HOW TO PLAY FANTASY HOCKEY
It’s early September and you need your hockey fix. The Stanley Cup playoffs ended in late June and except for the June Entry Draft and the first few days of free agency in July, there has not been a lot of news in the hockey world. But it’s now after Labor Day. Everyone is back in school or at work and the hockey season is just around the corner. Training camps start around mid-September and fantasy pool drafts take place shortly thereafter.
Pre Draft
There is no better day in the year than draft day. It’s an adult version of Christmas. It’s tough falling asleep the night before and you look forward to the day for weeks. Each player you pick is like a present, some turn out to be a ten-speed bike you ride with joy for a decade, while others are like the ugly sweater you get from your aunt on Christmas.
There are two basic ways to draft in fantasy hockey. There is the snake/serpentine draft where participants select players in order by round. The even rounds are the reverse order of the odd, meaning that if you pick first overall, you select last in round two and then first again in round three. That order continues back and forth as the draft “snakes” down the draft board.
There is also the auction-style draft. In this method each team gets an amount of money (let’s say $260) and must purchase all their players in one dollar increments until they fill out their roster. You cannot spend more than the limit so at a certain stage in the draft, you need to have at least the same amount of dollars remaining as players needed. Therefore, if you needed eight players to fill out the rest of your roster, you must still have at least eight dollars remaining. This is a fun way to play as it is possible to get any player(s) you desire as all you have to do is outbid everyone for him.
A big decision to make will be what categories your pool will use. If this is your first time playing fantasy hockey don’t use too many categories as it will become complicated, first trying to draft and then actually playing.
Here are some of the categories you can use.
Players Goaltending
Goals Wins
Assists Goals Against Average
Power play goals Shutouts
Power play points Save percentage
Plus/minus Shots on goal
Penalty minutes
Shorthanded points
Shots
Those are the two methods of drafting, but there are different ways of playing the game.
The first way is a roto-style pool in which you play different categories and get points according to where you are ranked in each category.
One league that I’m in plays eight categories which include: forward goals, defensemen goals, assists, power play goals, plus/minus and penalty minutes for the skaters and wins and goals against average for goaltenders. We use 13 forwards, six defensemen and three goaltenders on our active roster and an eight man bench. There are 12 teams and we are ranked accordingly in each category, with the team leading the category getting 12 points, the team in second place getting 11 and on and on down to the last place team getting a solitary point. All the points in every category are added up and the overall standings are posted. It doesn’t matter if you lead a category by one or 100 you still get 12 points.
Another way to play fantasy hockey is head-to-head. This is the method used regularly in Yahoo leagues. Every week you play a different team. You are allocated points for goals, assists, etc. and the team that accumulates the most points each week is the winner. Teams with the best records at the end of the season play off and there is an eventual winner.
The Draft
Okay. So now you’ve decided how you’re going to play. It’s draft day. You’re either sitting in front of the computer playing a Yahoo! pool, looking over your Rotoworld Hockey Guide mulling over who to draft, or you’re sitting in a room with the rest of your pool, waiting for the first pick.
In regular drafts where each person makes a pick, I like to take two goalies and two defensemen early if possible because of the lack of depth in those positions. Goaltenders tend to go really early in drafts, much like running backs in football pools and you’re really scrambling if you wait. Of course, if everyone has the same idea, a lot of excellent forwards are available much later than they should be. I picked up Evgeni Malkin in an experts pool seven years ago in the second round, the 29th player selected overall as 15 goaltenders had already been taken and he ended up with over 100 points.
The center position is usually very deep and you can always get good players late in the draft by waiting to take that position. Fill out your other slots earlier and you will have a good team.
Be aware of what the players around you need and have already taken. If you’re drafting in the second or second last position, the person next to you will get two picks in a row. If he has already filled out his goaltending slots and you need a goaltender, you can pick another position first and still get the goaltender without a worry on the way back. If you do it the other way around, he or she may take the player that you wanted.
When you are in an in-person draft, look for other participants tendencies. While this won’t necessarily be apparent for first-timers in a pool, after a couple of years you realize who likes to spend money, who will hang around and look for bargains late etc. Also keep in mind who is in the bidding for your players as it will be easier to make a trade with them later in the season. You know that they already like the player.
The Season
The draft is now over and the season has started. Not all of your players are doing as well as you originally thought so you look at Rotoworld’s Waiver Wired, The Power Play Report and In The Crease articles and pick up players who can help you immediately. You can see how many games each of your players will play by reading The Week Ahead. There are plenty of times in the season where a team will only play once or twice weekly while other teams will have four games that week. The Islanders play five times in one week while the Sabres do not play at all in the three days leading up to the All-Star break. Rotoworld will have two chats per week this season, with one exclusively for Season Pass holders. Season Pass holders will also be able to chat with Brian Rosenbaum and Michael Finewax in the pre-season once a week for pre-draft advice. Take advantage.
Don’t forget to follow all the hockey guys on twitter!
And remember, the most important thing is to have fun. Enjoy.
