Stuff from former regular columnists such as Chris Burns, Eric Maltais, Jacob Status, Jim Gunther and Jeff Angus, as well as guest columnists such as Gus Katsaros from McKeen‘s, Jon Press from Japer’s Rink and more!
The Expert Panel is back for round two! Dobber and a few others led the way going 7-for-8. The consensus went 7-for-8 as well.
For the second straight season, Chicago’s backup goaltender exceeded all expectations, took advantage of ample opportunities and played their way right into a starter’s role for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Back in October, Corey Crawford was considered as nothing more than a serviceable backup. He thrived as a minor-leaguer after traveling the long-winding journey from Moncton (QMJHL) to Norfolk and then Rockford of the AHL. He had also played more than enough AHL games in order to develop the mental toughness, poise and skills needed to succeed at the NHL level…he just needed the chance.
Three new players crack the top 10.
The first edition of this list was put together last year, and it is something I am going to update at least once each season. I have a few general rules when it comes to building a team in a fantasy hockey keeper league. One of the more important ones is to not plan beyond a two or three year window. You are not building a real NHL club, and too often I see poolies place too much of an emphasis on youth and prospects instead of trying to add players who could help them win now. Using this rule, take a look at your team(s). Can you realistically say you will have a shot at winning the league at some point within the next two or three seasons? If not, time to scrap the rebuild and start adding proven NHL talent.
For your listening pleasure - put it on your Ipod or just listen in on your computer! Dobber Nation appears on the 25th of every month, except December (Christmas). Let's talk some fantasy hockey! We have posted the April edition a few days early so you can enjoy it over the long weekend.
Episode 24: April 25, 2011 - click to listen!
Even though the regular season is over, whatever you do, don’t shut off your fantasy radar. The chance to uncover some quality goalie intel is deceptively high. In fact, you can a better feel for a goaltender’s true fabric and long-term value during the playoffs than at any other point during the regular season.
The thinking process that goes in to selecting the Prime Cuts roster is similar to Pierre McGuire’s “Monsters” team on TSN (I promise that is the first and only time I will compare my thinking process to Pierre’s). Since this is a fantasy hockey site, the selection process favors players that have had strong seasons on the score sheet, obviously. However, not just goals and assists are weighted – perhaps a player has started to shoot the puck more, or play better defensively. Intangibles like heart, grit, and determination factor in to the selection process as well. It is far and away my favorite article to write each year, and I hope you will all enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it.
The second part of this series will name the bottom six forwards and two goaltenders.
How do we build a winning team? Everyone knows the old adage of buy low, sell high but how exactly does that look over the course of a season? To answer the question well, we need to look at how poolies' perceptions vary over the year.
It turns out that perceptions follow a very predictable pattern. Once we identify that pattern, it’s much easier to position our teams to derive value from it. Taking advantage of this “perception cycle” is a very good way to accelerate a rebuild or just to make your keeper team stronger as the years go on.
The New Jersey Devils walked away the big winners at the 2011 NHL Draft lottery, moving from the eighth spot to fourth. How does this change the complexion of the Draft?
The 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs are set to begin only a few short days from now, and what better way to celebrate than with the 2011 DobberHockey Playoff Challenge! The fine folks over at ArmChairPools are hosting the pool this spring, and it is completely free to enter! Playoff pools require quite a bit of luck (or intuition, whatever you may call it) to win compared to regular season pools, thanks to the fact that the success of the players you pick is heavily dependent on how long their teams stick around.
With another season in the books, are you surprised to find that not a single goalie notched 40 wins? I’m not. More prospects took advantage of more opportunities, while many of the elite workhorses played less. In my opinion, this is a visible change in the workload paradigm that will continue to shift as the clock ticks towards your next fantasy draft.
