December Awards/KL Week 14: Week in Review

Happy New Year GMs!

This is the third in a series of monthly awards recognizing some of the high points in the month gone by. If you missed October's and November's, check out the link to "All Monthly Awards" on the left side of this post.

Conveniently, the week ends today as well. Here we sit after three months and 14 weeks of competition:

Week in Review Notes:

• The Schizzarks continue to plummet. They sit 10 points out of last, and a resurgent Vanrooser Canicks team threatens to leapfrog them in short order.
• The best week (23 point) belongs to the Joshfrey Krupuls, who find themselves in serious playoff contention
• I'm super excited to see the Winter Claassics a mere 5 points out of a money spot. 
• 4 teams are within 4 points of each other, straddling the playoff line. A clever move could put one of them over the top - or leave them in the dust. 
• The Fylanders and Micahleks continue to inch their way closer to the top position. Assuming all else remains equal and the top 3 continue at the exact same pace, the Fylanders will eclipse the Micahleks by the end of January and catch the Flyers by the end of February.

Offensive Player of the Month  

This simply has to go to Claude Giroux of the Joshfrey Krupuls. He has scored 19 points in the month of December (after scoring 18 points in all of October and November). Only Crosby and Kane have more points that that this month. Coupled with continued production from Kyle "All you guys at the KL draft have egg on your face" Okposo, Giroux's return to form has made the Krupuls a serious playoff team.


HMs: Patrick Sharp of the Vanrooser Canicks. Desperately in need of a top forward, Sharp has emerged this month as a premiere scoring forward, with 18 points in the month of December. I'd also be remiss if I did not mention Patrick Kane, who has kept pace with Sidney Crosby with a remarkable 23 points - we all knew he was good, but did anyone really think "the only guy in the NHL with a realistic chance of catching Crosby" good? Lastly, the Moilers continue to quietly put together a very impressive season as Taylor Hall rounds into form, with 19 points.

Defensive Player of the Month

The Winter Claassics owe part of their success this month to none other than Cam Fowler. After two consecutive disappointing seasons (especially given his stellar rookie season), Fowler has 11 points in December and is presently on pace to catch PK Subban on the Winter Claassics roster. 
 
HMs: Duncan Keith. Last month's winner has led all defencemen in December with 15 points and sit atop the WBS Parkers' scoring roster - he looks set to smash his previous records. Also of note, late round flyer Andrej Sekera of the G-Phil's Flyers has 10 points in December and is now 13th in NHL D scoring.

Goaltender of the Month

Martin Jones of no KL team whatsoever. Remarkably, this unheralded youngster has played exactly 10 NHL games, all in December, earning a stunning 26 Keeper League points. Does Quick's expected return spell A-H-L for this rookie netminder, or do the Kings opt to keep him up with the team in the event Quick falters again? Will a KL GM take a flyer on this guy?

HMs:  The Powder Rangers have desperately needed points from anywhere they can get them after losing Stamkos for who-knows-how-long in November, and they've gotten exactly that from Craig Anderson, who is amongst the upper tier of point-getters in the KL with 16 on the month. Also of note, Carey Price's 17 points are the only parachute on the rapidly falling Schizzarks.

GM of the Month

It's been a quiet month, but congratulations to the Milan Micahleks. I hated the their trade with the Dicklas Lidstroms, but you can't argue with results - they are sitting pretty in 2nd place. The players traded away and the players obtained all have a total of 8 points in December, but that is without anything from still-injured Dougie Hamilton. It looks like this trade will pay dividends on an ongoing basis.

HMs: The Dicklas Lidstroms, who even in spite of the above got good value for good value in their trade with the Micahleks. Also the Mackhawks, who have maintained a playoff position despite a stunning run of injuries - nor have they panicked. Dropping an injured Dupuis to bring Simmonds back to the fold was the right move as well.