THE LAST WORD
WITH MATT LARKIN | @THNMATTLARKIN| 138 | THE HOCKEY NEWS ULTIMATE FANTASY POOL GUIDE 2019-20
DEREK^
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IMAGESWE SHOULD’VE WON GAME 7, but I
left Brad Marchand out of the starting line-
up by mistake,” said no coach ever.
“The key to our championship was Patrick
Maroon racking up 20 minutes in penalties
tonight,” said no coach ever.
One thing that always bothered me
about standardized fantasy-pool formats:
they don’t mimic the real thing. The best
GM doesn’t always win the league. Instead,
it’s the person best at remembering to set
a lineup or stream goalies by picking up a
new one every night. And players who do
something that hurts a real team – taking
penalties – are considered assets.
There’s been a shift toward more “real-
istic” stat categories, as many leagues have
replaced PIM with hits and blocks, but that’s
not enough. I take it further in my leagues.
Here’s a quick guide to creating a hockey
pool that feels like a proper NHL simulation.
- BIGGER ROSTERS, MORE TEAMS. Readers often
send me snapshots of all-star rosters, asking
me to evaluate them. Invariably, the teams
are about 10 players deep. I then ask, “How
many teams in your league?” And the answer
is usually eight or 10. Everyone has a stacked
team in this format. A league in which Elias
Lindholm, for instance, was a waiver-wire
freebie after drafts in 2018-19 just isn’t
competitive or realistic enough. Why not try
a 16-team circuit with rosters of about 20
players? In that format, rookies play legiti-
mate roles on your teams, top prospects get
drafted and, if you use categories such as hits
and blocks, role players actually matter. Your
team essentially has a “checking line” and
“shutdown defensemen” for hits and blocks,
not just an endless parade of star scorers.- NO TRANSACTION LIMITS. Don’t put a rule in
place capping the number of adds, drops or
trades. If you inhibit activity, you inhibit fun.
Imagine if, in real life, an NHL GM had to sit
out the trade deadline because “he reached
his max number of moves.” - NO BENCHES. This is a controversial one,
for sure. What makes the no-bench format
great is (a) it makes every guy on your team
matter, as even your weak links have no-
where to hide, and (b) it eliminates a system
that rewards those who churn bodies in and
out of their lineups the quickest. In real life,
coaches choose between marginal players
on their fourth lines and bottom ‘D’ pairs,
yes, but the idea of having to start one of,
say, Bo Horvat and Paul Stastny is just silly.
That would never happen in real life. - START TWO GOALIES. Jordan Binnington
owners comprised 24 percent of the top
500 worldwide teams in Yahoo public
leagues last year, because he was a free
waiver addition that rewarded anyone us-
ing the ZeroGoalie draft strategy. New stud
netminders emerge every year, so there’s
little motivation to spend a high pick on
one. If you force GMs to start two goalies
with no bench, however, the position’s val-
ue increases astronomically. Goalies mean
so much in the actual game, so why do we
make them worthless in fantasy pools?- ELIMINATE FLUKE CATEGORIES. Shorthand-
ed points and game-winning goals can go.
Play a slot machine in a casino if you prefer
games of chance to games of skill. - ALLOW DRAFT-PICK TRADES. This one only
applies to keeper leagues. But it creates a
buyer-and-seller dynamic approaching the
trade deadline, which keeps all the bottom
teams engaged much longer. Instead of just
abandoning the league after realizing they’re
out of it come January, they’ll continue man-
aging their rosters trying to make deals for
next season. Apply these tweaks and you’ll
put the “fantasy” back in fantasy hockey. The
fun of it is supposed to be pretending you’re
a real GM, after all.
THE IDEA OF HAVING TO
START ONE OF BO HORVAT
OR PAUL STASTNY
IS JUST SILLY
FANTASY CAN
BE REALITY
I’m a big fan of customizing your NHL fantasy pool to mimic
what real teams and real GMs are doing in real games these days
JUST LIKE THE NHL
Tailoring your hockey pool so that it closer
resembles how teams are managed in the NHL
makes for a more rewarding fantasy experience.