MRKL on Ice: Feb Part 1 (Valuating Picks and a Hodgepodge of Other Shit by way of Lists)

As the trade deadline approaches, a necessary exercise that all GMs must engage in involves the consideration of which players will be kept for next season and which are effectively spare parts. And as some teams look to trim some fat which can be used as effective energy storage for other less fortunate squads, it seemed worthwhile to take a look at production by position and determine what types of assets are truly available at different stages of the draft.

Incidental to this objective, I’ve used this opportunity to also (a) compare each team’s ownership (potential keeper value) by position, and (b) demonstrate which GMs drafted particularly effectively.

There’s no real magic to this analysis, and I’m really going to leave it to you guys to draw whatever conclusions you wish heading into our final week before trade deadline. I can’t always lead you down the garden path to the "solution" to your problems…

The top 144 scoring forwards (as of Feb 25^th)

Rank	Player	Pts	Current Owner	Status at Draft
1	Patrick Kane	64	Dicklas Lidstroms	Keeper
2	Jakub Voracek	64	Vanrooser Canicks	Keeper
3	Nicklas Backstrom	64	Magnus Faajarvis	Keeper
4	John Tavares	63	Teeyotes	Keeper
5	Alex Ovechkin	62	Patrik Stefans	Keeper (Flyers)
6	Sidney Crosby	62	Los Amjawors Kings	Keeper
7	Evgeni Malkin	61	G-Phil's Flyers	Keeper
8	Vladimir Tarasenko	60	Los Amjawors Kings	Keeper
9	Jamie Benn	60	Milan Micahleks	Keeper
10	Tyler Seguin	59	G-Phil's Flyers	Keeper (Stefans)
11	Tyler Johnson	59	Teeyotes	Keeper
12	Rick Nash	58	Schizzarks	Keeper
13	Ryan Getzlaf	58	Milan Micahleks	Keeper
14	Claude Giroux	57	Joshfrey Krupuls	Keeper
15	Steven Stamkos	55	Powder Rangers	Keeper
16	Joe Pavelski	55	Magnus Faajarvis	Keeper
17	Nick Foligno	55	Winter Claassics	Free Agent
18	Henrik Sedin	55	Schizzarks	Keeper
19	Nikita Kucherov	53	Milan Micahleks	23
20	Ryan Johansen	53	Joshfrey Krupuls	Keeper
21	Daniel Sedin	53	Dicklas Lidstroms	Keeper
22	Max Pacioretty	52	Patrik Stefans	Keeper
23	Logan Couture	52	Patrik Stefans	Keeper
24	Filip Forsberg	52	Patrik Stefans	Prospect
25	Alexander Steen	51	Dicklas Lidstroms	Keeper
26	Jason Spezza	51	Schizzarks	Keeper
27	Mike Ribeiro	51	Magnus Faajarvis	Keeper
28	Joe Thornton	51	Magnus Faajarvis	Keeper (Mackhawks)
29	Bryan Little	50	Los Amjawors Kings	Keeper
30	Pavel Datsyuk	49	Patrik Stefans	Keeper (Flyers)
31	Andrew Ladd	49	Magnus Faajarvis	Keeper (Rordiques)
32	Jonathan Toews	49	Quebec Rordiques	Keeper
33	Henrik Zetterberg	49	Joshfrey Krupuls	Keeper
34	Phil Kessel	48	Mackhawks	Keeper
35	Jiri Hudler	48	Dicklas Lidstroms	39
36	Derick Brassard	48	Dicklas Lidstroms	Keeper
37	Ondrej Palat	47	Los Amjawors Kings	6
38	Zach Parise	46	Schizzarks	Keeper
39	Jaden Schwartz	46	Vanrooser Canicks	Keeper (Kings)
40	Jeff Carter	46	Patrik Stefans	5
41	James van Riemsdyk	45	Magnus Faajarvis	Keeper
42	Tomas Tatar	44	W Benham-Scranton Parkers	Keeper
43	Martin St. Louis	44	Joshfrey Krupuls	Keeper
44	Marian Hossa	44	Mackhawks	Keeper
45	Blake Wheeler	44	Winter Claassics	Keeper
46	Johnny Gaudreau	44	Patrik Stefans	2
47	Bobby Ryan	44	Quebec Rordiques	Keeper
48	Kyle Okposo	44	Joshfrey Krupuls	Keeper
49	Anze Kopitar	44	Joshfrey Krupuls	Keeper (Rangers)
50	Gustav Nyquist	43	Schizzarks	Keeper
51	Ryan Callahan	43	Powder Rangers	60
52	Jordan Eberle	43	G-Phil's Flyers	Keeper
53	Patrick Marleau	43	Winter Claassics	Keeper
54	Valtteri Filppula	43	Joshfrey Krupuls	9
55	Derek Stepan	43	G-Phil's Flyers	Keeper
56	Wayne Simmonds	42	Mackhawks	Keeper
57	Radim Vrbata	42	Milan Micahleks	Keeper
58	Sean Monahan	42	Magnus Faajarvis	Prospect
59	Tomas Plekanec	42	Magnus Faajarvis	49
