MRKL on Ice: October Part 2 (Awards)

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.

HART

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)

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) Jonathan Quick 18 (Mackhawks)

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 137^th 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 2^nd rounder in 2015 either, so he dumped that too, but in return he got the 6^th highest scorer of all-time, soon to be 5^th. 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 2^nd round picks next year, but have given up—let’s call it what it is—the first pick in each of the 4^th and 5^th rounds. Maybe Rory actually thinks he can be done drafting before the 4^th 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.