KL Week in Review: Week 16 (plus some transactions)

16 weeks in and things are starting to get a little interesting again:

Notes for the week:

• The G-Phil's Flyers hold on 1st place is increasingly tenuous as both the Fylanders and Micahleks continue to close the gap. 
• The Micahleks have had a huge week with a league-leading 44 points, 11 of which came last night
• The Powder Rangers continue to cling to 4th place - remarkably, though, the Winter Claassics were in 4th place for portions of the last week
• The Los Amjawors Kings have slowed down somewhat but remain a viable playoff team, much to the surprise of early season prognosticators
• The Patrik Stefans are really, really good at holding 12th place. 
• The Schizzarks teased the bottom of the league last week but have managed to pull themselves up to a comparatively respectable 15th place. 

Injury notes :

The Winter Claassics are, remarkably, the only 100% healthy team in the league right now. There are some key injuries to a lot of teams that may result in some shuffling in the standings over the next week or two:

• G-Phil's Flyers - Mike Babcock says not to expect Pavel Datsyuk back "any time soon". With both the Fylanders and Micahleks coming fast, 1st place is very much up for grabs
• Milan Micahleks - Ryan Getzlaf isn't broken but his return date is unknown. The Micahleks expect to win, but these injuries are letting the Fylanders catch up.
• Teeyotes - Standout goaltender Ben Bishop has a sprained wrist. He is experimenting with different taping strategies but his return date is unknown. The Teeyotes are 9 points from a money spot but only 8 points from 9th place - these are critical lost points.
• Mackhawks - Johan Franzen (22 points in 30 games) has been a steady producer for the Mackhawks, but is at least a week or more away from returning from his concussion. The Mackhawks need their depth to hold 8th.
• Moilers - Luongo, Eric Staal, and Patrik Elias are all day-to-day with no real timelines for their return. Lengthy absences from these players could spell doom for the Moiler's playoff chances
• Dicklas Lidstroms - injuries to Koivu and Alex Steen are hurting the Lidstroms playoff chances. Gaborik's injuries woes this season have already started the Lidstroms off on the wrong foot. Word is these guys may even be ready in time for the Olympics.
• Patrik Stefans - Both Couture and Galchenyuk - key young contributors - are out with hand injuries. Both are weeks away from returning.
• Schizzarks - An MCL injury to Parenteau and a foot injury to Parise have been a significant factor in the Schizzark's precipitous fall to the bottom of the league. Neither player is skating and both face lengthy recoveries. 
• WBS Parkers - Evander Kane is expected back shortly, but stunning rookie Thomas Hertl (a possible cornerstone forward for the expansion Parkers) is likely done for the season. The team has not said as much, but estimate as long as 9 months for recovery. There is no guarantee he will come back in the same form either - rough break for this team. 

Transactions:

There have been a few transactions over the last while. 

Jan-2-14
Moilers drop Lee Stempniak and add Andrew Cogliano.

Quickie analysis: Cogliano sucks less than Stempniak. Great mid-season pickup.

Jan-2-14
Patrik Stefans drop Ondrej Pavelec and add Anton Khudobin

Quickie analysis: System's spreadsheets have finally pumped out a winner (why there is a heavy unheralded Soviet bias in System's system is beyond me). Khudobin has filled in admirably for the injured Cam Ward, posting a 6-1-0 with a .936 save percentage this season.

Jan-5-14 - Trade

Joshfrey Krupuls send Joffrey Lupul and a 2014 7th round draft pick to the


Fylanders for Dustin Penner and a 2014 3rd round draft pick

Quickie analysis: The Fylanders dump slumping Penner for (surprise surprise) a Maple Leaf. Lupul is the better player and the Fylanders got him cheap. Headscratcher for the Krupuls but maybe they think Penner's time in the press box will jumpstart his production.

Jan-8-14 - Trade
Quebec Rordiques send Andrew Ladd and Antoine Vermette to the
Los Amjawors Kings for Mikael Grigorenko and Curtis Glencross

Quickie analysis: The Kings can taste a playoff spot and maybe even a money spot. They need depth scoring and got it in Ladd and Vermette. The price was promising youngster Grigorenko. Interestingly, Grigorenko has refused to report to the Q and his NHL future is in question, but his potential is huge. We'll have to wait to see what happens to declare a winner. 

Transaction

Two related transactions to announce:

 

The Fylanders send Kimmo Timonen + a 2nd round pick in 2014 

To the Quebec Rordiques for Dan Boyle + a 7th round pick in 2014 + FA add/drop

 

Condition:  Boyle must OUTSCORE Timonen the rest of the way otherwise the 7th turns into a 4th.

 

Then the Fylanders:

Add Colton Orr and drop Sean Monahan

Add Sean Monahan and drop Brent Burns

Add Brent Burns and drop Colton Orr (using their newly acquired FA add/drop).

Conditional trades are pains in my ass and don't get commentary.

(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.

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.