up and down season for Fiala, with the ending certainly the standout on the positive front, but it was not a straight line to that point. More on Fiala’s year below.

Kevin Fiala
LAK Statline – 81 games played, 35 goals, 25 assists, -7 rating, 38 penalty minutes
LAK Playoff Statline – 6 games played, 3 goals, 4 assists, even rating, 2 penalty minutes
NHL Possession Metrics (Relative To Kings) – CF% – 56.5% (+4.8%), SCF% – 56.2% (+4.1%), HDCF% – 56.5% (+1.6%)

Fiala spent much of his season in search of what he’s been in search of for two-plus seasons and that was a regular home. It took two-thirds of the season for him to find it and on route to that point, there were some real hiccups along the way. Once he got there, the results were evident, but he certainly came in with one of the more up-and-down seasons as a whole on the Kings roster.

Trending Up – Kevin Fiala got it this season. Fiala himself spoke to the process of getting it. Jim Hiller spoke about seeing Fiala get it. I think that his production down the stretch and into the playoffs speaks for itself but it was just so clear that once he got it, he got it. What getting it meant for Fiala was playing creative and free-flowing style of hockey within the system and structure the Kings have in place. Once he did that, we saw a player not only be extremely productive but also contributing defensively while eliminating the careless minor penalties. Personally, I believe Fiala got it. I thought his play in the second half of the season was his best stretch of hockey with the Kings and that during that time, he was the team’s best player.

So how did getting it translate into Fiala’s production? First things first, he scored 35 goals this season for the first time in his NHL career. From February 1 through the end of the season, Fiala ranked third in the NHL with 19 goals in that span, coinciding with him being reunited with Byfield. In total, no Kings forward was on the ice for a higher percentage of shot attempts, shots on goal or scoring chances at even strength than Fiala was this season. Over the final 60 games of the regular season, Fiala had just 16 penalty minutes in total, which was fewer than the first 20. What I saw was the best parts of Fiala shine through, while other parts of his game that were weaknesses in November were not weaknesses in March. Once it clicked, it seemed to click in all facets of his game.

A long-standing knock on Fiala has been his production during the playoffs and this 2025 postseason silenced just about all of that conversation. I felt that Fiala was one of the two best players on the Kings during the playoffs, along with forward Phillip Danault. Fiala had a point in every game played except for Game 5 and finished fourth on the team in scoring during the series. On top of that, no Kings forward was on the ice for more even-strength goals in the series than Fiala and he was the only regular in the series to be on the right side of 50 percent of shot attempts and scoring chances at even strength. Dude had a great series, coming off a great end of the regular season.

Trending Down – For all of what was discussed above, there’s a reason why “getting it” was so notable. Fiala really had his struggles early in the season. He missed a team meeting which resulted in being a healthy scratch in November. He was benched for penalties during a November game as well. On that note, he had 22 PIM’s in his first 20 games of the season, tied for the ninth-most minors in the league in that time. During the 2024 portion of last season, no Kings player was on the ice for more goals against on a per/60 basis than Fiala was. In 2024, Fiala ranked 13th on the Kings in even-strength points per/60, equal to Tanner Jeannot and behind Trevor Lewis. Just wasn’t a lot going right for Fiala early in the season.

I guess that leads into the biggest word to describe Fiala’s season which was inconsistent. When it went well, it went WELL. When it didn’t, though, it really didn’t. For a player who was the highest-paid forward on the team this past season, the Kings needed more on the consistency from over 82 games. They didn’t get that from Fiala this season. As noted multiple times, he found it down the stretch but that doesn’t excuse October and November. Heading into his fourth season with the Kings, it’s an area the Kings need more of going forward and on a regular basis.

2025-26 Status – Fiala has now played three full seasons with the Kings and has four seasons remaining under contract with an AAV of $7,875,000. Fiala also has a full no-movement clause for next season. Fiala played his best hockey with the Kings down the stretch of last season, carrying that level into the playoffs. There seemed to be a clear mental shift for Fiala, who not only played his game at a high level but he did so within the structure of the team. The results were outstanding and if he can carry that over into next season, he could be in line for his best season yet in Los Angeles.