Trade to Announce (DOMINOS!!!!?!??)

The trade deadline is looming, and we have our first post-Olympic deal. 

Feb-26-2014
The Teeyotes send injured Henrik Zetterberg to the Joshfrey Krupuls for Paul Stastny

Both GMs provided me with their analysis of the trade, but in order to keep Teehan's interest I'm going to copy and paste his tl;dr version:

Zetterberg no play hockey. Stastny play hockey good.

Not much else to say. The Teehans are going for a money spot and the cost to do that was Stastny. The Joshfrey Krupuls made the decision to double-down of their previous Lupul trade to build towards future years. 

Long term a young Stastny > a declining Zetterberg, but it is hard to call a winner in this since the teams motivations are different. 

Stay tuned to this blog over the next while as teams begin to declare themselves buyers and sellers. Time is ticking. 

KL Week in Review: Week 18 (also some transactions)

BREAKING NEWS: The Patrik Stefans are no longer in 12th place.

They are in 13th, which is the first time in weeks they have been in any other spot but 12.

There are plenty of other observations that could be made, but really, let's get right to the two recent-ish transactions. There are a couple new sheriffs in town, and they're at the helm of the Teeyotes and the Winter Claassics. 

Jan 16 2014
The Winter Claassics send Loui Eriksson, Brian Gionta and a 2015 1st round draft pick
to the
WBS Parkers for Patrick Marleau, Saku Koivu and a 2015 5th round draft pick.

The 5th place Winter Claassics can taste the money spot and are willing to pay to get there. Marleau is on the back side of his career but is playing PPG hockey. The WBS Parkers did well to get value for him now as there is no telling when his game could nosedive. 

Great trade all around and I know at least one top 4 GM is pissed at himself for not kicking the tires on Marleau earlier. With a few new faces entering the race this could be a very interesting trade deadline.

Jan 18 2014
Not to be outdone, the surging Teeyotes (seriously, 44 points this week to lead the league in points both on the week and the month) drop Kris Russell and add Jason Demers.

Demers has 24 points as a defenceman and would be on most teams scoring rosters. Russell, on the other hand, has been hurt. Even if both players were equal, going for the guy playing on the Sharks over the guy playing for the Flames is always a good bet. 

November Awards

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

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.  

This award isn't always going to go to the player who scores more points than anyone else in a given month, but this month it simply has to go to the G-Phil's Flyers Evgeni Malkin.  He scored 25 points in 14 games - a run that coincides with the return of James Neal.

HMs: James Neal, who has 16 points in 12 games and providing a much-needed boost to the Milan Micahlek's forward ranks. Also Johan Franzen, who has returned from injury and been an impact player for the Mackhawks with 12 points this month. I also have to mention Chris Kreider - remember when we made fun of the Winter Claassics for picking him last year, and kept him this year? Yeah, that no-talent hack had 13 points this month and its impossible to hear a Calder conversation without his name coming up.    


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.

Duncan Keith. With 16 points this month, he is not only the most productive defenceman, but one of the most productive players period. While Keith does have a 69 point season under his belt, his second-highest scoring season was 45. In a way its a shame he having what may be a personal-best season while on the 15th place WBS-Parkers - who need a 1st overall pick more than they need a 2nd or 3rd. 
 

HMs: Torey Krug. The Patrik Stefans were pretty high on this kid and for good reason. His 9 points keep him 2nd in rookie scoring - as a defenceman. Also, the Joshfrey Krupuls continue to get excellent production for Ryan McDonagh, who had10 points in 15 games. Not bad for a kid whose best year to date was 25 points.

Goaltender of the Month

Ben Bishop takes this award for the Teeyotes. With 20 more points this month, this trade continues to pay dividends and could be the difference between a playoff team and a lottery team - heck, with continued production from Bishop, a money spot is not out of the question for the Teeyotes. 

HMs: Undrafted Marek Mazanec would have provided 16 points for a team in the KL, had he been picked up. Also Semyon Varlamov put up very respectable numbers for the Los Amjawors Kings Quebec Rordiques, considering he's an alleged felon. 

