Fantasy Fix-Up

HWB Fantasy Standings as of 12-14-2009.Whether you are leading the pack like Matt, or down in the dumps last place like Eddie, now is the time to address your fantasy teams needs. Here are a few helpers to get your team in tip top shape. (Some information specific to Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Hockey League)

Diversification: From your 401 k to everything, do not put all your eggs in one basket. Pick up players from different teams. On average only 2 to 3 goals are scored per team, so if you have 3 players on one team, the odds of picking up a point are working against you and not for you.

The News Knows: Pay attention to the little yellow news pad that relates to your players. The information usually gives you insight on who is producing, cold, injured or anything else that can help you make a better decision. If you are tired of checking every person and waiting for the pop up box, hover over “My Team” then click “My Player Notes”. Viola, now you have all your players news, as well as opponents and free agents which can come in handy.

Shop ’em Baby: Sometimes you need an upgrade, and I am not talking Cialis. Contact some people in the league and see what people are looking for. Put up an offer, and see where it takes you. Trades are hard to pull off, but when done, usually helps you out. A big thing to increase your possibility for success, always respond to a trade offer with a counter or some communication. Ignoring people or trash talking a trade will not get you far, and most likely will close off all future trades no matter how good the trade is. Think Aretha Franklin, R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

How Do You Size Up: I already used a Cialis joke, so straight to the jist of things. Use your “Head-to-Head Stats” feature. A brief summary of “Win-Loss” let’s you see which categories you could improve, while “Totals” let’s you see how you are doing overall. If you are low in a category, try to find a player that can improve your weaknesses. Be careful not to improve one category and drastically impact another category for the worse. And do not forget to check out the goalie stats.

Defense Goalies Win Championships: A skater may have a bad game and take a hit to your plus/minus rating, but if a goalie has an off night, there goes your goals against average and good luck bringing up your save percentage. Try to have a consistent goalie over a streaky one. Pay attention to who your goalie is playing. Also, make sure you meet minimum games played each week. And most important, pay attention to your match-up for the week. If you have the stats on lock and going into the last day, do not play your goalie. Nothing worse than losing a few categories knowing you could have benched your goalie and won them.

Plenty of Fish in the Sea: When looking at the free agency pool, do not only look at current rankings. Cross reference overall ranking with current rankings. Proven players over rookies usually. Solid players tend to be your best bet, so pick up guys who have consistent 1 point nights instead of the occasional 3 point nights. And lastly, the rankings do not take into account how many games have been played, so do not forget to look at season averages.

I’ve Got an Eye on You: Nothing more valuable than the “My Watch List”. Not sure who to pick up, who to drop, who to trade or trade for, use the watch list. Click the little flag next to their name, then compare and contrast to your hearts content all on one screen in your watch list. Now you can compare apples to apples.

Alright, now put this information to good use and start dominating your league. That is of course, as long as you are not in the same league as myself.

8 Comments

  1. This has nothing to do with fantasy hockey but I had to post this-

    – EB must be positively giddy tonite!! His Coyotes are in town and he can root for them against the Wings.

    Wonder if EB or the HWB gang is at the Joe tonite.

    Bad news early, though, Wingers up 1-0. Go Wings.

  2. No HWB fans in the crowd at the Joe tonight. We will be there Thursday for the Tampa Bay game though.

    Wings have their legs under them tonight and Bryz is not playing too well. One negative though, not looking good for Ericsson after that Hopefully he only needs a night to shake it off.

  3. Sitting in the front room with him I happen to know that on the surface EB pulls for the Wings. His love and post for Phoenix are like a WWF wrestler who plays the villian. All part of thier persona. Let’s hope Newbury can stay up a while and add a new personality to the Wings. They miss that “new” fan favorite player.

  4. Thursday is bad sweater night at the Joe- G. Brown-
    maybe you can lend E Brown one of yours……….

    ….on a more serious note ( the preceeding stuff wasn’t)-
    Ericsson out 2 weeks…….has ANYBODY seen
    such a rash of injuries????????

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