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.

Transaction (and thoughts about goalie/D-man importance)

November 12, 2013

The Milan Micahleks send Dan "one-point" Girardi + 2014 first round selection

to the Wilkes-Benham/Scranton Parkers for Brian Campbell

Obviously this is a first round draft pick for Campbell. There is no doubt that Campbell has been an excellent fantasy option for many years - even in his injury-shortened "down" season in 2010, his 27 points would have been good to make many scoring rosters. Last year he scored 46 points pro-rated and had 53 the year before. Clearly, the Micahleks, tasting 1st place after a stunning leap from 15th, are going all-in early to win it this year.

However, Campbell is getting older and showed signs of slowing last year. His 9 points in 18 games is actually below his career average, and well off his high water marks. For the WBS Parkers, this is a classic and well-timed rebuild move.

November 9, 2013

The G-Phil's Flyers send Ondrej Pavelec, Brandon Saad, 2014 6th round draft pick + 1 FA add/drop 

to the Patrik Stefans for:Jaroslav Halak + Kris Versteeg

The G-Phil's Flyers need a goalie to replace injured starter Pekka Rinne. 

Rinne is a goalie who, despite playing behind a pretty bad team, manages to be one of the top point-getters in the Keeper League year-to-year. However, with his hip issues, his trade value is at an all-time low. The vultures were circling Rinne's rotting hip, but at the end of the day, the Flyers opted to hold on to him. 

Halak has been off to a hot start, and while he tends to find himself either a) in a tandem situation or b) hurt, he is clearly a better option for the Flyers than Pavelec, at least on a stop-gap basis.

The Stefans, in turn, get a promising young forward in Brandon Saad, and the FA add/drop flexibility to pull a still-legal Fy Gambit depending on how Pavelec/Schneider plays out. Given how good Schneider is going to be moving forward, it was likely that Halak would have faced the chopping block, and Stefan managed to get much better value than goalies traditionally get in the off-season.

Counterpoint to Stefan's Post?  

I think these trades provides a sort-of counterpoint to Stefan's excellent post earlier. Goalies and defencemen may not correlate strongly with championships, but the difference between first and second place in each of our years has been 15, 11, and 9 points (and is currently at 11 points). The average difference between rankings last year was a mere 9.33 points. This is a surprisingly competitive league, and 10 extra points can mean moving up into playoff position, or into the money, or into 1st place.

As Stefan's post indicated, the Micahleks have one of the strongest forward groups in the league thus far, and one of the strongest goalies. The also have one of the weakest defences in the league. A mere 10 extra points from Brian Campbell might mean the difference between 1st and 2nd for that team. 

The same is true of the Flyers who do not feel safe at all at present.

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.

Transaction - Six player shake-up!

The Wilkes-Benham/Scranton Parkers send:

Tim Thomas + Timonen + Matt Read + a 10th round 2014 pick + a conditional pick (see below) 

To the Fylanders, in exchange for:

Mike Smith + Nikitin + Tatar + a 7th round 2014 pick + a conditional pick (see below) 

Condition: If Matt Read makes the Fylanders Scoring Roster (or otherwise would if Fy trades him or add/drops him) an additional trade takes place (my 6th round 2015 pick for Romany's 10th round 2015 pick).

Analysis:
Two old fashioned hockey trades in a row??
 
Pretty easy to read between the lines here - the Fylanders are blessed with one excellent goalie in MAF (in fantasy hockey anyways, but I digress), which made Mike Smith expendable. The Parkers needed a goalie - any goalie - in a huge way, because otherwise they have a pretty solid team so far.

The cost to get Mike Smith was Kimmo "There's no I in" Timonen "at least not where you'd think". In classic Fylanders fashion, they also managed to extract Matt Read, who has high end scoring potential but has disappointed since his rookie season. 

Tomas Tatar makes more sense on the Parkers young team than the Fylanders. 

Transactions

A few roster changes yesterday and today (listed with effective dates - as a reminder, your add/drops take effect the next day, not the date the add/drop is made):

10/18/2013 Quebec Rordiques drop Charlie Coyle and add Chris Higgins

10/19/2013 Wilkes-Benham/Scranton Parkers drop Ben Jovejoy and add Marc-Edouard Vlasic

10/19/2013 Patrik Stefans drop Jiri Tlusty and add Mark Arcobello

The Rordiques make their very first free agent add/drop (super adorable, like watching a baby take its first steps), snapping up Chris Higgins. Higgins has looked quite good under Tortorella and is getting quite a bit of ice time in various situations. He isn't going to lead the Rordiques in scoring but should be an upgrade on Charlie Coyle. Reminder: Charlie Coyle is available for pickup notwithstanding his age (born in 1992) because he was dropped from a roster. 

Wilkes-Benham/Scranton Parkers GM, Romany Benham-Parker, has picked up the red-hot Marc-Edouard Vlasic. They have dropped Ben Lovejoy, who with only three syllables all season clearly does not fit into the team's long-term naming scheme. 

The Patrik Stefans have once again dipped into their inscrutable SYSTEM to pull up yet another player no one has ever heard of in Mark Arcobello. Jiri Tlusty (who the Stefans kept from last year) goes to the scrap heap. In fairness, Arcobello has 8 assists in 8 games playing with Eberle and Hall.