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 Powder Rangers. In a vacuum, Hagelin for Stamkos is the worst trade in the history of fantasy hockey. However, the Powder Rangers managed to keep Stamkos (and I know the sharks smelled the blood in the water) and are somehow maintaining 3rd place.   

HMs: The G-Phil's Flyers, who shored up a serious goaltending problem by grabbing Jaroslav Halak. Also the Fylanders, who probably got an upgrade from Timonen in Boyle, and then managed to put Monahan into his non-scoring roster while he heals up. 

Transactions

A couple minor transactions to report:

Nov-15-2013
The Wilkes-Benham/Scranton Parkers add Danny Dekeyser and drop Matt Irwin

Nov-19-2013
The Teeyotes add Kris Russell and drop Marc Staal

Danny Dekeyser has 9 points in 21 games. Matt Irwin has been a benchwarmer for parts of this season, with 3 points in 14 games.  

Kris Russell as 11 points in 21 games. Marc Staal has 3 points in 20. 

These analyses don't always write themselves, but sometimes they totally do.

(Belated) 2013 Keeper League Awards Ceremony!

I know, its a bit late and the new season is upon us, but in fairness, last season was a shit-show. It is also kind of fun to look at how some of these award-winners are faring thus far into our new season. 

Thanks to the other members of the Awards Committee (Past-Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner) for your assistance in putting your thoughts together on this like, months ago.

So without further ado, here are the award winners for the 2013 season!

Calder: 

The best fantasy player drafted for the first time in the Keeper League.

This year's trophy goes to Braden Holtby and the team that drafted him, the Powder Rangers. Holtby put up 60 points as a goaltender, which was good for 2nd in the league (behind only Antti Niemi's 61). 

HM: The Mackhawks' Justin Schultz, with 27 pts - not only was that good for 12th in the league in defensive scoring, but put him within 4 points of the rookie scoring lead (as a defenceman).

Doug Wilson:  

Awarded to the most active GM.

In perhaps the least surprising result in this entire ceremony, Fy Virani wins this one by a landslide, with 15 discrete transactions entered. 

I have to share an email I got that describes, perfectly and hilariously, the stages Fy's trading partners go through (I'll leave it anonymous but if the author wants to take credit, step forward):

1. Denial ("No, I won't even consider it."); 
2. Anger ("How can he insult me with an offer like that?"); 
3. Bargaining ("He's right, swapping my 9th for his 8th does make this fair."); 
4. Depression ("OMG everyone is laughing at me. I suck at GMing"); 
5. Acceptance ("Write it off. Fy got me this time, but next year will be different!")

HM: The Columbus Blue Jaworskis (before their relocation to sunnier climes) were very busy as well, with 9 entered transactions. 

Ken Holland:  

Best draft pick.

This one is was very hard as there were a LOT of candidates and the Awards Committee struggled mightily. At the end of the day:

The Teeyotes with Evgeni Nabokov (drafted in the 10th round, 159th overall). Nabokov earned 59 points for the Teeyotes, good for the 3rd best goalie in this format.

HMs: Many, but of note, the G-Phil's Flyers got 211 points out of players drafted between 149th and 195th overall. The Mackhawks snagged Brendan Gallagher 194th overall and got 28 points out of him. Relatedly, the Powder Rangers drafted Lars Eller in 189th, earning 30 points. The Powder Rangers actually ended up dropping Eller, but it doesn't change the fact that the selection itself was inspired.

Rick DiPietro: 

Worst draft pick.

No competition - Chris Krieder, chosen 6th overall by the Winter Claassics. Krieder earned three points in his 2013 campaign. Hilariously chosen AGAIN by the Claassics at the most recent draft, it is worth pointing out that he has 10 points in 11 games so far.   

HMs: None.

George McPhee:  

Best Free Agent signing.

Jiri Tlusty may be the most added/dropped player in the league, but in 2012, the Patrik Stefans dumped Craig Smith for him, earning 18 points in the process. 

