Los Angeles Kings
Olympic Teammates React as Kings Lose Kevin Fiala for Season
Kevin Fiala’s season is over following a serious injury at the 2026 Winter Olympics. He had surgery on Friday and won’t return to the Kings.
There is a heartbreaking update on Kevin Fiala’s injury situation at the 2026 Winter Olympics. According to NHL insider Elliotte Friedman, Fiala underwent surgery Saturday morning in Italy. While there is still no official word on the exact nature of the injury, Friedman reports that it will be season-ending. That means Fiala’s Olympic tournament is over — and so is his NHL campaign.
The Swiss Ice Hockey Federation had already confirmed earlier that Fiala would miss the remainder of the Olympic tournament after being injured in Switzerland’s second group game against Canada.
The injury occurred late in the third period of Switzerland’s matchup with Team Canada at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games. Fiala, who plays for the Los Angeles Kings, was involved in a heavy collision with Tom Wilson. Replays appeared to show contact to Fiala’s left knee or leg as it bent awkwardly underneath him.
He remained down on the ice for several minutes and needed medical attention before being helped off on a stretcher, unable to put weight on the injured leg. The reaction on the Canadian bench said plenty, as players watched the replay with concern while leading comfortably late in the game.
This is a huge loss for the Swiss team and the LA Kings, who will have to close out the season without him. His Kings teammate Adrian Kempe said, “Obviously it’s sad, and it sucks for him and for us (Kings). Sad for him. It’s something that we’ve been looking forward our whole life coming to play here (in the Olympics) and going down like that, it’s really tough for him personally and for us as a team, how much he means to our team back home in L.A. Yeah, just very unfortunate for him that it comes in a tournament like this that we’ve been looking forward to playing in for so long. I feel for him.’’
Before knowing that Fiala was done for the year, another teammate, Drew Doughty, commented. “It was tough to see,” the Team Canada defenseman said. “Wish Kevin the best. Hopefully he’s going to be fine quick. We need that guy on my team back home, big-time. That’s not something I wanted, obviously, to happen. I’m going to go find him right now and see how he’s doing.”
For Los Angeles, the timing is especially brutal. The Kings were looking to strengthen their playoff push after acquiring Artemi Panarin, hoping to add more firepower down the stretch. Losing Fiala for the season dramatically alters those plans.
More details on the injury are expected once the surgery results are made public, but for now, the focus shifts to recovery. All the best to Fiala as he begins what will undoubtedly be a long road back. The Kings playoff hopes are likely over, meaning this new group, including Fiala, will have to start over in the 2026-27 season.
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