Reality Check Part 3: The Masked Men

Glen Hoos

2014-08-30

PekkaRinne

How to properly value goalies in your league

Ed. Note: This is the third and final instalment in a series in which we've looked at different aspects of the NHL game and how to value them appropriately in your fantasy league scoring, with the objective of creating scoring systems that reflect real life value as closely as possible. Click here for previous entries: The Power Game; A Case for the Defence.

As fans of the Winnipeg Jets know all too well, goaltending is the most important position in hockey. A lights-out stopper can make a bad team competitive, a good team great and a great team unbeatable. A leaky tender, well… at the risk of dredging up painful memories for Vancouver Canucks fans, let's just say it's tough to win when your goalie's had the air let out of his tires.

In the world of fantasy hockey, placing just the right value on the masked men requires as much finesse as it takes to slip one past Henrik Lundqvist. Choose your categories unwisely, and you risk throwing off the balance of your league. I recall my first season as a commissioner of a points-based league, when seven of the top ten fantasy players at year's end were goalies. Oops!

But have no fear – my lesson was learned, and I'm ready to share some guidelines for effectively valuing goalies in your fantasy league.

Roto Categories

The first step in a roto (category-based) league is to decide how many goaltending categories you want. You must walk a fine line as you seek to reward the critical contribution of the elite goalie, without going overboard and over-inflating the value of the masked men. On a typical fantasy roster, goalies only account for about 10-20% of the roster slots, so you don't want 50% of your team's fantasy value tied up in 10-20% of your players.

Saves

If you're looking to reward the workhorse, saves is a better way to do it than games or minutes played. Like those categories, saves are linked (at least partially) to minutes played. It's not a direct correlation, because the defensive strength of the team does factor in, but generally the league's saves leaders are among the leaders in minutes played as well. The advantage of using saves is that you're incorporating performance as well, not just ice time. If I'm looking for one category to complement the Big 4, this would be my choice more often than not.

Goals Against

Some fantasy sites offer goals against as an option. In a points-based league, this could be incorporated into a scoring formula, which you can't do with GAA. That's a nice alternative to traditional goalie scoring formulas that focus just on wins and shutouts. But in a roto or head-to-head league, goals against is redundant if you're already counting GAA.

Points-Based Scoring

This article is primarily geared towards category-based leagues (roto and head-to-head), but for those of you in points-based leagues, you'll want to ensure that goalies are valued fairly in comparison to skaters. There's a ton of variety in points-based scoring, but I'd aim to have the league's top goalies on par with a 90-point forward, with an average starting goalie valued similar to a 70-point forward. So, for example, in a straight points league, you could award 2 points for a win and 2 for a shutout. Under this system, the top handful of goalies would've finished with 80-88 points, which is equivalent to the top forwards (non-Crosby division).

However you choose to integrate goaltenders into your league scoring, there's no doubt that in fantasy – as in real life – your team's fortunes will rise or fall with the performance of your masked men. So here's wishing you more Tuukka Rasks, and fewer Cam Wards!

What do you think? What are the advantages and drawbacks of these goaltending categories, and which ones do you like to employ? And who's your favourite fantasy goaltender, past or present?

Recently from the Commissioner’s Office:

Reality Check, Part Two: A Case for the Defense
Reality Check: Part One
Managing Your Keeper League in the Offseason
It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year: The Draft