It's everyone's worse fear: A star player suffering a season-ending injury while playing at the Olympics. It's something that can shift an entire year and potentially longer for a team. That just happened for the Los Angeles Kings.
While representing Switzerland, Kings winger Kevin Fiala unfortunately suffered a brutal injury up against Team Canada and while there is no clarity on the specific injury but almost immediately after he got some medical attention, it was certain that he's going to miss the rest of the season.
One update from last night: Kevin Fiala is having surgery this morning in Italy.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) February 14, 2026
No clarity yet on exact injury, but, unfortunately, it will be season-ending. All the best to him in his recovery.
It is a terrible situation for both the Kings and Fiala. Only Adrian Kempe has scored more goals and points than the 29-year-old Swiss this season and the Kings are going to be making a hard push for the playoffs once play resumes. Los Angeles is just three points out of a playoff spot and could even realistically compete with the Edmonton Oilers as they sit second in the Pacific division. They're still right in it.
While Fiala's season ending brings the likelihood of making noise in the playoffs down, it should at least be expected that Kings general manager Ken Holland goes on the hunt to replace at least some of the winger's impact. That is where the Leafs can come in.
Kings might pay what the Leafs want for Bobby McMann
Bobby McMann is someone who, while not nearly as skilled as Fiala, could at least bring some of his goalscoring while making up for the difference in other attributes like physicality. The Leafs winger is likely to be moved before the March 6 trade deadline, so it seems like a more natural fit now especially with Fiala being out.
And all the recent reports are stating that the Leafs want a first-round pick for the pending unrestricted free agent but might find some trouble in doing that. But, now with the Kings much more desperate to make this push for the playoffs -- and McMann is certainly a Kings-style middle-six winger in a classic mix of being able to lay the body and score some goals -- they might be a team that is willing to pay that price.
Regardless of the actual return, the team and player do feel like a perfect fit. It just depends if Holland will want to pay assets for a potential rental forward when their second-best winger just had his season ended. It wouldn't be like him to give up on the season, but pay a fairly high price for someone like McMann? It's a tough decision.