Not much has gone right for the Minnesota Wild this season. From the 1-6-0 start to a laundry list of injuries to key players — Mats Zuccarello, Joel Eriksson Ek and Devan Dubnyk have already missed time due to injury, and Greg Pateryn has yet to even appear in a single game — times have been tough in the State of Hockey.
But things have been particularly difficult for forward Kevin Fiala.
Acquired last season in the trade that sent Mikael Granlund to the Nashville Predators, many were hoping the 23-year-old Swiss winger would pick up the slack and produce at a Granlund-esque level right out of the gate — not exactly the easiest of feats considering Granlund collected 185 points (62 goals and 123 assists) in his final three seasons with the Minnesota Wild.