The awards for October are given below. The first four are simply based on the objective criteria given, while the last two are more subjective and will merit some elaboration each month. Please, comment to your heart's content about the criteria used, which players you believe have been overlooked, and which GMs and/or their moves you would like to applaud and/or ridicule.
Awarded to the offensive player with the greatest point share
for his team for the month
Winner: Jacub Voracek 15.79% (Vanrooser Canicks)
Runners Up: Sidney Crosby 15.31% (Los Amjawors Kings) and Tyler Toffoli 14.74% (Vanrooser Canicks)
NORRIS
Awarded to the defenseman with the greatest PPG for the month (minimum 5 games)
Winner: Victor Hedman 1.40 (Vanrooser Canicks)
Runners up: Brent Burns 1.08 (Mackhawks) and Mike Green 1.00 (Winter Claassens)
CALDER
Awarded to the NHL rookie with the greatest PPG for the month (minimum 5 games)
Winner: Andre Burakovsky 0.89 (Powder Rangers)
Runners up: Tanner Pearson 0.82 (Winter Claassens) and Filip Forsberg 0.80 (Patrik Stefans)
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| Denton's paralegal Chantal Vezina |
VEZINA
Awarded to the goalie with the most KL points in the month
Winner: Marc-Andre Fleury 19 (Magnus Faajarvis)
Runners-up: Darcy
Kuemper 19 (Joshfrey Krupuls)
BENNING
Awarded to the GM who made the best moves of the
month overall
Winner: There
were many things that factored into this award for October because of all of
the pre-draft moves, and then of course the draft itself. After careful
consideration, the winner is… GM of the
Joshfrey Krupuls. Most other GMs took note at roster deadline time, when
Mr. Krusell got active and acquired some savvy vets to shore things up for a
serious run. Then, not only did his draft reinforce his depth, but he picked up
Darcy Kuemper 137th overall. Of course, nothing validates his moves
more than his current place in the standings: at the very top.
Runners up: Another
GM who brought a flurry of activity pre-draft was Mackhawks GM Mr. MacKenzie. There were a lot of head-scratchers who
questioned his decision to basically unload his entire slough of 2014 draft
picks to the Faajarvis for Jarome Iginla and Brent Burns. And then he decided
he didn’t want his 2nd rounder in 2015 either, so he dumped that
too, but in return he got the 6th highest scorer of all-time, soon
to be 5th. And as if to prove his indifference about draft position,
his final 5 picks have outperformed his first 6 picks!! He’s backed all this up
by finding himself in second place at October’s end.
The second runner up is none other than yours truly, GM of the Patrik Stefans. Also very
active at roster deadline, he managed to add some more explosive pieces to his
exciting young core in Filip Forsberg and Jake Gardiner (please ignore the Brad
Richards move), and also improve his draft position. He showed immense courage
after getting in a 2am line brawl the night before the draft with the adopted
Asian children of the Broad Street Bullies, and managed to draft the two
highest performing draftee skaters in October in Jeff Carter and Brock Nelson,
who both sit T7th in NHL scoring.
PREYDE-KIRSHENBLAT
Awarded to the GM who made the most disgraceful move of the
month
Winner:
Hilariously, GM of the Joshfrey Krupuls
(Pirri dropped, Beleskey added) takes the cake for October. Beleskey’s time
on the top line in Anaheim was short-lived, while Pirri has returned to action
and found himself centering Jokinen and Fleischmann. He’s done one better than Beleskey’s
production since the move with 3 goals, and as an impressive side-note, the two
have combined for 8 goals and 0 assists this season, making this roster slot
the early Cy Young favorite.
Runners up: GM of the G-Phil’s Flyers (Eller dropped,
Conacher added) read a lot into Conacher’s preseason beast-mode, but he’s
managed a measly 2 pts all season, just as Eller has. In fairness, Conacher has
somehow stayed on the top unit with Tavares and Okposo, while Eller apparently rode the pine for the majority of the game in Calgary this week, but I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to slag the 2-time
defending champs.
There were a few other hasty add/drops which don’t look like
they are going to pan out, such as the insurance Ryder purchased by the Powder
Rangers, but I think that TWO moves by the GM
of the Quebec Rordiques deserve a collective call-out. He basically handed
over Holtby and Ladd to his two former
UVic Law classmates, who both came knocking on his door in mild
desperation. In return, The Rordiques
have netted themselves two 2nd round picks next year, but have given
up—let’s call it what it is—the first pick in each of the 4th and 5th
rounds. Maybe Rory actually thinks he can be done drafting before the 4th
round starts, and so those picks won’t matter? In any case, I’m a bit
bewildered. Rory was wildly regarded as one of the smartest kids in my high
school, especially in physics, but he has shown no understanding of leverage
here. Rory also continues to be regarded as one of the nicest guys you’ll ever
meet, so at least he has upheld that aspect of his reputation.