Kevin Fiala butting heads with his coach, on the trading block.

It seems that not all is well in Minnesota, especially not when it comes to what was believed to be one of their core forwards.

In spite of the fact that the team is off to a hot start this season, sitting atop the National Hockey League's Central Division after 17 games with a record of 11 - 6 - 0, there are now very credible rumblings suggesting that internal issues within the team could rapidly lead to a  trade. Those internal issues appear to be focused on veteran forward Kevin Fiala and head coach Dean Evason, two men who seemingly have been unable to get along this season.

The latest on this front comes from Minnesota Wild insider Mike Russo who recently revealed his belief that Fiala could be gone, and gone soon, as a result of these issues. From Russo:

He’s a pending restricted free agent with the right to become an unrestricted free agent in 2023. If the Wild can’t afford him or just don’t want to afford him or commit to him, it’s very possible he’ll be traded, perhaps even soon because he’s not playing well and things are getting visibly uncomfortable between him and Evason.

That Russo mentions his contract status here is worth noting, especially considering I believe this could be a big reason for why Fiala is currently unhappy in Minnesota. In spite of back to back 20+ goal seasons, both in shortened NHL seasons no less, Fiala was not offered a long term contract extension in the offseason. Instead the 25 year old winger was forced into arbitration with the Wild after the Wild themselves elected to go the arbitration route, something NHL teams rarely do.

As The end result was Fiala getting a 1 year deal worth $5.1 million, a far cry from the long term security some of his fellow teammates got from the team in the offseason.

That being said, Fiala has just 2 goals and 8 assists for 10 points this season and is well off the pace to match his goal scoring totals of the last two seasons. It is hard to argue with the Wild's decisions in light of his performance this season, and it seems like the next decision may be to get him off of the team entirely.