The diminutive forward had himself a great week, scoring 5 goals and 3 assists in three games, starting with a goal and an assist on Monday against the Stars, another goal and an assist against the Panthers on Thursday and then a hat-trick and assist against the Hurricanes on Saturday, just to round things off.
This brings up Atkinson's total to 12 goals and 20 points in 19 games with the Jackets this season, good enough for 41st overall in hockey pool scoring. After a little bit of a slow start to the season, Atkinson and the Jackets are really starting to find their stride.
The Jackets forward was also quite the catalyst on Clayton's team this week, as you'll see in the next section, but this is Clayton's first Player of the Week nod since the 2016 season and his 14th overall. Believe it or not, this is only the second time a Blue Jackets player has ever earned the Player of the Week nod in the hockey pool and it was Atkinson who did it, also back in the 2016 season.
Clayton's team led the pool in goals scored in the week, also setting a new weekly scoring mark for this season at 17 goals, picked up 3 wins from his goalies and had a combined plus/minus rating of +13 in the week, so you know they were playing at both ends of the ice too.
Historically, Clayton ties Allan S. for the most Mover & Shaker nods now in the history of the hockey pool with 17 all-time, but it has been a few years since Allan was in the hockey pool, having moved on some time ago. 44 points is far from being the best week in the pool all-time though, that record was set by Allan back in 2012 with 53 points, a mark that Tony came close to matching last season with 52 in Week Twenty-Four. Still though, a very good week.
The return of James Van Riemsdyk to the Philadelphia Flyers lineup this week was his saving grace and he would have seen his team in dire straits, if the power forward didn't come back, registering 3 points in the week to lead the way for his team. Six players failed to register at least a point on his side, including both of his goalies and injuries certainly played a part in the absence of scoring, one player on the IR and a couple of his other big guns unable to play in at least one game this week.
The tough week for Eric's side means that his team dropped from 11th to 17th in the standings and his team now sits 16 points out of the top 10. His team is going to need some positive news on the injury front right away, if he is going to see his team keep the pace, but dropping down in these weeks does greatly improve your pick in the Waiver Draft, which will get started a week from today.
Clayton and Kristy & Don are tied at 181 points, only 6 points behind Troy for top spot and as we saw this week, hot weeks do happen, so that can certainly change in a big hurry.
Jeremy's team is 5-for-6 in the shootout this season, Evgeny Kuznetsov of the Capitals is 2-for-2, leading the way for his side.
John P. and Tony both lead the way in the overall race, they each have 12 winners, while Kristy & Don and Stuart both have 11 winners on their teams. Four more teams are at 10, so this race is long from over and there are some good candidates for clutch goals available in the Waiver Draft as well. Head on over to the Available Players page, it has been updated today too.
Stuart's team now sits at 149 minutes in penalties at the end of the week, a major and a minor better than Stacey C.'s team, which didn't really flex its muscles too much in the week, but has been consistent in their trips to the box this year.
This leaves Wes, Jeremy, Troy, Mike and Stacey M. to battle it out for the survivor game title. With five teams remaining, I've added them to the standings page, just so you can keep up.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Participation, both from the skaters and the goalies, continues to slide down, thanks to injuries and other good stuff, which means points are getting harder and harder to come by. The pool dropped to a season low 11.96 points per NHL game for an average scoring rate, sinking much further than the previous low of 12.69. The Waiver Draft can't get here soon enough for most, I'm sure, some of these players we have on our teams just have to go and go soon!
NEWS AND NOTES
Lindholm's injury means missed skater games for Stuart's 2nd place team, while Kristy & Don missed out on a start for their 5th place team last night. Those are some clutch money spots missing out on some action, trying to keep the pool close.
If it was more like an injury problem, than Brenda & Seward could probably use this to perform a huge overhaul on their team at the Waiver Draft, as the bonus rounds do allow for extra moves to be made, if injuries are prevalent. The duo are last in the pool in skater games played, by a fair margin, so the only direction they can go is up, starting in Week Ten.
The rugged forward has also been quite the disappointment this season, having only 7 assists in 14 games, which isn't doing Scott's team any good this year. Scott's team has been struggling all year, sitting in 25th and 10 points behind Brenda & Seward to try and escape last place, so this is a likely candidate for a drop.
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