If you’ve ever felt maybe, just maybe, that when it comes to picking a winner on any given night, hockey represents a tougher challenge than other pro sports, then you’re not alone. Whether you’re trying to beat the odds on a game, or simply trying to figure out which goalie to start, choosing correctly isn’t easy, and it turns out there’s evidence suggesting that hockey fans have it harder than most.
(NOW CLOSED - Dobber's note - the first person to comment below the name of the Phoenix blueliner with the most shots on goal gets into the draw for a free putter from Musty Putters)
Last year, I began the column by discussing a widely debated topic in fantasy hockey. Do defensemen really make a major difference in fantasy pools? As much as many fantasy poolies want to deny it, defensemen do play a vital role on influencing the outcome of your fantasy league. Last season, I pitted three offensive players with three defenseman. But based on comments from last season’s column, I’ll try to make it more realistic with a typical Yahoo! six-by-four setup. Let’s visit this example:
Try as you might, there’s simply no way of stopping the inevitability of a goalie’s sudden failure and surprising success. Every season, nay, every month, an unsuspecting group of them spring forward, while a few of the more valuable ones fall back and almost single-handedly crush your chance of winning it all.
But as I have come to learn over the years, it’s not the goalies you draft that make or break your season. Rather it is the ones you acquire through a trade, or the ones lost on the free agent wire that you are able to project correctly before everyone else.
The pet store - you know the one. The one that you somehow hit up every time you’re at the mall. I’m guilty, too. You’re not alone. I blame my wife, but who’s kidding who? I’m a sucker for puppies. And then came the day. Two weeks ago, I got roped into buying a beagle puppy. Her name is Ruby. I love animals more than anyone, but Ruby has the Lord to thank that I don’t own a firearm.
First let me start by congratulating Dobber on five great years of providing the best Fantasy Hockey Resource available. What started as a dirty thought in Dobber’s mind has evolved into a virtual thesaurus of fantasy geek gold, and I’m proud to say that in some small way I helped contribute to the humble beginnings and also believe my departure had led to many less complaints over articles that were less than politically correct.
I tried unsuccessfully this summer to get Kyle Palmieri in my keeper league. He was available cheaply, but I didn’t act quickly enough and he got tossed back into our pool of free agents and re-drafted. I was just a little disappointed that I missed out, but that disappointment has grown as he’s got off to an excellent start to his pro career. Palmieri scored his first goal in the NHL against Tampa Bay on Wednesday, November 3.
There are 12 games on the schedule for Saturday, and not to make any excuses but I’ve been hampered by a stomach virus the last 10 days, so here’s to keeping it short and sweet. With only eight wins collectively last week, here’s hoping Thunder and I break .500... if not, my column will still become more useful as you’ll just have to bet on the team’s that I don’t pick…
Happy Day Light Savings Time!
On November 7, 2005, I registered DobberHockey.com as a domain and immediately transferred my web page over to the new url, effectively launching what would become the best damn fantasy hockey site on the Internet. Let's take a look back at what the site looked like over the years, some of the older features, and how the community has grown. You'll laugh, you'll cry, but mostly you'll just shake your head and wonder "what the hell was Dobber thinking?". But it brought us to where we are today.
I almost feel like this is the beginning of the part two of the regular season for this article; the info that determines the score indicator that you see has went through the first update and is no longer based on some of our preseason projections. For the rest of the season, I will be updating this on a monthly basis, unless a major injury causes a drastic change in a certain team. Anyways, let’s get down to business.
DobberHockey's Fifth Anniversary - Sponsors Thanks to some awesome sponsors, we have some sweet prizes to give away to our loyal readers and members. Easton Hockey has kindly sent us some sweet toques and jackets. Musty Putters has supplied us with some top-of-the-line golf putters. We have some fantastic DobberHockey swag (hats, shirts, [...]
