Do you need to watch Hockey to play fantasy?

[kozzie]

The past two years I have watched very little hockey. I wanted to see if I could stay up and remain competitive without really paying attention.
Here is what I did.

I come on here maybe once every 2 weeks. I read the articles that are written. If I am offered a trade I come on here dig a little thru frozen pool or the forums to catch any info on a particular player if I need. I have found this to be more than enough.
When it comes to the prospects and drafting. I buy the guide offered on here and I just follow the recommendations that are given. The guys on here that run this site really do all my research for me.

This all started when I started my own business and found very little time to pay attention like I used to. I was thinking about quitting but I spent so much time rebuilding and trying to improve my two teams I owned I hated the thought of just giving them up and let somebody else reap the hours I used to spend.

So in conclusion. There is so much info out there from really what Dobber and his staff have done here. I have seen this site improve over the past 7 years that I have been a member that really I found that you can stay competitive without spending a lot of time on fantasy.
I commend the staff here.

How much time does the average guy with a family and many other commitments spend on fantasy? I used to on the average spend 12 hours a week reading, researching. Now I would say I spend 2 tops. I also used to get the NHL package on my local cable and spend every night watching 6 or 7 games. I watch maybe 1 game now every 2 weeks. Just don't have the time anymore.

[Axeman33]

Interesting thoughts.

Fantasy hockey is really just a numbers game so I would say you don't have to watch much hockey to really know whats going on with fantasy hockey. If you watch the numbers and follow trends (things like hot and cold streaks, line combos and such) I can't see any reason why you can't be a competitive fantasy GM.

[Bubba55]

What an interesting post! To be successful in fantasy hockey, like anything else, you are going to have to spend some time at it. However, the old saying, work smart not hard, absolutely applies here. I think a critical condition for success is in fully understanding your league and your scoring cats, that's an absolute must. Once you have your "shopping list" though, I would argue that all the data you need is out there and if there is a better one stop site than Dobber's for that data I don't know what it might be. Data mining! The guy who knows exactly what he wants and goes out and finds it will win some pools! I could go on at length, but I would suggest that a poolie who takes advantage of all the information and all the tools on this site alone could have significant fantasy success without watching a minute of Hockey. I don't know why you would do that, but, I really believe that it can be done. I can't watch nearly as many games as I would like, I do what I can, but I do try and spend as much time as I can afford each day pouring through this site! I've had some success as a result and I really believe that I enjoy the games I do watch more with the knowledge I've garnered from Dobber Hockey! I hope a bunch of the guys jump on this post, I'd love to hear what the forum thinks.

[islefan31]

I would say no, sometimes it actually hurts a decision. I'm guilty of seeing a guy have a great game..all over the ice, run to computer and grab him before anyone else realizes how awesome this fringe player is. Only to regret my move a week later. Having said that, I watch more hockey since joining fantasy hockey. There's an attachment factor to players and teams I had no interest in before.

[The Bottlenecker]

If fantasy hockey is anything like fantasy basketball, than the answer is a resounding "NO"! I know very little about basketball, and even less about college hoops, and almost won (2nd place) a March Madness bracket a few years ago started by my college-hoops-mad buddies. I picked teams whose name I liked.
Want another example: I do watch my fair share of hockey watching, put have never won a hockey laden Proline ticket. One of the first times I played Proline and bet on football ( a sport I have since gotten into) I won over a hundred dollars. Lucky me.
Don't get me wrong, knowing your stuff helps tremendously, but having the luck of the Irish is a whole lot more important than watching hours of the sport you are betting on.

[agentzero]

kozzie I would say you are probably right. Especially with growing commitments and families etc. I can see how it would be friggin impossible to sit and watch 6 hockey games to get some fantasy research. I'd say I'm probably in your boat, where I catch 2 games, maybe 3 per week, tops. I do try to watch a lot of highlights, youtube or on tv, to see more "how" the points or goals are scored, rather than just noting that they are, which helps me get a sense of the player's hockey sense and involvement in a game.

