MRKL on Ice: March Part 2 (Awards)

Snapshot of the standings as of April 1st

HART

Awarded to the offensive player with the greatest point share for his team for the month (teams in top 10... and I'm glad I altered this criterion, because all honourable mentions are citizens of Tankcity).

Winner: Jiri Hudler 15.6% (Dicklas Lidstroms)

Runners Up: Radim Vrbata 13.6% (Milan Micahleks) and Sean Monahan 13.9% (Magnus Faajarvis)

Hon. mention: Ryan O'Reilly 17.3% (Quebec Rordiques), TJ Oshie 16.7% - but not really cause not on SR (WBS Parkers), and Jonathan Huberdeau 15.5% (Vanrooser Canicks)

NORRIS

Awarded to the defenseman with the greatest PPG for the month (minimum 5 games)

Winner: Erik Karlsson 0.94 (G-Phil's Flyers)

Runners up: Dennis Wideman (Patrik Stefans), Kris Russell (Los Amjawors Kings), and Dougie Hamilton (Milan Micahleks) all with 0.8 PPG.

CALDER

Awarded to the NHL rookie with the greatest PPG for the month (minimum 5 games)

Winner: Johnny Gaudreau 1.07 (Patrik Stefans) 

Runners up: Andrew Miller 1.00 (unowned, and would be eligible as a free agent, but for our deadline having passed) and Mark Stone 0.94 (Teeyotes)

Denton's paralegal Chantal Vezina

VEZINA

Awarded to the goalie with the most KL points in the month

Co-winners: Jonathan Quick (Mackhawks) and Braden Holtby (Los Amjawors Kings), both with 24. 

Runners-up: Devan Dubnyk 22, (Dicklas Lidstroms), Kari Lehtonen 21 (Joshfrey Krupuls) and Andrew Hammond 21 (Binghampton Senators)

BENNING

Awarded to the GM who made the best moves of the month overall

Winner: I pick things up here where I left off in Part 1 of the Month in Review in order to award the Benning for March. That is, I engage in yet another "what-if" type of analysis. Just 7 GMs were active at the March 8th deadline, with varying objectives. We all warn ourselves about the perils of making these deadline deals and the lateral moves that seem to backfire almost more often than not, and yet, some of us still play the dangerous game. It's too early to assess the true impact of these moves, especially where Calder candidates were sent packing, but enough time has gone by to applaud some shrewd decisions that have had meaningful implications on the race to the finish.

On the balance, GM of the Mackhawks' double D juggling has earned him this month's honour. He has benefited by 7 points with his acquisition of Travis Hamonic and intra-roster swapping of Seth Jones with Mark Giordano. But for this maneuvering, he would sit 11 points out of the final KCKL playoff spot. Instead, he finds himself 4 back with 11 days of action to go, and a fighting chance to defend his playoff championships and pull of the 3-peat.

Runners up: The next greatest gain from the deadline deals was a measly 2 points from your truly, but we all know the potential long-term price of that; it's also impossible to say whether that might be one of the greatest moves ever pulled--if I were to win this thing by a margin within this ultimate point prop-up; no, I'm not tooting any horn... I said it was impossible to say. Anyway, I'm going to go a different direction with this one and give distinction to the two tanking GMs of the Rordiques and Parkers, respectively (as much as the spirit of the league beckons me not to). The Rordiques burying of Captain Serious has deflated his total by 9, while the Parkers demotion of Tatar has sauced him a reduced 6. Will JVR ream out the Rordiques tankjob? Will Brian Elliott pap-smear Rome's campaign to do the same? This might be the closest race to watch on April 11th.

PREYDE-KIRSHENBLAT

Awarded to the GM who made the most disgraceful move of the month

Winner: In this league, one month's hero can quickly become the next month's goat. Such is the case for the GM of the Magnus Faajarvis, who has seen his monthly total go from a league best 133 to 5th worst 115 (and worst among playoff teams). While the simmering of his entire roster is mostly responsible, his two moves at the deadline have not helped his cause. Who would have thought that James van Riemsdyk would awaken and outscore Jori Lehtera by 2 points so far? Very few people. What about Morgan Rielly outproducing Dion Phaneuf by 2? Some people. Sure, things might self-correct, but frankly, there is only one team to blame for the demise of the Faajarvis, who now sit 6 points back of 3rd.

Runners up: the GMs of the Dicklas Lidstroms put together an impressive March, amassing 147 points, just one shy of the high watermark for a month set by the Patrik Stefans in November. But they've done so only because Jiri Hudler sat on some incredibly long horseshoes at the stampede last summer, and Devan Dubnyk might actually get nominated for the Hart. Of course, the Lidstrom's ownership of these studs is all to his credit; but they had nothing to do with their GM's decision making in March. Instead, all he could manufacture was the acquisition of Michael Del Zotto for Trevor Daley, losing an 8th round pick in the process. Net gain: 1 point.

Not to be outdone, GM of the Joshfrey Krupuls donated a 7th round pick to the WBS Parkers in order to also give up a point in the standing. Antoine Vermette has managed to put up 3 points since March 8th while Kris Versteeg has thrown down 2. Again, the final chapter on these deals has not been written yet. But one might have expected more from these two GMs at the deadline; both are contending to etch their names in the Krusell Cup for the second time.