Yahoo Fantasy Hockey

[Hot Mustard]

I haven't joined yet because I'd like to see the commish decision settled. No offense NYE, but I don't think you're a front-runner.

I would be happy to do it - have done it before and for other sports as well. I'm also happy to have 'Tiki do it.

I don't think we need to have a vote really - just post if you're willing, and then people can comment. So far we know that there are objections to Asher, NYE, & Joncha as commish (not that they aren't great people).

I'm not about to sift through last year's threads to see who got overly personal - let us know if there are others you would prefer to not see as commish.

Great to have you back Boo! And welcome Pekka!

[Ninot]

I'd ultimately prefer not to see myself as comish.

[Hot Mustard]

As for stat preferences, I generally liked what we had (G, A, PPP, +/-, SV%, GA, SHO).

I don't like Points or Shorthanded Points being added, but I wouldn't mind Wins being added. Wins would make an even balance between skater and goalie stats at 4 each. Although I suppose we're picking more skaters than goalies, so maybe there should be more skater stats...maybe drop either SV% or GA for Wins?

If we want to add a skater stat thats rare and valuable, I would nominate Game Winning Goals (GWG). I have much more respect for those guys than the cherry pickers who get SHG.

[Asher]

Wins would make an even balance between skater and goalie stats at 4 each. Although I suppose we're picking more skaters than goalies, so maybe there should be more skater stats...maybe drop either SV% or GA for Wins?

Exactly. I think last time the goalie weightings were relatively large -- a couple people made up about half the points, making good goalies way more valuable than a good skater (though several people never understood this...).

We need to have more skater points and less goalie...

[notyoueither]

SH points... cherry pickers?

The reason I thought of adding skater stats was that there was too much riding on the goalies. Adding goalie stats just makes it that much worse, especially if we get a larger league than we had last year and people are scrapping around to get 3 games in some weeks.

[Kontiki]

While I'd like to see wins, I think dejon's/Asher's point is more important. Goalies were way too valuable last year compared to skaters.

The problem with skater stats is that outside of the ones we use, there aren't many that work well. Here's what's available:

Goals;
Assists;
Points;
Plus/Minus;
Penalty Minutes;
Powerplay Goals;
Powerplay Assists;
Powerplay Points;
Shorthanded Goals;
Shorthanded Assists;
Shorthanded Points;
Game-Winning Goals;
Game-Tying Goals;
Shots on Goal;
Shooting Percentage (Rotisserie, Head-to-Head Only);
Faceoffs Won;
Faceoffs Lost

I think we all agreed that Penalty Minutes was a no go because we didn't want to be taking goons. Faceoffs won/lost is really just for centers, and is a stupid stat anyway for a fantasy league. Shorthanded and game winning points sound OK, but they're so rare that they're too fluky to be good (short handed point leader last year - Matt Stajan with 8; game winning goal leader - Cheecho with 11).

Ultimately, even though it's already captured with goals and assists, I think points might be the best of a bad lot.

[notyoueither]

I'd be OK with adding points.

On the commish topic, I would like to keep my account for my team, since I've discovered it keeps a history of past years.

kontiki would make a fine commish. If nobody else minds, why don't you go ahead and create a league called Apolyton06, or something, and then we can all join that.

Or... who else wants the job?

[Jaguar]

Adding points is really dumb. Better to eliminate a goalie stat.

[Hot Mustard]

I'm thinking G, A, PPP, GWG, +/-, W, SV%, SHO.

That gives us an additional skater stat for a 5-3 split, and gets Wins in there for goalies, which I think is better than Goals Against.

[Kontiki]

GWG just seems pointless to me. Every game (assuming it's not a tie) has a GWG. There's no special talent in it, and most of them are just some run-of-the-mill goal that ends up being the deciding one.

[asleepathewheel]

In retrospect, I probably can't join this league, I'm going to be out of town from aug 30-sept 9, right in the heart of the draft, I would expect, and have at best sporadic internect access.

[Guynemer]

The Resident Blues are in.

[Asher]

Originally posted by notyoueither
The only thing I would suggest is that trades require commissioners approval so that situations where there is widespread outcry can be headed off.

The issue is getting the right commissioner, and that is up to the players.

We might as well discuss this now as the rules are being set up.

I couldn't disagree more -- the worst leagues I've ever been in are the ones that are "democratic" where if enough people think it's a "bad deal" the deal can be cancelled, and it'd be even worse if left at the discretion of a single third party person.

The biggest challenge in these kinds of leagues is assembling a team by picking people and gambling on them, and to some extent making a "bad deal" that's by and large a big gamble is part of the game. Several players in the league last time didn't understand this and whenever they don't see a straight 1:1 trade they threw a fit about how unfair it was, and afterwards when the "unfair" trade turned out to be more than fair they still didn't change their tune.

I will absolutely agree to the prohibition of players who "quit" or give up and dump their team to "help a winner", but it's quite another thing for a person in the end with "nothing to lose" to make some big gambles to get back into the game. I fear if you set up a system where all of the conservative hockey pool newbies here can bang a gavel and prevent such trades from happening, you've got a pretty boring league.

This is a competition...it's every man for themselves. We just need to ensure there is no collusion and there are no people intentionally tanking their team, there's no need for the voting-down-of-trades or worse, dictator-commissioner powers.

[Ben Kenobi]

Asher, Toskala and Auld turned out to be pretty decent goalies, I picked up Auld off waivers and Toskala I kept.

It's not that I didn't understand the value of goalies, just I felt that I could pick up decent ones very late whereas the top notch skaters would not be available.

Plus, all of you were doing a goalie run, so I felt not much point to follow the crowd.

Why not drop shutouts? They are a flukey stat. Wins are much more consistant and reward players for picking goalies who perform day in and day out.

[Ben Kenobi]

I'm thinking G, A, PPP, GWG, +/-, W, SV%, SHO

GWG is another flukey stat.

Why not:

Goals, Assists, PPP, Plus minus, Svpct and Wins?

The goalies who are on bad teams but are still good goalies will have high save percentage.

GAA is basically the same as wins.