I see fantasy hockey a bit like a scouting job and a but like a stats analyst job. Referring to Moneyball and the philosophy behind paying more attention to stats than to the "eye test" to determine if a player is a future star or not, I see fantasy hockey as a mixture of both. You can probably be pretty competitive just looking at data and not any actual play, but you probably get the greatest edge, particularly in a dynasty or keeper league, watching the play of the players and knowing the level of competitiveness of the league they play in (especially for junior or euro league players. I'm still yet to get a read on the KHL, though, such an odd league to me lol). So, in my mind you kind of have to do both to ultimately be the most successful. Read the guides, articles and amazing plethora of posts and discussions and reports on this site, but then watch as much as you can in the most efficient manner, which should if anything, help you distinguish between at least a couple of binary choices at the draft table or in a trade. There was a time where I went off pure numbers without watching enough hockey and while it still kept me above the water line pretty well every year, it also sunk me a few times where had I watched a bit more, I could have made a better choice.

It's one thing to notice Gustav Nyqvist scored like 12 goals in the last 10 games, but it's another to watch him anticipate plays, blow by defenders and muscle his way to jaw-dropping scores. Seeing the stats will tell you Nyqvist racks up points, watching how he does will tell you he's not just some guy running hot for a week or two, he's a star in the making. I feel the same way about Tyler Johnson. Ridiculous hockey sense.

This is a very cool topic to post about.

[Bomm Bastic]

My answer is: No. But why wouldn't you?

[horrorfan]

My answer is: No. But why wouldn't you?

If you live in Scotland.

In general, I don't think you need to watch hockey to be successful at fantasy hockey. Pretty much the most amount of fantasy hockey I've played has been while I've lived here and I don't get much opportunity to watch hockey. Sure, I could pay to get subscriptions online etc but rarely do I want to stay up in the middle of the night to watch games, or watch them on delay. On average I probably could count on one hand how many (partial) games I watch during an entire season.

Doing your homework and understanding how your league works are two keys to being successful, regardless of whether you watch hockey or not.

[ericdaoust]

No, you don't need to watch hockey to win at fantasy. It's one thing to watch games but it's another thing to interpret everything you see correctly and objectively. There are pros and cons to both approaches.

I've actually gotten more from reading various publications and putting it all together to form my own opinion.

[mounD]

Law school has put me in a similar position, at least with being able to watch games on weeknights. I've watched FAR LESS hockey this year than any previous years, and I'm doing just fine in most of my leagues. It's really just a matter of efficient use of resources / time. You don't have to spend dozens of hours a week on this stuff, it's just more fun that way. You can still be hella successful only spending a couple hours / week on fantasy hockey. In fact, that's probably the much healthier way to approach things.

[kozzie]

I think overall I do better watching less. I used to do the same thing. I would see a guy have a great game or two and jumo on him only to regret it later.
I mostly rely on the research that is done on here by the experts who do this for a living.

Here is a few examples
A few years ago I never heard of Shattenkirk. I read a few draft publications which spoke highly of him. I drafted him and everyone in my league was telling me what a great pick I made? He was still very young on not really on to many peoples radar. We are allowed to keep prospects in our league 4 years. It payed off.
I drafted Tatar, B Bennett and R Sheehan the same way.
Honestly I drafted Sheehan because when it was my turn I had no clue who to pick so I figured Detriot drafts pretty darn good so I figured, what the hell.

It seems more like just having the right info and working smarter has keep me very competitive.

I would love to watch more hockey but just don't have the time.

Great responses, hope to see more.

[MCMackerel]

I totally agree, with the majority of the posters comments. I don't believe that you have to watch hockey games regularly to be successful at fantasy pools. That being said I don't think that watching games can really hurt you, especially if you watch junior hockey or even AHL hockey (leagues that are typically not covered and therefore the players are typically not known as well by various analysts/writers.