60	Patrice Bergeron	42	Teeyotes	Keeper
61	Corey Perry	41	Dicklas Lidstroms	Keeper
62	David Backes	41	Dicklas Lidstroms	Keeper (Rangers)
63	Jarome Iginla	41	Mackhawks	Keeper
64	T.J. Oshie	41	W Benham-Scranton Parkers	Keeper
65	Kyle Turris	41	Dicklas Lidstroms	Keeper
66	Jason Pominville	41	Milan Micahleks	Keeper
67	Brandon Saad	40	G-Phil's Flyers	Keeper (Stefans)
68	Alex Tanguay	40	Patrik Stefans	36
69	Colin Wilson	39	Dicklas Lidstroms	55
70	Alex Galchenyuk	39	Vanrooser Canicks	Keeper
71	Matt Duchene	39	Powder Rangers	Keeper (Krupuls)
72	Scott Hartnell	39	Joshfrey Krupuls	Keeper (Teeyotes)
73	Thomas Vanek	39	Magnus Faajarvis	Keeper
74	Ryan Strome	39	Vanrooser Canicks	Prospect
75	Patric Hornqvist	38	Powder Rangers	Keeper
76	Tyler Toffoli	38	Vanrooser Canicks	Keeper
77	Gabriel Landeskog	38	Winter Claassics	Keeper
78	Mikko Koivu	38	Schizzarks	Keeper (Lidstroms)
79	Ryan Nugent-Hopkins	37	Winter Claassics	Keeper
80	Tyler Bozak	37	W Benham-Scranton Parkers	Keeper
81	Chris Kunitz	37	Schizzarks	Keeper (Rangers)
82	Ryan Kesler	37	Schizzarks	Keeper
83	Mark Stone	37	Teeyotes	Prospect
84	Nathan MacKinnon	37	W Benham-Scranton Parkers	Keeper
85	Nick Bjugstad	36	Teeyotes	10
86	Eric Staal	36	Moilers	Keeper
87	Mathieu Perreault	36	G-Phil's Flyers	Free Agent
88	Brock Nelson	36	Patrik Stefans	85
89	Frans Nielsen	36	Milan Micahleks	15 (WBS Parkers)
90	Mike Hoffman	35	Powder Rangers	Free Agent (Schizzarks)
91	Brendan Gallagher	35	Moilers	Keeper
92	Marcus Johansson	35	Milan Micahleks	63
93	Antoine Vermette	35	Joshfrey Krupuls	79
94	Ryan O'Reilly	35	Quebec Rordiques	Keeper
95	David Desharnais	35	G-Phil's Flyers	Keeper
96	James Neal	34	Milan Micahleks	Keeper
97	Craig Smith	34	Los Amjawors Kings	Keeper
98	Nazem Kadri	34	Winter Claassics	Keeper
99	Loui Eriksson	34	W Benham-Scranton Parkers	Keeper
100	David Perron	34	Winter Claassics	Keeper
101	Mats Zuccarello	34	Moilers	Keeper
102	Brayden Schenn	34	Quebec Rordiques	Keeper
103	Carl Soderberg	34	Dicklas Lidstroms	31
104	Mark Scheifele	34	Winter Claassics	Prospect
105	Marian Gaborik	33	Dicklas Lidstroms	Keeper
106	Tyler Ennis	33	Mackhawks	13
107	Paul Stastny	33	Teeyotes	Keeper
108	Jonathan Huberdeau	33	Vanrooser Canicks	Keeper
109	Jori Lehtera	33	Quebec Rordiques	65
110	Anders Lee	32	Vanrooser Canicks	34
111	Troy Brouwer	32	Milan Micahleks	95
112	Erik Cole	32		Free Agent
113	Brad Marchand	32	W Benham-Scranton Parkers	Keeper
114	Milan Lucic	32	Teeyotes	Keeper
115	Reilly Smith	32	Powder Rangers	12
116	Patrick Sharp	32	Milan Micahleks	Keeper (Canicks)
117	Brad Richards	32	Patrik Stefans	Keeper
118	Mike Cammalleri	31	W Benham-Scranton Parkers	Keeper
119	Mika Zibanejad	31	Moilers	Prospect
120	Chris Kreider	31	Winter Claassics	Prospect
121	Michael Frolik	31	G-Phil's Flyers	112
122	Kris Versteeg	31	W Benham-Scranton Parkers	Free Agent
123	Adam Henrique	31	Moilers	120
124	Alex Killorn	31	Teeyotes	Keeper
125	Josh Bailey	31	Magnus Faajarvis	Keeper (Rordiques)
126	Jussi Jokinen	31	Moilers	72
127	Matt Beleskey	30	Joshfrey Krupuls	Free Agent
128	Zemgus Girgensons	30	Quebec Rordiques	126
129	Justin Abdelkader	30		Free Agent
130	Mike Fisher	30	Joshfrey Krupuls	Free Agent
131	Taylor Hall	30	Moilers	Keeper
132	Justin Williams	29	Teeyotes	73 (Krupuls)
133	Darren Helm	29		Free Agent
134	Shane Doan	29	Mackhawks	113
135	Jaromir Jagr	29	Mackhawks	Keeper
136	Michael Santorelli	29	Schizzarks	Free Agent
137	Nino Niederreiter	28		Prospect (Krupuls)
138	Carl Hagelin	28	Powder Rangers	156
139	Mikkel Boedker	28	Los Amjawors Kings	Keeper
140	Sam Gagner	28	Mackhawks	45 (Faajarvis)
141	Brad Boyes	28		Free Agent
142	Riley Sheahan	28	Powder Rangers	108
143	Curtis Glencross	28	Winter Claassics	139
144	Patrick Maroon	28	Joshfrey Krupuls	111

