Fantasy Hockey Gauntlet - Week Twenty-Five: Cam Atkinson, Cam Atkinson, and Cam Atkinson

If you missed out on the early entries into my weekly series, you can find it all right here: Fake Teams Fantasy Hockey.

I apologize in advance for this article as I am rattled. Very very rattled. I did not have a very good week. In fact, I had a terrible week. In the three finals appearances that I participated in I went a combined 0-3. Unfortunately, my man crush on Cory Schneider (who was a big reason I made it to the finals in these leagues) let me down in the finals for all three matchups. No gold for Troy this year. In the two third place matchups, I won one and lost one. And in the final league in which I didn't make the playoffs, I won the consolation bracket finishing in fifth. Overall for the year? A very successful year. Given where I was two weeks ago or even last week? So so very disappointing. My only consolation is that in the five leagues where I made the playoffs, my team was eliminated by the eventual champion. I can take some solace in that, but it's still a tough pill to swallow. My final results for the fantasy hockey season was this:

• Shinny Cup - Hall of Fame Keeper League: 5th/10
• Frozen Schtick Keeper League: 2nd/8
• The Great White North Super Keeper League: 2nd/12
• Crosby likes Ovechkin's Semin Keeper League: 3rd/10
• This was Made in Kariya Fake Teams Snake Draft League: 4th/12
• Don't Toews me bro! Fake Teams Auction Draft League: 2nd/12

I will recap our two Fake Teams leagues, as this article shouldn't be all about me wallowing in sorrow. In the snake draft league - This was Made in Kariya - Wanderers (3rd) was able to take home glory with a 6-3 victory over Clowe's Bench Pass (5th). Funny fact: he won each of his three playoff matchups by that same score. In the auction draft league - Don't Toews me bro! - Homer Knows Hockey (5th) beat me, four&half (2nd), by a score of 5-3 to take home his fantasy championship. Having dispatched both the number one and two seeds to win it all must have been especially sweet. A big congrats to the both of our Fake Teams Fantasy Hockey Champions! And a big thank you to everyone who joined this year, it was a lot of fun!

Week Twenty-Five (April 6-11) Preview:

I'm assuming that most people are finished with their fantasy hockey leagues for the year (in large part because all of my leagues are finished and I don't understand the appeal of playing the final week of the season in fantasy), but for those that play the game until the very last game on Saturday, the rest of this article is for you. Good luck in your final week! For those like me who are now done for the season, please come back next week for help with your playoff league drafts!

4 Game Week: Carolina, Columbus, Los Angeles, Minnesota, New York Rangers, Winnipeg
2 Game Week: Anaheim, Florida, Montreal, Tampa Bay, Toronto, Washington
All other teams at 3 games

Columbus plays three times on off nights (four games on the week) making them the best team to target players from for next week. Buffalo and Dallas each play twice on off nights and no other team plays more than one game on an off night. You're pretty much going to have to win the week on your star players.

Waiver Pickups:

Cam Atkinson - RW - CLS (20% owned), Marko Dano - C/RW - CLS (5%), Boone Jenner - C/LW - CLS (4%), Artem Anisimov - C/LW - CLS (3%), and Alexander Wennberg - C/RW - CLS (1%): Atkinson is available, he shoots, he scores, he's on the top line with Ryan Johansen, and he's been awesome lately. Add him now before your opponent does. Jenner is also playing with the top line and deserves consideration. They're both playing second powerplay lately though. Dano and Wennberg are playing on the Scott Hartnell line and Wennberg is getting additional minutes on the number one powerplay unit. Anisimov is playing with Nick Foligno and Brandon Dubinsky. All are viable options this week, but Atkinson must be owned if you're playing this week.

Kevin Connauton - D - CLS (1%): With the Blue Jackets playing four forwards on their top powerplay unit, you'd assume that Jack Johnson had to be the one manning the point. Well, lately you'd be assuming incorrectly. Connauton is a sneaky pick this week who could turn a profit on the powerplay. If he gets removed from the man advantage (as I'd assume he might), then he can still add value in penalty minutes. All in all, I'd take the risk this week with the ideal schedule.

Matt Moulson - LW - BUF (31%), Tyler Ennis - C/LW - BUF (10%), Brian Gionta - RW - BUF (8%), and Johan Larsson - LW - BUF (2%): Same as last week except that Moulson missed two games with the flu and Ennis returned to take his place on the hot line. Moulson will be back tonight, so I'm not sure just quite how the line will play out, but the important thing to remember is that they are producing. Regardless of how bad this team is and how dirty it feels to be rostering one of their players, they can help you win.

Rasmus Ristolainen - D - BUF (6%) and Zach Bogosian - D - BUF (8%): Same as last week, Ristolainen might be the best piece you can add on the blue line this week.

Ales Hemsky - RW - DAL (20%), Antoine Roussel - LW - DAL (13%), Valeri Nichushkin - RW - DAL (13%), and Patrick Eaves - RW - DAL (1%): The big three of Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and Jason Spezza are all long gone, but you can still find their linemates in most leagues. Hemsky has been consistently with Spezza on the second line and Eaves and Nichushkin have been bouncing back and forth on between the top two line since Valeri returned from his nearly year long hiatus with a hip injury (I didn't think I'd be writing about him again this year). Eaves is the only one working the top powerplay unit, but Nichushkin easily has the most upside. The problem is that just two games removed from a season long injury, he's going to be pretty rusty and may not be trustworthy. Up to you. Roussel is the guy you want if you want to pick up some easy penalty minutes without benching your studs on the busy nights.

John Klingberg - D - DAL (31%): Alex Goligoski is owned too much for this column, but if he's not owned, grab him too. That said, Klingberg is the guy I'd still prefer. Goligoski has been slightly better lately and is the one we all expected to be a stud at the beginning of the year, but Klingberg is the one receiving the first line powerplay minutes.

Hopefully there is enough here to help you get through the week and win your league. I'd like to say thanks to all for following me this year, enjoy the playoffs!

My NHL Schedule:

The NHL Schedule has not been revised for anything since last week but can be found here: 2014-15 NHL Schedule . Don't forget to change the time zone to your appropriate time zone. The one thing I ask of you is that you do not take my schedule and use it for your own personal gains. Please do not sell it, you can direct people here to find it, but do not sell it.

I'm new to the twitterverse, but I'd love to hear your feedback and questions. Follow me on Twitter @HockeyGauntlet for more of my thoughts and all of your fantasy hockey needs.