Fantasy Hockey: The basics

Learn how to play fantasy hockey

Hint: it's not that difficult!

[box]So you're playing fantasy hockey for the first time, and you need to know what the heck you're doing. This is the right spot to learn the basics and get the info you need to blow away the competition. Brought to you by MFC, your fantasy league commissioner service.[/box]

-The squad-

A standard fantasy hockey team is comprised of 3 forwards, 2 centers, 2 left wingers, 2 right wingers, 5 defensemen, 1 utility player, 2 goalies, and 5 bench players. This varies a bit throughout leagues and some leagues may have a few less players, but it is more or less standard. Some leagues have one or two IR (injured reserve) spots on their roster, similar to fantasy baseball.

-Rules and regulations-

There are 23 rounds of fantasy hockey (regular season) with usually 2-3 rounds of playoffs. Each round is comprised of a week of hockey games, all in which your players will be scoring points. Each round is against another member in your league, which is similar to fantasy basketball or baseball. There are waivers for picking up players not on another team owner's roster, and there can be trades, if the league allows it. The rules and regulations are not completely different from that of fantasy football, basketball and baseball.

-Scoring-

Scoring is where fantasy hockey can be a bit different. The scoring is done in categories, and some of the following are categories seen regularly in leagues: goals, assists, +/-, wins, losses, etc. (the latter 2 being for goalies). There are about 13 categories in a standard league, and the winner for each fantasy match up will need to win the majority of the categories to achieve victory. Scoring is similar to football, in which it varies by league and can be extremely simple or rather complex.

-Drafting your team-

Drafting a fantasy hockey team sincerely depends on your league settings and scoring settings. If you have a league where many categories rely on goalies, then drafting a great goalie is a must. Make sure to spend one of your first 5 draft picks on a stone-wall goalie. Then feel free to grab another lower ranked goalie that you think will over-achieve later on in the draft. Otherwise, drafting your team is pretty simple, you want players that fill up the stat sheet with goals and assists. A good +/- rating is also very important. An explanation of those ratings (as well as others) can be found at this NHL webpage.

-Other tips and advice-

• Try to ensure your team is balanced. Sometimes defensemen get under-valued because they don't score a ton of goals like forwards, but they still affect many categories like +/- and assists.

• Don't be afraid to take risks and pick up players with high risk and high reward. More times than not, that is how fantasy leagues are won.

• Goalies often make or break your team, so make sure to have a guy that is going to be a stud! Don't risk taking a possible bust as your #1 goalie, you want a solid, consistent, badass of a goalie. Also, make sure you get a goalie that will start 90% of the games for his team and isn't in a split-start situation.

• Old players can still produce, as has been the theme of the past few years with Martin St. Louis and Jaromir Jagr still putting up solid numbers and being over the age of 40. Don't let age scare you in hockey, it's not the same as other sports.

• Rookies are tough to pick, so don't put too much stock in them. Don't take an unproven rookie in your top 5-10 draft picks, instead, wait to take him later in the draft or pick him up during the season.

• If a player is on a new team, it may take some time for them to develop chemistry with their new line-mates. Keep this in mind when taking players that have just been traded to or picked up by a new team.

Want to try out fantasy hockey? Check out MFC's: Moves Like Jagr league and play for a chance to win $500.