Despite never having laced up a pair of skates (except for those of his two young sons) and growing up in Red Sox crazed Massachusetts, Rick Roos has been a huge hockey fan nearly all of his life. Inspired by often wearing a Canadiens jersey to the old Boston Garden (it’s a long story…) and living to tell about it, Rick started to join fantasy hockey leagues back in the 90s, where he found himself waiting eagerly by a fax machine for weekly stats updates. He has since been in – and won – leagues featuring elite fantasy hockey writers. In real life, Rick is an attorney, which made him the perfect choice to write his previous “Holding Court” column on DobberHockey, where he debated both sides of a fantasy hockey issue and rendered a verdict for readers to debate. Later, for several years, he did similar for the popular “Cage Match” series. Today, Roos is freewheeling through a variety of monthly pieces: Forum Buzz takes a look at some hot topics our readers are discussing in the forum; Mailbag allows readers to write in to Roos with fantasy hockey questions; Goldipucks and the Three Skaters takes a look at three players (in the spirit of the old Cage Match, except Roos determines who is too hot, too cold…and ju-u-ust right); The Tournament is where Roos polls the readers and the forum community on a certain topic, just the way Tourneys ran in the old Cage Match, until a winning player in that topic is declared.
Fantasy Hockey Frustrations
Rick Roos takes a look at several types of players who are frustrating to own in fantasy hockey leagues.
What’s great about fantasy sports is that even if you don’t win your league, at least you can whine to your competitors - and in the DobberHockey forums - about your misfortune. Fantasy hockey in particular makes it pretty easy to complain, because there are so many ways your team and its players can let you down. For example, DobberHockey readers already are well aware of all too familiar frustrations like Band-Aid boys (players who are great when they’re healthy, but always seem to get hurt) and Windex Wonders (players who are either ice cold or red hot), but there are many other ways players can become sources of frustration.
This week I thought I’d go over the different types of players who can disappoint a fantasy team; and instead of an overall “Final Verdict” like I usually have in this column, I’ll rank each category of player on a “frustration meter” that ranges from one gray hair (a little annoying sometimes, but not a big deal) to five gray hairs (a major source of constant aggravation). One key thing to keep in mind – frustrating doesn’t always mean bad. Even a guy who gets a four or five on the frustration meter usually can still help your team; he just might drive you crazy in the process!
Now onto the list…