DobberHockey Experts League
Below are the results of the DobberHockey Expert League draft, along with some reflections, strategies, etc. from each participant...
Dobber’s Video Blog – Draft Strategy
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Whose line is it anyway?
Some of you might know me for my work at Talented Mr. Roto where I covered fantasy hockey the past two seasons. As you probably know by now, Talented Mr. Roto was acquired by ESPN where fantasy hockey gets barely more coverage than fantasy sheep herding. So I’ve moved on to DobberHockey, which I consider the premier fantasy hockey site on the Web.
Training camps open tomorrow or Friday for most teams so for my first column I’ll focus on things to keep an eye on as the pre-season unfolds. An important factor in evaluating a player’s fluctuation in value from one season to the other and even during the regular season is the players he lines up next to. Any player who had the good fortune of lining up next to Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux saw his fantasy value increase exponentially. So with this in mind, let’s take a look at some players whose fantasy value, and thus draft value, will hinge upon the linemates with whom they are matched during training camp. I won’t cover all teams, focusing only on situations that hold the most importance as far as poolies are concerned.
September 12, 2007
Krys Kolanos has been invited to the Calgary training camp. Alex Goligoski did not participate in the Pens rookie camp because he was injured. Clearly liking quantity over quality, the Coyotes have invited goalie David McKee to camp. He joins Tellqvist, Aebischer, Auld, LeNeveu and Tjordman. The Oilers have invited 18-year-old undrafted prospect Vitali Karamnov to camp. The [...]
Three Goalies with Everything to Prove
Training Camp is here and there’s plenty for National Hockey League goaltenders to prove this season. In fact, all 30 teams have some type of question mark surrounding their tandems - and in some cases - trios. Think about the Western Conference alone and conglomerates of Q’s quickly arise; Can Dominik Hasek stay as healthy as he did last season? Will David Aebischer and Alex Auld join forces to help save Phoenix? Does Peter Budaj have the poise to play 70 games?
(School of Block is subbing in for the Wild West this week)
Calgary, Buffalo and Boston
As keeper league hockey pools increase in number each year, fantasy junkies become more active in the off-season as they prepare their team for the coming year. Rebuild? Retool? Tweak? Whatever your intentions, it helps to get all the information you can about your players.
Throughout the off-season, FPL will look at a pair of teams each week and give you the fantasy lowdown. Bucking the trend of past years, we will review alphabetically – in reverse. Just to be different.
(This column was originally published by The Hockey News and MSN.ca. ESPN no longer carries it due to their recent purchase of The Talented Mr. Roto. In this man's opinion, when the bigwigs get their claws into a fantasy site, the hockey section suffers. Yet another reason why DobberHockey is the best damn fantasy hockey source out there!)
September 11, 2007
I apologize for all the emails I am not responding to. I'd like to say I'm reading them, but if I see that it's a fantasy question and it's long-winded, I pretty much don't even do that. I know this is an important month, but you can imagine how busy I am with everything this [...]
Fantasy Season Prep Work . Burnsy Style
Once again we have reached that wonderful time of the year where all of our normal responsibilities take a back seat to prepping for the upcoming fantasy season. The Dobber site is in full swing with daily additions to the information conglomeration on the site, and the disappointments of last year are all but erased from our minds.
Additionally, September is the only time that we are all tied for first place in our pools, and while last year’s winners are fairly confident in their strategies, last year’s losers are revamping their approach. I considered writing an article that would add to the piles of information already on the site, but then reconsidered, and decided to write a little preseason guide that will help everyone equally, regardless of last year’s results. I now give you my own special twist on the “preseason guide”, with Burnsy’s Top 10 Preseason Tips. Enjoy.
Keeper League #6
How to Start a Keeper League – Version #6 This 'Lifetime Insanity Pool' is fairly typical, but it puts heavier emphasis on defensemen scoring. It also requires roster updates every two weeks, i.e. choose the 16 guys you would like to activate. They also make it clear that wimps need not apply - strict rules [...]
September 10, 2007
The expert draft is starting shortly after 10. I posted a thread in the "one year" section of the forum that I will maybe try and update occasionally if there is time... Ryan Stone has a goal and three assists for the Penguins in two games in the rookie tournament. He is still battling problems with [...]