Summary of the top 144 forwards and KL ownership

Top 6 avg rank	Team	# Players in Top 144	Picks in Top 144
24	Patrik Stefans	10	4
24.33	Magnus Faajarvis	10	2
29.83	Dicklas Lidstroms	11	3
34.5	Joshfrey Krupuls	12	4
37	Schizzarks	9	0
42.17	Milan Micahleks	10	3
46.33	G-Phil's Flyers	8	1
52.67	Los Amjawors Kings	6	1
58.33	Teeyotes	9	1
61.5	Winter Claassics	10	1
61.5	Vanrooser Canicks	7	1
69.5	Powder Rangers	8	4
72.83	Mackhawks	8	2
80.33	WBS Parkers	8	0
85.33	Quebec Rordiques	6	2
107.67	Moilers	7	2

The top 64 scoring defencemen (as of Feb 28th)

Rank	Player	Pts	Current Owner	Status at Draft
1	P.K. Subban	48	Winter Claassics	Keeper
2	Mark Giordano	48	Mackhawks	Keeper
3	Erik Karlsson	47	G-Phil's Flyers	Keeper
4	Kris Letang	47	Patrik Stefans	Keeper
5	Brent Burns	46	Mackhawks	Keeper
6	Roman Josi	46	Milan Micahleks	Keeper
7	Shea Weber	43	Magnus Faajarvis	Keeper
8	John Carlson	43	Milan Micahleks	Keeper
9	Dustin Byfuglien	41	Teeyotes	Keeper
10	Keith Yandle	41	Schizzarks	Keeper
11	Justin Faulk	40	Moilers	Keeper
12	Mark Streit	40	Schizzarks	Keeper
13	Kevin Shattenkirk	40	G-Phil's Flyers	Keeper
14	Tyson Barrie	39	Joshfrey Krupuls	Keeper
15	Andrei Markov	39	Joshfrey Krupuls	Keeper
16	Dennis Wideman	37	Patrik Stefans	Keeper (Rordiques)
17	Niklas Kronwall	37	G-Phil's Flyers	Keeper
18	Duncan Keith	36	W Benhman-Scranton Parkers	Keeper
19	Drew Doughty	36	Dicklas Lidstroms	Keeper
20	Mike Green	36	Winter Claassics	Keeper
21	TJ Brodie	35	Dicklas Lidstroms	50
22	Sami Vatanen	34	Los Amjawors Kings	Prospect (Micahleks)
23	Dougie Hamilton	34	Milan Micahleks	Keeper
24	Cody Franson	34	Joshfrey Krupuls	52 (Schizzarks)
25	Trevor Daley	32	Dicklas Lidstroms	81
26	John Klingberg	32		Prospect
27	Aaron Ekblad	32	Schizzarks	4
28	Alex Pietrangelo	32	Powder Rangers	Keeper
29	Oliver Ekman-Larsson	31	Moilers	Keeper
30	Torey Krug	31	Vanrooser Canicks	Keeper
31	Johnny Boychuk	30	Magnus Faajarvis	Free Agent (Canicks)
32	Anton Stralman	30	Moilers	Free Agent
33	Ryan Suter	30	Joshfrey Krupuls	Keeper (Rangers)
34	Victor Hedman	29	Vanrooser Canicks	Keeper
35	Brent Seabrook	28	Los Amjawors Kings	Keeper
36	James Wisniewski	28	Patrik Stefans	Keeper
37	Hampus Lindholm	28	W Benhman-Scranton Parkers	19
38	Jake Muzzin	28	Patrik Stefans	82
39	Jack Johnson	27	Vanrooser Canicks	66
40	Nick Leddy	26	Dicklas Lidstroms	Keeper (Rangers)
