That's one reason we opted to end our H2H playoffs a week early, while there's still something to play for. Except for the Iginla thing.
1.The problem with playoffs
You battle the whole year in your league. Waiver pickups, terrific trades, smack talking your buddy for drafting Martin Brodeur in the 5th. 70 games go by and you’re in the finals. Then, Boston decides to rest Iginla and Okposo is sidelined with some mysterious injury and your winger core is decimated.
It pains me to see these issues inherent in fantasy playoffs. Because many pools proceed right through the end of an 82 game regular season we are forced to deal with healthy scratches and a complete lack of injury updates (don’t get me started on how NFL players can disclose the exact location of an injury whereas NHL players provide multiple choice answers – Player X MIGHT be hurt, or he MIGHT NOT be hurt – currently day-to-day).
It gets worse with goalies where many starters will be rested in the final two weeks forcing everyone to comb the waiver wire for Stalocks and Johnsons to handcuff some of hockey’s best tenders. Which is completely counter intuitive to using a high pick on Lundqvist or Rask or Price only to see them sit when games matter most.
I don’t blame NHL teams for this. They have no connection to our fantasy teams (as much as I’d like to think otherwise haha). The real problem is our league settings and schedules. My recommendation is for all pools to finish 2 weeks before the season ends. It lessens the amount of time you’ll be playing fantasy hockey (which isn’t great) but it protects the integrity of your playoffs and provides a better opportunity for top teams top be successful.
I spent all year trying to win that old 1997 Pewee Championship plastic trophy that we re-purposed as the fantasy championship. And I don’t want an Iginal rest day to stop me!
I once traded Henrik Lundqvist and Ilya Kovalchuk in return for Peter Budaj and Henrik Zetterberg… have lived in shame ever since.
Fantasy hockey contributor for Dobber Hockey, founder of www.darrenfantasyhockey.com. Admitted Valeri Nichushkin fanboy (of course who isn't?)
You can find me on twitter @FantasyHockeyDK
That's one reason we opted to end our H2H playoffs a week early, while there's still something to play for. Except for the Iginla thing.
10 team H2H !Y League (4 keepers - at least 1 must be a D-man OR Goalie)
Start - 2C, 2L, 2R, 1U, 3D, 2G, 6Bench, 2IR, 2IR+ (Daily) (5 moves per week)
Skaters - G, A, +/-, PPP, PIM, HITS, BS, GWG, SOG
Goalies - Wins, Saves, S%, GAA (Min. 4 starts)
Championships 2007, 2009, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2019*, 2023
C-McDavid, Trocheck, Suzuki
L-B.Tkachuk(C/L), Forsberg, Konecny(L/R)
R-Hyman(L/R), Svechnikov(L/R), P. Kane
D-Dahlin, Josi,
G-DeSmith, Thompson, Hill
IR-Demko
I once traded Henrik Lundqvist and Ilya Kovalchuk in return for Peter Budaj and Henrik Zetterberg… have lived in shame ever since.
Fantasy hockey contributor for Dobber Hockey, founder of www.darrenfantasyhockey.com. Admitted Valeri Nichushkin fanboy (of course who isn't?)
You can find me on twitter @FantasyHockeyDK