Ideal goalie categories?

[noglovenolove]

Currently we have W, GAA, SV%, SO and are considering dropping either GAA or SV% for Saves.

Which one is better to keep between GAA and SV%?

[SuperMario]

Personally, I'd ditch Shutouts for Saves. I find they are too rare to take up their own category. I may be in the minority on that one though lol.

If you're deadset on ditching one of GAA and SV%, I'd ditch SV%. But it's not a solid argument.

[Bstbullies]

Personally, I'd ditch Shutouts for Saves. I find they are too rare to take up their own category. I may be in the minority on that one though lol.

If you're deadset on ditching one of GAA and SV%, I'd ditch SV%. But it's not a solid argument.

I'm in full agreement with ditching shutouts for saves. Almost always comes out as a wash category at the end of the season. I'm not a huge fan of the Saves cat either though.

[Axeman33]

I'd also be up for losing the Shutouts for total saves.

[Hunter9]

I would also get rid of shutouts. I don't like categories where a category can be consistently won 1-0 each week, too random to effectively strategize around

[SuperMario]

I would also get rid of shutouts. I don't like categories where a category can be consistently won 1-0 each week, too random to effectively strategize around

Exactly. It's like including Short Handed Points IMO.

If you use Fantrax, you can use one of the Goalie Point options to include extra "wins points" for shutouts as a way to keep them having value.

[Kabonov]

I agree with the rest to Ditch SO.
W, GAA, SV%, Saves would be better to (manage) So is a guessing game.
But if i have to choose i would bump GAA. SV% reflects more of the goaltenders actual performance to me.
(so a good goalie in a bad team still has value)

[RizzeeDizzee]

In my league we count shutouts as a separate category, but weight it less than the other goalie categories.

[Bstbullies]

Exactly. It's like including Short Handed Points IMO.

If you use Fantrax, you can use one of the Goalie Point options to include extra "wins points" for shutouts as a way to keep them having value.

I have Short Handed Points in my league but its also tied to Shoot Out Goals and GWG which I think does a good job as one Cat. The Fantrax suggestion is a good one.

[Pengwin7]

Currently we have W, GAA, SV%, SO and are considering dropping either GAA or SV% for Saves.

Which one is better to keep between GAA and SV%?

All leagues should keep SV%... its pretty much the only fantasy category that best reflects quality of the goalie - that one is a must-have-category.
W rewards goalies on strong teams (but also, obviously, goalie has to do some part in keeping goals out)
GAA rewards goalies on strong defensive teams (less shots = less goals against, with goalie SV% contributing to this... so, effectively, GAA becomes extra weighting on SV% with a pinch of defensive team limiting shots)
SV rewards goalies on poor defensive teams (they give up more shots. Downside... is that this category has virtually NOTHING to do with the quality of the goalie... other than he is the starter on that team.)

Those are the four I like, in that order: SV%, W, GAA, SV.
GAA (goalie on strong defensive team sees less shots) somewhat cancels with SV (goalie on poor defensive team will face a lot more shots, hence - make a lot more SV/gp).

I would definitely advocate dropping SO and going with SV.

[lucafen4]

I'm with SuperMario on this one... adding Saves also offsets the likelihood of someone sitting on a solid single game performance (if H2H and no min game limit) to win GAA/Sv% category. Adding shutouts to wins is a great way to keep it without making it such a random stat.

W+SO SV% GAA SV is pretty solid G category set up.

[tobias]

All leagues should keep SV%... its pretty much the only fantasy category that best reflects quality of the goalie - that one is a must-have-category.
W rewards goalies on strong teams (but also, obviously, goalie has to do some part in keeping goals out)
GAA rewards goalies on strong defensive teams (less shots = less goals against, with goalie SV% contributing to this... so, effectively, GAA becomes extra weighting on SV% with a pinch of defensive team limiting shots)
SV rewards goalies on poor defensive teams (they give up more shots. Downside... is that this category has virtually NOTHING to do with the quality of the goalie... other than he is the starter on that team.)

Those are the four I like, in that order: SV%, W, GAA, SV.
GAA (goalie on strong defensive team sees less shots) somewhat cancels with SV (goalie on poor defensive team will face a lot more shots, hence - make a lot more SV/gp).

I would definitely advocate dropping SO and going with SV.

Pengwin7 took the words out of my mouth. He is bang on with this.

A couple of years ago, some guys in our league complained about the randomness of SHP in a H2H league, and how 1 SHP gave you a very good chance of winning that category. I ran the numbers and saw that, in our league, there were exactly the same number of shutouts as there were shorthanded points that year. We then ended up removing both categories.

Saves, as pointed out, rewards goalies on bad teams, without reflecting their ability. That is a negative. However, depending on what you do for minimum goalie appearances in a week, having a saves category is a good way to balance out the disparity between teams' goaltending. If you have great peripherals and want to bench your goalies on the weekend, you are likely forfeiting the saves category. We find it to be a good way to get guys to keep playing their goalies, rather than sitting back on a couple of early week great performances.

All things to consider. I like the Fantrax ideas that were posted, too.

[lucafen4]

just to add, if on Fantrax.. if you email support and make a request, they can customize a category for your league if it's not listed. I'm not sure what category that would be.. they've got things I've never heard of.

[noglovenolove]

I really like the idea of combining W+SO but I don't think that's an option on Yahoo.

Benching goalies is the strategy I'd like to eliminate, and simplified it to changing an average stat to a counting stat. Maybe just adding saves is the solution because I know guys in my league like to feel the reward of getting a Shutout.

[4T2]

I really like the idea of combining W+SO but I don't think that's an option on Yahoo.

Benching goalies is the strategy I'd like to eliminate, and simplified it to changing an average stat to a counting stat. Maybe just adding saves is the solution because I know guys in my league like to feel the reward of getting a Shutout.

I echo the sentiment of this thread that ideally you ditch SO for SV. The one issue you will face by adding SVs without ditching a goalie category is you are increasing the value of goalies. Right now you have 4/12 categories as goalie cats, that's 33% of your categories being decided by 17% of your roster. Adding an additional goalie category bumps that up to 38%. If you are intent on keeping SOs, perhaps you add a new skater category (like blocks) as well to offset it.