41	Cam Fowler	26	Winter Claassics	Keeper
42	Alex Goligoski	26	Quebec Rordiques	Keeper
43	Kevin Klein	25		Free Agent
44	Michael Del Zotto	25	Powder Rangers	92
45	Travis Hamonic	25	Patrik Stefans	145 (Rordiques)
46	Jason Garrison	25	Teeyotes	26
47	David Savard	24	Dicklas Lidstroms	Free Agent
48	Erik Johnson	23	Moilers	24
49	Morgan Rielly	23	Magnus Faajarvis	Prospect
50	Ryan McDonagh	23	Powder Rangers	Keeper (Krupuls)
51	Justin Schultz	23	Mackhawks	Keeper
52	Marek Zidlicky	23	Schizzarks	41 (Krupuls)
53	Dion Phaneuf	23	Magnus Faajarvis	Keeper
54	Danny DeKeyser	23	G-Phil's Flyers	80
55	Seth Jones	22	Mackhawks	Prospect (Faajarvis)
56	Brian Campbell	22	Winter Claassics	27
57	Thomas Hickey	21		Free Agent
58	Kris Russell	21	Los Amjawors Kings	Free Agent
59	Marco Scandella	20		Free Agent
60	Matt Niskanen	20	Teeyotes	Keeper
61	Justin Braun	20		Free Agent
62	Jacob Trouba	19	Magnus Faajarvis	17 (Rordiques)
63	Jason Demers	19	W Benhman-Scranton Parkers	11
64	Andrej Sekera	19	Vanrooser Canicks	22 (Kings)

Summary of top 64 defencemen and KL ownership

Top 3 avg rank	Team	# Players in Top 64	Picks in top 64
11	G-Phil's Flyers	4	1
12.33	Milan Micahleks	3	0
16.33	Schizzarks	4	2
17.67	Joshfrey Krupuls	4	1
18.67	Patrik Stefans	5	1
19.33	Mackhawks	4	0
20.67	Winter Claassics	4	1
21.67	Dicklas Lidstroms	5	2
24	Moilers	4	1
29	Magnus Faajarvis	5	0
34.33	Vanrooser Canicks	4	1
38.33	Los Amjawors Kings	3	1
38.33	Teeyotes	3	1
39.33	WBS Parkers	3	2
40.67	Powder Rangers	3	1
oh no	Quebec Rordiques	1	2

Top 16 goalies in the KL (as of Feb 28th)

Rank	Player	Pts	Current Owner	Status at Draft
1	Carey Price	94	Schizzarks	Keeper
2	Marc-Andre Fleury	87	Magnus Faajarvis	Keeper
3	Braden Holtby	86	Los Amjawors Kings	70
4	Pekka Rinne	83	G-Phil's Flyers	Keeper
5	Jaroslav Halak	79	Winter Claassics	75
6	Frederik Andersen	75	Magnus Faajarvis	105
7	Ryan Miller	75		76 (Rangers)
8	Kari Lehtonen	75	Joshfrey Krupuls	Keeper
9	Ben Bishop	73	Teeyotes	Keeper
10	Jonathan Quick	73	Mackhawks	Keeper
11	Devan Dubnyk	71	Dicklas Lidstroms	Free Agent
12	Antti Niemi	70	Patrik Stefans	Keeper (Kings)
13	Henrik Lundqvist	69	Dicklas Lidstroms	Keeper
14	Cory Schneider	66	Patrik Stefans	Keeper
15	Tuukka Rask	65	Milan Micahleks	Keeper
16	Roberto Luongo	63	G-Phil's Flyers	128

No summary necessary...

