James Van Riemsdyk
After a tumultuous season in the big smoke, that is T.O he (JVR) is still sporting a respectable 25 Goals, 28 Assists, 53 Points. Playing on the top line with Kessel and Bozak does help because when they are on, they can light up any score sheet, at one point being the highest scoring trio when Carlyle was around, since Horacek took over they have been getting taught the hard way how to play defense, physical hockey just does not agree with those three and their point totals reflected that.

Dec, 16 Pts in 15 Gp Jan, 8 Pts in 13 GP Feb, 3 Pts in 11 Gp Mar, 6 in 15 GP
+2 plus minus -13 plus minus -6 plus minus -13 plus minus
5 Power-play Goals 1 Power-play Goal 0 Power-play Goals 1 Power-play Goal

That drop off in January is amazing, and it lasting through till March is even worse for H2H owners, he must have been quite the bench warmer for a while. While rotisserie leagues get the advantage of the unreal November and December where he accumulated 29 points in 28 games played for a 60 point player that is a great run. I hope the drop off in points is simply an anomaly caused by the coaching style change that dried up team offense. After this off-season Shannahan will have this team in much better condition with a hopeful team changing draft pick in the top five of the 2015 draft. JVR should come out swinging next year and could lead fantasy teams to early leads; I see a 65+ point’s season next year with Nylander, Rielly and the added new depth to be determined who. I think he has the size and skating balance to hit more, which would cause him to become even more effective off the half boards then he is already. He appears to be being groomed into the next leader in the room; hopefully he can bring stability to the team’s confidence.
Peripheral stats for JVR aren't great with a -33 in plus minus along with 41 PIM which is a little underwhelming. His hit totals are solid enough and combine that with his blocks and 43 take-aways on the season, and he makes up for the horrid plus/minus. People definitely draft JVR for his offense but his okay production in multi-cat leagues makes him even more valuable combined with his goal scoring prowess.
Advanced Stats / Salary
His average five million per year salary makes him quite the bargain in a salary league. He is locked in until 17/18 and should be good year to year for an average of 250 shots / 1000 SAT For this type of production is awesome. Shots are what drive a forwards/defense value in terms of creating offense, if they have more chances they are probably going to get a point in reward. Look at Atkinson in Columbus he shoots a ton of pucks but not until later in the season did he go on any type of consistent goal scoring run. That’s one thing to look for with forwards who shoot so much they go hot and cold so beware in head to head leagues. In my league the owner gets the advantage of having the 122nd rated player combining all forwards, goalies, and defense he has 1955 FPts sweet production from a third round pick.
To this day I still can’t believe Philadelphia did that deal with Toronto, with Luke Schenn going the other way, trading a plug defensive defenseman for a great winger with size, he can skate really well in traffic, has sweet hands around the net, and JVR has shown the versatility to play center during stretches of the season.

Points review: 25 Goals / 28 Assists / 53 Points / 0.68 PntsG / -33 PlusMinus / 41 PIM / 236 Shots / 76 Hits / 9 PPG / 19 PPP / 25 Blocks / 43 TakeAways / 3:33 PP-TOI

Final Thoughts: next season look for 65 Points, 20 PPP and 100 Hits, now which could be a solid 2nd round/3rd round choice in next year’s drafts.