There is more than one way to build a fantasy hockey roster. Every year there is a team that doesn’t look that great on paper that is at the top of the standings from start to finish. It takes more than drafting big flashy names to win your hockey pool.
This article will specifically focus on multi-cat leagues. To construct a strong fantasy hockey requires more research, knowledge, and strategy than a points-only pool. That doesn’t mean the strategy isn’t required for points-only pools, there is. It just has obvious limitations.
Fantasy Hockey Roster Construction
The skater categories I’ll focus on are Goals (G), Assists (A), Power-Play Points (PPP), Shots (S), Hits (H), Blocks (BLK), and Penalty Minutes (PIM).
For goalies, I’ll focus on: Wins (W), Shutouts (SO), Goals Against Average (GAA), Save Percentage (SVPCT), and Saves (SV).
Less and less pools use penalty minutes and public leagues don’t usually use saves. Regardless, these are two categories that garner a decent amount of interest (and I’m a fan of SV as a category.
Selecting Your Fantasy Hockey Goalies
Bench size dictates how many goalies I will carry. A short bench (three or four slots), I’ll use one bench spot on a goalie. Five or more bench slots, I’ll consider rostering a fourth.
You want at least one true number-one starting goalie to guarantee starts. One strategy is to roster only starting goalies. With the number of tandems in the NHL today, that is easier said than done.
A second strategy is to target a tandem on a top NHL team. The Toronto Maple Leafs are a good example this year. They’ll finish in the top 15, possibly the top 10 for points. However, it would be very risky to own Joseph Woll, G, Toronto Maple Leafs, without Anthony Stolarz, G, Toronto Maple Leafs.
While Jeremy Swayman, G, Boston Bruins is the team’s undisputed number one goalie, the Bruins won’t run him out every night. I suspect he’ll start around 55 games. That leaves, Joonas Korpisalo, G, Boston Bruins, with potentially 27 starts. Locking down all 82 starts of a top NHL team will all but guarantee solid goalie stats.
If nothing else, it should keep your goalie stats competitive throughout the season.
Don’t overreact if your goalies have a bad week or a bad month. Remember, even Igor Shesterkin, G, New York Rangers, had a month you didn’t want to start him (January 2024 4W-5L-1OTL, 3.28 GAA, .968 SVPCT).
The goal should be to own goalies on playoff teams. Or, at worst, wildcard-bubble teams.
Goalies are voodoo. There is no guarantee the goalie you draft will produce like you want them to. This is why I like owning three or four starters, or a tandem. When you have that extra game or two per week in your matchup, it will help mitigate a bad start.
You know Sergei Bobrovsky, G, Florida Panthers, Jake Oettinger, G, Dallas Stars, and Connor Hellebuyck, G, Winnipeg Jets, will get starts. Only Hellybuyck is likely to start more than 60 games. That leaves 20-25 games they aren’t starting. That’s why the strategy of owning a tandem would help boost your goalie games played. At a minimum, you miss one-half of every back-to-back the team plays. For most tandems, owning one goalie usually means the second goalie can be picked up on the waiver wire or drafted late. By grabbing the better half of the tandem first, the second half loses a lot of attractiveness.
It’s food for thought. I’ve become a big fan of owning at least one tandem. In leagues that count wins and saves, that extra game per week can be the difference between winning and losing a category.
Building Your Blueline
When you’re in a league that counts hits and blocks you need to limit your pure point producing defencemen. You know, the ones that don’t hit or block.
It is difficult to collect blocks from forwards. In 2023-24, Ryan Poehling, C, Philadelphia Flyers led all forwards in blocks with 101. There were 119 defencemen with more blocks than Poehling last year.
Don’t get me wrong, you want to own Quinn Hughes, D, Vancouver Canucks. very few defencemen will challenge his offensive production. Owning three or four Hughes-type defencemen means you place your roster in a serious hit-and-block deficit.
I like for my defencemen to be very well-rounded. I am willing to sacrifice a little offense at this position if they stuff the rest of my categories. My target is 50-150-150-150. That’s 50 points, 150 S, 150 H, 150 BLK. It is a tall ask, The number of defencemen that meet this criteria is very limited and in great demand. This is why Moritz Seider, D, Detroit Red Wings and MacKenzie Weegar, D, Calgary Flames will be in such high demand.
Darnell Nurse, D, Edmonton Oilers, is a good example of a player that comes close to fitting this criteria but falls short on points. The biggest knock is his lack of PPP. Evan Bouchard, D, Edmonton Oilers, has made sure of that.
My preference, if I own a player like Quinn Hughes is to target a defenceman that will stuff my peripherals. I’ll sacrifice offense to balance my defensive stats. Adam Larsson, D, Seattle Kraken is a prime example. He only had 18 PTS last year, however, he produced 130 S, 162 H, 151 BLK, and 55 PIM.
When constructing your fantasy hockey roster, don’t reach for blocks. Hits and blocks are two stats that are readily available on the waiver wire all season.
If I were to sacrifice one category on defense consciously, it’s hits. If any stat could grow on trees, it’s this one.