MRKL on Ice: February Part 2 (awards)

Snapshot of the standings as of March 1st:

HART

Awarded to the offensive player with the greatest point share for his team for the month (teams in top 10)

Winner: Jonathan Tavares 14.7% (Teeyotes)

Runners Up: Jamie Benn 13.4% (Milan Micahleks), Jason Spezza 12.8% and Henrik Sedin 12.8% (Schizzarks)

Hon. mention: Anders Lee: 15.6% (Vanrooser Canicks)

NORRIS

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

Winner: PK Subban 1.07 (Winter Claassics) 

Runners up: Roman Josi 1.00 (Milan Micahleks) and Erik Karlsson 1.00 (G-Phil's Flyers)

CALDER

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

Winner: Mike Hoffman 1.08 (Powder Rangers, sort of) 

Runners up: Anders Lee 1.00 (Vanrooser Canicks) and Mark Stone 0.92 (Teeyotes)

Denton's paralegal Chantal Vezina

VEZINA

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

Winner: Devan Dubnyk 32, sort of (Dicklas Lidstroms, sort of)

Runners-up: Carey Price 25 (Schizzarks) and Cory Schneider 20 (Patrik Stefans, fuck our lives)

BENNING

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

Winner: 12 transactions went down in February as a gear-up before trade-deadline March 8th (Todd Bertuzzi/Steve Moore Co-Memorial Day). Though that is down from the mark of 16 set in January, it's fair to say that we have seen some much bigger players trading places. Ovechkin, Seguin, Thornton, Jones, Miller, Ehlers, are just some of the names that have been sloughed by their former GMs, while Lundqvist, Gaborik, Phaneuf, Elliott, Oshie, Kane, and Fuckin All-star Dany Heatley have all been called up or sent down within their own respective organizations. Awarding GM of the month should be more of a speculative exercise than anything, as your Commissioner attempts to predict which of these moves will payoff the most over the remainder of the season and into the future. Unfortunately, that exercise is damn near impossible, and I am left with an evaluation of the past 28 days and an ounce of subjectivity to avail myself of. After careful consideration, followed by self-loathing, I have no choice but to award the GM of the Magnus Faajarvis (nee Fylanders) with February honours. They not only find themselves atop the standings, but put up the highest total of the month, bolstered by their pick-ups of Thornton and Boychuk. If you go back to January 26th, they've actually benefited from an addition 4 points from Trouba in Phaneufs spot. Undo these moves, and the Faajarvis would be in a familiar dogfight for 3rd, 4th, or 5th, closer to the Lidstroms and Micahleks in the standings than the Krupuls and Stefans.

Runner up: I am reluctant to just hand out acknowledgement for flurries of activity, but I find myself compelled to do so on account of the Dicklas Lidstroms, who made one trade and used 3 add/drops in February. I admire the responsiveness shown by the Lidstroms to circumstances that grabbed their GM by the collar(bone) and challenged him to be bold, or fold. Losing King Henrik and Patty Kane in the same month is a lot of adversity. Add the loss of his back-up goalie Ryan Miller, and weaker GMs may have thrown in the towel. Instead, he has designated the driver between the pipes the rest of the way to be former flame-out Devan Dubnyk, he of the FOURTY-EIGHT (!!) would-be KL points since January 15th.

PREYDE-KIRSHENBLAT

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

Winner: Whenever you have an opportunity to name the GM of the G-Phil's Flyers the winner of the P-K award, you take it. Certainly, the justification here is very circuitous and overlooks the fact that the Flyers have injected Seguin, Domi, and Saad to their future. Still, let's just undo those moves--moves that sent two Russian superstars packing--for argument's sake. Let's also consider that Teddy Purcell would have put up the exact same number of points in his slot had the add/drop for Perreault never been used. Let's pretend instead, that the add/drop was used to put Bo Horvat (also sent packing) into Michael Frolik's spot. Yes, all this stretching is making my hammies a bit sore, but had all those moves been made differently, the Flyers would not be "giving up" on their season. Instead, they'd be tied with the Lidstroms, 12 back of first place, which is well within striking distance with 6 weeks to play for any KL team, let alone the star-studded cast that would still include Ovechkin and Datsyuk.

Runner up: the GM of the Schizzarks was actually a candidate for GM of the month, for the sole reason that he immaculately conceived Mikko Koivu and a 3rd round pick (a top 30 pick) in next year's draft from absolutely nothing (PA "The Father" Parenteau). The trouble is, this move has likely repositioned him in this never-never land of "should-I-or-shouldn't-I?". Consider--which this GM endlessly has--that the Schizzarks were a mere five procrastinating hours away from nabbing Nick Foligno, an acquisition that would have found him in first in the KCKL today by 8 points. He then had the hottest under-the-radar "prospect" (not by our rules) in the game, and decided not to lock that shit down. I truly worry that this pattern of behaviour in fantasy hockey is just endemic of a greater inability to connect current behaviour to future goals.