Nashville Predators: Who Won the Fiala/Granlund Trade One Year Later
One year ago, the Nashville Predators traded Kevin Fiala for Mikael Granlund of the Minnesota Wild. Let’s look back on it as the trade deadline approaches.
As of recently, we have seen both of these players blossom in games. Both of them have truly sparked on the ice and getting plenty of scoring opportunities.
Kevin Fiala currently has 38 points in this season (14 goals and 24 assists). In comparison, Mikael Granlund has 24 points in this season (14 goals and 10 assists) for the Predators.
There’s definitely a gap between the production of these two players, relating to the winner of this nearly one-year-old trade. Just based off production, the Wild have won the trade so far.
But then there’s the skill factor. “The ability to do something well; expertise.”
Deeper dive
Granlund has four more years under his belt compared to Fiala. He has more experience and definition.
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But Fiala is someone you don’t see on every team. He’s a very hardworking player that has his own type of skill that is really fascinating to watch.
He’s still fairly young, but this doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a certain ability on the ice.
Compared to the skill of these two players, Fiala has more skill than Granlund. Being a younger player in the NHL with as much skill as he has is particularly astounding.
"“Granlund is well above league average in pre-shot puck movement, especially when it comes to the dangerous areas directly around the net. If this is Granlund, and not the Wild, this will benefit the Predators a lot, as they’ve struggled to create good pre-shot movement.” -Kate R ontheforcheck.com."
Although Fiala is the more achieved player, it has taken Granlund about a year to get to a better scoring level. In the past five games, he has scored two goals and one assist.
In the last five games for Fiala, he has scored two goals and four assists.
So who won?
Being as young as age 23 in the for his abilities is what I’d call a win for the Minnesota Wild in this trade. It would have been wild to say this a year ago, but the odds have turned the tables around.
The media doesn’t give Fiala enough credit for his skill on the ice. When this trade officially happened, the media gave this win to the Nashville Predators by adding the former 60-point Granlund .
A year later, it’s proven in stats and skill that the Wild won this trade deal. Furthermore, Fiala has the higher ceiling and has another year left on his current deal.
Currently, the Nashville Predators are 29-22-7 (fourth in central). The Wild season is 27-24-7 (sixth in central).
There’s just a tad difference among the two teams, but enough to separate them from a playoff spot. Both teams still have a chance at sneaking into the playoffs, so you can argue both teams came out in good shape after the trade.
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It’s now possible that Granlund won’t even be on the Predators at this time next week with the trade deadline on Monday, and he’s a pending unrestricted free agent this offseason.
The Predators have been a strong team as of late and Granlund is finally showing us that this trade was decent enough for both parties involved, especially after John Hynes took over as head coach.