October Awards

I've decided to start handing out some monthly awards. We've just completed October so its time to recognize some early gems and interesting GM moves. 

Offensive Player of the Month
The criteria for this is not simply the player with the most points, but rather the player who has most significantly impacted their GM's roster by playing above expectations, being incredibly hot, etc. 

With that in mind, it is hard to imagine choosing anyone other than Alexander Steen. He has 18 points in 12 games. Stick tap to the Dicklas Lidstroms for snapping him up in the 2nd round, 25th overall (for reference, I chose David "1 point" Desharnais 16th overall).

HMs: Kyle Okposo, who is proving us all wrong for grinding J-Kru's gears with 17 points in 14 games. Also Frans Nielsen, chosen in the 4th round by the Mackhawks and currently sitting 8th in NHL scoring.

Defensive Player of the Month
As above, the criteria is not merely the most points, but the player with the biggest impact relative to expectations.


Marc-Edouard Vlasic.  His best offensive season was 2008-09 with 36 points and he looks poised to smash that this year. He was snagged off the waiver wire by the Winter Claassics, who have continued to enjoy steady, high production from this guy.

HMs: Oliver Ekman-Larsson. He is highly touted and was expected to develop in to a premiere defenceman, but it looks like he is finally coming into his own offensively. The Stefans have done well to remain patient with him, and his 11 points in 15 games is good for 4th in NHL scoring. Also I am going to pat myself on the back for weathering Erik Karlsson's injury last year and staying firm this year after a slow start. Karlsson leads all d-men in points and shows no signs of slowing down.

Goaltender of the Month
While the same criteria as above applies, it is impossible to give this award to anyone but the Los Samjawors Kings Antti Niemi. He has been outright dominant in this league format. 

HMs: Marc-Andre Fleury, and the Fylanders for continuing to believe in him. Ben Bishop for seizing the starting reins. A special mention to both the Los Samjawors Kings and the Teeyotes for recognizing his upside and making a trade that is still paying dividends as Bishop continues to produce.

GM of the Month
This is a subjective award based not so much on activity, but on a general sense of how the moves (or in some cases, the lack of moves) made during the month benefits the team both now and in the future. 

Congratulations to the Wilkes-Benham/Scranton Parkers. In particular, they managed to obtain a wonderful goaltender in Mike Smith as well as some good future pieces in Nikita Nikitin and Tomas Tatar in their October 23rd trade with the Fylanders, and made a shrewd move to pick up the Defensive Player of the Month in M-E Vlasic. 

HMs: The Los Samjawors Kings, who have certainly been the busiest, but how FA aquisitions Santorelli and Derek Morris will turn out is still up in the air. They did manage to extract Brent Seabrook from the Teeyotes, who is a clear upgrade on Tyler Myers in this format.