HMs:  Milan Micahleks' Jonathan Blum for Paul Martin (a difference of 13 points).

Glen Sather:  

Worst free agent signing.

There was no one even close - the Vanrooser Canicks used their first FA add/drop to dump Toffoli for Kovalev. Then they used their last FA add/drop to dump Kovalev and add Toffoli. 

HM: Hard not to mention the Powder Rangers, who picked up Damien Brunner (26 points) and dropped Lars Eller (30 points). As noted by the Powder Rangers GM, if he had have dropped Latendresse instead of Eller, he would have won last year. Oops.

Mike Milbury:  

Biggest fleecing.

On February 6, 2013, the Fylanders sent Nikita Nikitin and a 6th round draft pick to the Columbus Blue Jaworskis for Dion Phaneuf and a 9th round pick. Phaneuf, a one-time 60 point defenceman, coming off a 44 point season and scoring at a similar pace at the time, in exchange for Nikita "healthy scratch" Nikitin. The return - a 3 round bump at the draft - is statistically negligible.Welcome to the big leagues, rookie. 

GM of the Year

 

The G-Phil's Flyers. As noted above, Bobrovsky, Boyes, Conacher, Eakin, Brouwer were all late-round steals that produced all season-long. There was no panic moves after a season-ending injury to Karlsson and slow starts with Malkin and Ovechkin, thought the vultures were indeed circling. Though this team probably had the best protected roster to start the season, a combination of very good drafting and patience won the Flyers their first championship. 

HMs: The Powder Rangers exceeded expectations and continued to improve (8th-5th-2nd). Keepers coming into this season included five forwards that we probably all considered borderline keepers (of those guys, Kunitz has proven himself a fantasy powerhouse and Fleischmann and Ryder also made the top six). His Holtby gamble paid off. Wrote an impassioned concession speech.

The Moilers - Showed steady improvement - 10th to 6th to 3rd. Actually made one trade this year, Luongo for Crawford, but otherwise steadfastly sticks by her men. 

The Fylanders continue to get excellent value in trades, and are consistently a threat. The Fylanders GM takes the opposite approach to the league than the Moilers, in that their team rarely looks anything like the team that starts the season.

Transactions

I have a few to catch up on here. 

10/22/2013 Trade

The Quebec Rordiques send:

Dustin Brown, Brendan Smith, 2014 6th round draft pick

to the Dicklas Lidstroms for:

Drew Stafford and Michael Del Zotto

The Quebec Rordiques noted, correctly, that they "needed a D with Boyle going down and [their] D being a mess generally." Clearly Del Zotto is struggling early but in most other years would be competitive for a keeper roster slot. 

In exchange the Rordiques had to part with Dustin Brown, who could challenge for a scoring roster spot. Stafford, despite early struggles, is no slouch either, being barely removed from two consecutive 50 point seasons.  Perhaps there might be some chemistry with Matt Moulson? 

10/26/2013 FA pickup

The Los Samjawors Kings drop Ryane Clowe and add Mike Santorelli

Ryane Clowe sucks. I hate his name. Mike Santorelli is the hot hand right now. Has a much better name. Fun Fact: I learned, in adding this trade, that there is a dude named "Michal Macho" drafted in 2000 by the Sharks. He has not played an NHL game and is not a goon, both of which are disappointing.

10/28/2013 Trade

The Los Samjawors Kings send:

Ben Bishop and Tyler Myers

to the Teeyotes for:

Evgeni Nabokov and Brent Seabrook

Rumours have suggested that the busy Los Samjawors Kings have been trying to move Ben Bishop for some time - and for good reason. Bishop has seized the starting job in Tampa and has posted very good numbers. The Teeyotes - in desperate need of any goalie period - had to give up Brent Seabrook to get him. Look for the surprisingly engaged Teeyotes to attempt to shore up their defence corps if they wish to be a playoff team this year. 

Seriously I am so excited to see Teehan make a trade.