"While not statistically impossible, it's exceptionally difficult to win at fantasy hockey without a strong goaltending force. Not only are several categories the responsibility of few figures, toss in the negative integers "earned" by allowing too many goals, and substandard netminding showings can significantly dent your chances of success in all varieties of leagues. For instance, in ESPN's standard game, a goalie who stops 28 of 30 shots in a 4-2 win produces 5.6 prized points."
"ESPN Fantasy Hockey Default Scoring for Goaltenders: Wins = 4 points; OT losses = 1 point; shutouts = 3 points Saves = 0.2 points; Goals Against = -2 points. Like in the real-life game, falling short between the pipes can make for a very long fantasy season. Spare a thought for fantasy managers who initially selected Juuse Saros and Jeremy Swayman as their top two netminders ahead of 2024-25."
"Run it how you want. Choose your league size, customize the scoring and set the rules you want to create the fantasy hockey league you want to play in. Create your custom league for free! The formula remains identical, year over year, in most conventional fantasy play. Your model fantasy netminder is one who competes often, wins a lot, and stops the largest fraction of shots-faced possible. Unfortunately, plucking the right figures from the NHL's rather small pool is often easier said than accomplished."
Goaltending exerts outsized influence on fantasy hockey outcomes because few players control many goalie-specific categories and poor netminding produces large negative point swings. ESPN's default goalie scoring rewards wins, saves and shutouts while penalizing goals against, making small statistical differences impactful. Example scoring shows a 28-of-30 performance yielding positive points versus a five-goal surrender creating a significant loss. League commissioners can customize size and scoring, but conventional formats still prize goalies who play often, win frequently and stop a high fraction of shots. Identifying reliable NHL goalies remains difficult due to limited positional depth and injury or performance variance.
Read at ESPN.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]