Question about strategy

[Valenzuela]

It's my first year in fantasy nhl

I wonder if it is wise to drop goalies for d/f ?

I ve got two goalies - Varlamov and Hiller. Got also Bobrowsky but I dropped him. Doesnt matter if i have two or three goalies. I could barely win any goaltending category - W, GAA, SV, SV%, SHO.

There are 10 d/f categories - G,A, +/-, PIMS, PPP, SHP, GWG, SOG,FW, BLK.


I need to have 3 goalie apperances. If not, my opponent takes all my goalie points.

So...maybe dropping my goalies to strengthen 10 field categories. With goalies or without them, I lose all my gt categories.

What do you think?

C- Tavares, Backes, Berglund, Turris, Steen
LW - Nash, Lucic, Hagelin, Tlusty
RW- Gaborik, Hossa, Perry, Hornqvist
D - J Schultz, Visnovsky, Carlson, Shattenkirk,
G - Hiller, Varlamov

[Pengwin7]

Originally Posted by Valenzuela

I ve got two goalies - Varlamov and Hiller. Got also Bobrowsky but I dropped him. Doesnt matter if i have two or three goalies. I could barely win any goaltending category - W, GAA, SV, SV%, SHO.

There are 10 d/f categories - G,A, +/-, PIMS, PPP, SHP, GWG, SOG,FW, BLK.

C- Tavares, Backes, Berglund, Turris, Steen
LW - Nash, Lucic, Hagelin, Tlusty
RW- Gaborik, Hossa, Perry, Hornqvist
D - J Schultz, Visnovsky, Carlson, Shattenkirk,
G - Hiller, Varlamov

1. This sounds like a head-to-head (H2H) league based on you saying you need a minimum of 3 starts.

2. I'll also assume it is a "daily start" league where you can change your roster daily. That is the type of league where having an extra bench skater or goalie actually comes into strategy.

3. There are 5 goalie categories, yes. SHO will be a tie most weeks. That leaves 4 goalie categories. What I like to do is have a team with several junk goalies so that I can win the "quantity" categories: W & SV. If you roster 4 or even 5 goalies, you can take those categories. And here's the thing about H2H - in any given week, your crappy goalies MIGHT put up a few nice games at the start of the week. IF that happens then you can sit on those first 3 starts and ensure yourself you win GAA/SV%. If you roll with two goalies, maybe you can use that 3rd/4th slot on extra forwards. But if you have 11F for 9F spots... then simply rostering 13F gives you 13/11 = 18% more starts. However, if you roll with four goalies, then you have 4G for 2G spots... and simply rostering those 4G may give you 4/2 = 100% (double) more starts - which significantly gives you a better shot in W/SV... AND, it gives you more choices to pick & choose match-ups!


I like the crappy-goalie strategy in H2H leagues because it affords you two options:

i. If your week stinks, you still put in plenty of goalie starts to try to win the WIN/SV categories.

ii. If your week starts off well, you can simply not start your goalies to ensure you win GAA/SV%.


Where this theory works well is when it is planned for in your original draft. In the original draft, you draft lots of "skaters" (F & D) and draft your goalies late to be crappy - intentionally. In H2H, this strategy works well and I use it often. [Roto is a different story].


You do NOT need great goalies to win a H2H league.
You need:
*Great skaters
*Several goalies that will start games
*Some luck

[metaldude26]

I think that absolutely punting goaltending would be a foolish move on your part. They account for one third of your scoring so you can win without them but it makes it much more difficult especially if you consider that shutouts is a somewhat random category and that wins and saves are counting stats so you can just keep pumping goalie starts out there to try and take those categories.

I wouldn't flat out punt your goalie categories for the sake of your skater categories. There's only so much an extra skater can do for you with such large rosters anyhow.

You really have two options here:

-Continue with what you have in net and hope to scrape out some of the counting stats (Wins, Saves, Shutouts) each week and scour the waiver wire for upgrades.

-Make a trade to upgrade in goal and then use the waiver wire to fill in the holes on your main roster.

Obviously you want to try the first option to see if you can improve your goaltending without losing anything substantial but if that doesn't work then toss out some feelers.

The point is that flat out punting your goalie stats digs a hole for you each week that you need not dig. Even pulling out a few ties will put up points for you that can go a long way.

[Valenzuela]

thanks for comments...

Im not planning to drop my goalies...just started to think about it..I cant win any goaltending category for third straight week..two weeks ago I lost 0-15 - I lost every single category..that's pretty frustrating

For now, I will stick with what Ive got, but Im not ruling out dropping scenerio if it's the only way I can be competitive.

[anthonybeaty]

I've been commishing a H2H yahoo league where we have to have 3 minimum goalie starts each week for over 10 years.

Not a single team has ever punted their goalies. I have seen an opposite strategy where one team has great goalies and made bad trades to get tons of +/- players and picks up tons of goons. The premise being that if he wins the goalie stats, +/- and PIMS, no one could beat him since those stats were 6/10.

The strategy worked and he got to the semis. He ended up tying stats 5-5 with another team (because his goalies didn't win enough games that week) and lost the tie breaker since Goals was the breaker.

He ended up coming third when he won the consolation final.

Either way - I believe if you punt all goalies stats, then you have to be 100% dominant on the rest of the stats to even have a chance. From the sounds of it, you are just backing into this strategy because your goalies are really bad. Instead, I would consider this a lost year and try to learn as much as you can.