Constructing Your Fantasy Hockey Forwards
Offense is the priority.
That said, you should give extra attention to two categories.
The first is power-play points. Ideally, you want to target forwards on their team’s first power play unit. Fifty-three of Nikita Kucherov’s 144 points came on the power play last year. Those PPPs also count as goals and assists. This means, each stat, double counts – a power-play goal is a PPP and a G in your matchup.
It’s hard to be a high-point producer in the NHL without the assistance of strong power play numbers.
If you don’t draft for PPP, it will be difficult to scoop players that produce PPP off the waiver wire. Unless you’re savvy and hunt for first power-play unit players mired in a deep slump, they’re also expensive to acquire via trade.
The majority of teams enter training camp with their first power-play unit already locked in. Even so, there are exceptions. Keep a close eye on the New York Rangers this September. Alexis Lafreniere, LW/RW, is primed to get a long look at that top power-play unit. Similarly, if a player like John Tavares, C, Toronto Maple Leafs, loses another step, or gets off to a slow start, he may lose his spot on the Leafs’ top unit.
Of course, there are a few exceptions to first-unit power-play forwards being available off the waiver wire. Three such players who produced quality PPP last year are Mats Zuccarello, RW, Minnesota Wild, 31 PPP, Gustav Nyquist, LW/RW, Nashville Predators, 24 PPP, and Mikael Granlund, C, San Jose Sharks, 23 PPP. Great power-play production, poor fantasy pool ownership.
Nyquist’s 24 PPP matched Sidney Crosby’s, while Granlund’s 23, matched Anze Kopitar’s PPP total. Admittedly, Zuccarello was heavily owned in fantasy hockey pools last year. However, now that he is 37, interest in Zuccarello will lessen. Regardless of his production.
The second category to give extra focus to is shots.
My target is 200 shots from each forward. Owning volume shooters helps insulate your roster from prolonged scoring slumps.
Take, for example, Nathan MacKinnon, C, Colorado Avalanche. He led the NHL in shots last season, with 405, 51 of those shots, were goals. That’s 4.94 shots on goal per game. With a 12.6 SH% (shooting percentage), MacKinnon averaged a goal every 7.94 shots, or in 1.61 games.
For comparison’s sake, let’s take a look at Jaime Benn, C/LW, Dallas Stars. He only had 161 shots on goal in 2023-24. He did score 24 goals, for a 14.9 SH%. Which is, 2.3% higher than MacKinnon’s. However, by averaging 1.96 shots on goal per game, Benn is only able to score a goal once every 6.81 shots, or one per 3.42 games.
If the player doesn’t shoot, they can’t score. They run a statistically higher chance of prolonged goal slumps.
This is why a player like Frank Vatrano, LW/RW, Anaheim Ducks, is a great player to own. He scored 37 goals on 272 shots last season (both 19th in the NHL), for a 13.6 SH%. Which is a sustainable number. With continued shot volume, he has a good chance to push 35 goals again this year.
The Importance of Hits When Building a Fantasy Hockey Roster
To me, very. I try to limit the number of players on my roster that don’t hit. Players like Mitch Marner, RW, Toronto Maple Leafs, Kyle Connor, LW, Winnipeg Jets, are must-owns. They are far from prolific hitters. Quinn Hughes, as mentioned above, also doesn’t hit.
Don’t avoid these players. You need to own them with the acceptance you’ll need to find hits elsewhere and that’s okay. A player like Nich Schmaltz, I’ll pass on a player like this to draft or acquire a player who provides more hits and shots. Especially if I have already drafted someone like Marner or Connor.
There’s a reason fantasy hockey breeds multi-cat unicorns. While he has yet to produce an offensive season worthy of being a first-round pick, due to his multi-cat abilities, Brady Tkachuk, LW, Ottawa Senators, is worthy of a first-round pick.
The only other player in the last ten years to produce 30 G, 300 S, and 250 H, in a single season is Alexander Ovechkin, LW, Washington Capitals.
There are very few players that can fill every skater category in a fantasy league. Evander Kane was the only other player in 2023-24 to break both 200 S and 200 H.
Fantasy Hockey Roster Building Rules to Remember
- Focus on guaranteed starts. Target multiple starting goalies or a tandem from a top-tier team
- Draft defencemen that block. You can’t make up blocks from forwards.
- Aim for defencemen that can produce 50 points, 150 S, 150 H, and 150 BLK. Or at least your defense core averages out these totals
- Target volume shooting forwards, 200 shots per year (2.5 per game) at a minimum
- Target forwards playing on first power play units. Power play points are important
- Limit non-hitting players. Don’t give away categories like hits or penalty minutes
These tips and rules should help you build a winning fantasy hockey roster.
And finally…
Research, Research, Research.
Know the players. Know your pool.
It’s like studying for a test. The more you study, the better you will do. I know, there’s always the argument that “I can get an 80 with my eyes closed.” Sure you can, but Jim has been studying like it’s a Bar Exam and scores a 95. Don’t rest on laurels. Don’t make excuses. Dominate at every turn.
Thanks for reading folks.
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