However I also agree with what a few have said, in that watching games can sometimes be a negative thing for fantasy GMs. What I mean by this is that if you only watch 1 or 2 games a week, you might put too much stock into what you saw live rather than remembering that players can look great for one game and that one game is not a reflection of what a player may contribute on a day-to-day basis. In addition, some players can look as if they are all over the ice and seemingly very solid point producers, yet for whatever reason they cannot put points up on the board. In these cases, as a fantasy hockey GM, I think it is more beneficial to not watch games.

For example, I watch probably 1 or 2 games a week (and I try to mix up the teams I watch), and two players that always stand out to me when I watch them are Benoit Pouliot and Mason Raymond. Every time I see them play they look really great. Both are great skaters and really stand out to me, yet they both have struggled greatly to become consistent point producers. Yes, perhaps each has had ups and downs but their production differs in my mind greatly from what I see.

Anyways, just an interesting observation that I thought I'd share...I think that if you watch A LOT of games it is highly beneficial to being a fantasy GM, but if you can only catch a couple games a week or less, I think that there is much more value in following stats closely and reading the stuff here at dobberhockey than you are trying to form opinions based on what limited action you've seen. Really though, the content here at DH is unrivaled, and I think a lot of us here can agree that the ramblings, forum, articles, tools, etc etc are the single most useful asset in determining our success in fantasy hockey pools.

[Chunkys_Choice]

I agree with the people saying NO, but here's one thing. I live a ten minute walk from a WHL arena, and never used to go to any games, until this year when I joined a keeper league. Now I'm finding I really want to go see certain teams when they come through town, to scout their players. Like this year I've gone to see the Calgary Hit Men and Portland Winterhawks (twice) and Edmonton Oil Kings, just to find out if Jake Virtanen or Nick Petan or Griffin Reinhart pass the eye test, and to decide if I want them for my farm team. So Yes, I agree that watching is not required, but being in a hockey pool definitely gives you a reason to go see games that you otherwise might not bother with.

[Atomic Wedgy]

The one thing that I will say is that watching games sometimes gives you some perspective on deciding on two seemingly equal players. When you've seen both of them play through a bunch of games, you get a feeling for which player is the better pick. You can't have a gut feeling without watching anyone play recently. Also, I think if you can spend an hour a day arguing a point on the forums, you will get much more value out of it. Reading and searching the forums will only get you about 50% of the potential value. Active participation and actively debating points will get you the other 50%. There have been countless times that someone has changed the way I think about a player/situation here. That is invaluable to me.

Other than that, I think you can be very competitive utilizing the resources that are available to you. The forums and the guide can get you pretty far.

[Bass56]

You don't need to watch hockey to play fantasy, but as in anything, the more you knowledge you have on a given topic the more complete your assessment of that matter will be.

Atomic Wedgy brings up one of many aspects you will overlook if you focus solely on numbers and ramblings. Yes, fantasy hockey is mostly a numbers thing, both keep in mind that those numbers are based on real life actions. If you ignore those aspects, you aren't getting the whole picture IMO.

Gustav Nyquist is an example of ''those aspects''. Focus only on college numbers or ''buzz'' and this guy falls of the radar early on. However, some scouts did talk about his play and said that he could be ''good'' in the NHL. For those that followed up and that watched his NCAA games or videos, you could see that the talent and abilities were there. That ''aspect'' of things was not easily perceivable by his numbers alone.

The same can be said for breakout NHL players... James Neal was by no means a flashy OHL player, let alone an AHL stud. Nonetheless, those who took attention to his crafty play with the Stars in 2008 saw that he ''could'' become a really good sniper in the long run. The numbers were probably not enough to warrant a pickup in his rookie season (think Chiasson this year). I am sure that many of you are kicking yourself in the you-know-what right now if you passed him up.

Numbers tell only part of the whole picture (the same can be said for simply watching games). When you put both of those things together, THEN and only then are you FULLY equipped to tackle and assess different fantasy hockey situations (drafts, trades, pickups, drops, ...)