NHL Fantasy Hockey: Mike Cammalleri MVP, James Reimer Least Valuable Player for Week 22

The MVP (Most Valuable Player)

Mike Cammalleri – C/LW

You think Cammalleri knows it’s a contract year? He is looking to finish the 2013-14 season with a bang. He is currently riding a seven-game scoring streak and has 16 points in his last 11 games. Not bad for a guy who spent 90% of the season on your waiver wire.

That the Flames faced the lowly Sabres, Predators and Oilers this week takes a bit of bite out of Cammalleri’s seven-point week but he led the way with only three games. Everyone else who did extremely well had four, which gives him a degree-of-difficulty bonus. Also, any time you can help your rival embarrass themselves is a good week.

The Runners-Up

Gustav Nyquist – C/RW

Ladies and gentlemen, the heir apparent to the “Zetterberg/Datysuk where the hell did they get this guy?” throne, Gustav Nyquist!

Once Zetterberg went down for the year you thought the Red Wings were in trouble. Then Datsyuk went down for good measure. Curse the Olympics did Wings fans. But then Nyquist emerged to become a star in his own right.

He’d been good before those two went down and it seemed logical that he might struggle with them out of the lineup. Not so. After a seven-point week Nyquist now has 40 points in 46 games and is doing everything possible to extend the Wings’ playoff streak.

The only question now, is what took Detroit so long to call this guy up?

Steven Stamkos – C

He’s back! You’d think that a guy coming off a broken leg would take a little bit of time to get back on track. And sure enough Stamkos was held off the scoreboard in each of his first three games back so technically he did take his time. But this is ridiculous. We now have evidence that Stamkos is in fact a cyborg sent from the future to score goals.

Henrik Lundqvist – G

In a week where many a goalie got shredded Lundqvist stood out as a beacon of light. That’s why you spent such an early pick on him. He was tops in the league with three wins (tied with two others) and boasted some solid stats, especially considering he allowed four goals in a ludicrous 8-4 that was straight out of the 80’s. He followed that up with two great performances including a shutout of the anemic Devils.

Honourable Mentions: Matt Moulson, Evgeni Malkin, Mikko Koivu, Ondrej Palat, Jarome Iginla, Jonathan Quick, Sidney Crosby, Ryan Suter, Daniel Alfredsson, Valtteri Filppula, Ilya Bryzgalov, Wayne Simmonds, Mark Giordano, Brent Burns, Patrice Bergeon, Derek Stepan, Victor Hedman, Chad Johnson, Tuukka Rask

The LVP (Least Valuable Player)

James Reimer – G

Who else could it have been? Reimer was just OK going 0-4 this week with a GAA North of 4.00 and a Save Percentage South of 0.900. Just OK? Seems dreadful to me.

And it’s unfortunate because Reimer has been a solid goaltender in the past. This just isn’t his season. He has lost five in a row, and seven of his last eight starts. His one victory came in a game he didn’t even start. Reimer hasn’t won a game he started since January. Seems to me 60 minutes is just too long a game.

Not Last but Certainly Least

Robin Lehner – G

Lehner could easily have tied Reimer for the low spot on the totem pole. He was rescued by the mere fact he only skated in three games. But he lost all three and was every bit as dreadful as Reimer. In reality you should blame the defense (or lack thereof) played in front of these two for these abysmal performances but this is fantasy so we attribute the numbers directly to the player. And this past week was the kind that could tank a whole season if you owned Reimer or Lehner.

Martin St. Louis – RW

It’s safe to say that the whole “I’ll only go to New York” thing hasn’t played out as planned. St. Louis has a total of three points since landing with the Rangers and had just one last week, despite playing in that 8-4 decimation of the Senators. Worse still, St. Louis isn’t even shooting the puck much anymore. He fired just two shots on goal in three games last week. This is going miserably.

Alex Ovechkin – RW

Want to play a fun game? Guess whether Ovechkin will finish with more power play points or minuses this season. He’s currently at 34 PPP and Minus-31 on the season. This guy is so one-dimensional. He is like the Derek Zoolander of hockey players.

Ovechkin technically had a good week as far as the game is concerned scoring one PPP and going even across three games but how many people took Ovechkin in the top five expecting WAY more come H2H playoff time?

Dis-Honourable Mentions: The Edmonton Oilers, Brad Richards, Patrick Kane, Mike Green, Bobby Ryan, Dustin Byfuglien, Jeff Skinner, Kyle Okposo, Jaromir Jagr, Dan Boyle, TJ Oshie, David Clarkson, Brian Campbell, Dan Ellis, JS Giguere