The 25-year-old forward, who was a restricted free agent, avoided a salary arbitration hearing scheduled for Tuesday. He scored 40 points (20 goals, 20 assists) in 50 regular-season games, and two points (one goal, one assist) in seven Stanley Cup Playoff games last season.
"We would have loved to get Kevin on a longer-term deal," Wild general manager Bill Guerin said. "But after a while, in going back and forth, it just seemed like we weren't going to be able to get anything done. And with the arbitration date coming, it just worked out that we could settle on a one-year deal. So we're happy. We're very happy to have Kevin back in the mix. There's no threat of missing training camp and he can just kind of focus on being ready for training camp and his conditioning and all that stuff. So it's good. We're happy. Kevin's an important player for us."
Selected by the Nashville Predators in the first round (No. 11) of the 2014 NHL Draft, Fiala has scored 198 points (91 goals, 107 assists) in 337 regular-season games for the Wild and Predators, and 12 points (nine goals, three assists) in 29 playoff games.
"I think it's a very important year for him," Guerin said. "Anytime you're in a contract year it's very important. If Kevin truly wants to establish himself as an elite player, then you know what? He's going to have to keep improving. He's had two good years for us and he's going to have to continue to get better. Kevin's still young too. He's still a young man and there's lots of room for improvement in his game on a lot of different areas. But there are some things that he does extremely well that other people in the League can't do.
"I think it's a great opportunity for him. It didn't work this year but he's got to be motivated. I do think Kevin's the type of guy that probably wants to prove me wrong and say, 'You screwed up.' That's what you want as a GM too. That's what you want as a coach. You want these guys that are driven and hungry. I think Kevin's got the capabilities of doing that."
NHL independent correspondent Jessi Pierce contributed to this report
