“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: It goes on.”–Robert Frost
…while vacillating between burying my head in the sand and reemerging, I’ve found myself taking a peek. For now at least.
So the affair at hand involves opening up a new document and staring at a blank page.
With Winnie (my doggie and rescue to boot…who rescued who?) lying on the daybed to my right and me standing in front of this computer screen, I set forth on the latest foray into the diversion that has come to define fantasy hockey for me through these pieces.
Now I’ve never been one for numbers, but that doesn’t mean I’m not analytical. I mean, after all, I do teach literary analysis. And while that may not equate into IPP, Corsi For, OPP, or BTW, it does lend itself to the argument (mine at least) that I can analyze/obsess with the best of ’em for fantasy hockey purposes.
…don’t fall in love with the line. Just get your speed right and we’ll take it from there. That’s been a go-to caddy line of mine forever. And it works because, more often than not, it’s true. I’m going to make the argument that, over time, it’s the method I’ve used (when I don’t forget) for putting yourself and your team in the best position for overall success.
Truly Atrocious
When listening to the Apples and Ginos podcast, or any fantasy podcast for that matter, one of the least appealing things for me is to get caught up in anyone’s specific team’s successes or failures. There just doesn’t seem to be enough context for me to relate. I’d probably guess it’s the same for you and it’s most likely the reason that most seasoned podcasters spend as little time as possible traipsing through their respective teams. Thank you Nate and Josh and Blake.
Nonetheless (this is the part where I pretty much contradict the points I’ve just made. Like right here and now), on the Tuesday of Week 3, my goalies Sam Montembeault (Monty) and Connor Ingram imploded to “earn” my team a resounding -17.6 points. Even so, that same team (my home league points league with hits and blocks) still accumulated over 100 points for the evening. Ugh, what could have been?!
I found myself retroactively trying to hammer the “drop” button in some demented attempt to rectify the situation.
So I went on ruminating through the night and next day and a thought occurred to me, “What if I purposely sit my goalies for the rest of the week and thereby don’t meet my team’s minimum goalie requirements? Would those negative numbers revert back to zero at the end of the week?” And so it went….
I did the requisite online searches in between and in lieu of teaching vocabulary and reading, you know, my day job. I even reached out to members of the A&G Discord server looking for answers. Additionally, I contacted Blake as well as T.J, of the Five Hole Fantasy Podcast lore for their takes. And lo and behold, they were kind enough to respond candidly and very quickly. So here’s one for you Blake and “Teej.” Appreciate you brothers (insert fist pump emoji here).
Anyway, we went back and forth discussing the merits and pitfalls of my plan and, for a while, it seemed that the best plan was to sit the goalies and recapture those lost -17.6 points at week’s end.
Then I had another episode; “what if those points don’t come back?” I mean, I could only assume they would, but I couldn’t confirm either way (more obsessing).
So I took Winnie for a walk after school and pondered a bit more.
And I landed back here…again.
For the longest time, and I’ve been playing fantasy hockey since 2007, I’ve always (until I forget), held these three things as “The Professor’s Maxims.”
1. Construct your roster to minimize the players on your bench on any given night.
2. Do what you can to maximize your games played per week.
and
3. Always play your best players REGARDLESS of matchup.
(note: During my almost three year affiliation with Apples and Ginos, I’ve added the following strategies as well (Deployment + Opportunity + Metrics- more about these in another article).
And it was that third principle that popped back into my consciousness on that stroll.
Maybe Monty and Ingram weren’t (and still aren’t) my best players, but I decided to roll them out and play them because they were my best players at that time. As a result, while we’re quoting from Frost, “that has made all the difference.”
(because I’ve got about another 500 words before I lose you).
Now, I don’t know where you stand in your respective matches, however, there’s a message that I think we all can do well to keep in mind.
I’m in three leagues this year: The Apples and Ginos Listener League 4, The Apples and Ginos Listener League 6, and Empty Bibs (it’s a caddy thing), my home league. All are points leagues with similar formats with the exception being that in my home league, goalies are more important in terms of scoring.
So far this year, I’m middle of the pack in the Listener Leagues and in first place in my home league.
The Yogi
“It gets late early out there.”—Yogi Berra
Big Ups
Lukas Dostal- like all goalies, fingers crossed and incense burning just waiting for the house of cards to come crumbling down.
Timo Meier- still no top power play, but who cares? Uh….me! I still feel like there’s a little something holding him back. Favorite player on my favorite team though.
Tage Thompson- I’ve always liked rostering Buffalo players because they seem to play high event hockey which is generally a good thing for fantasy purposes. Sometimes it implodes, but there’s always that explosive upside.
Tomas Hertl- one of my last picks in the draft and I’m having a hard time letting go. Perhaps once Karlsson gets back?
Zach Werenski- like the rest of the A&G crew, I’m a big fan. So far so good. More fingers crossed that he remains relatively healthy all year.
Jared McCann- You were right Nate. Again. Imagine him with more minutes though?
Come Downs
Mathew Barzal- on the low event Islanders, but I drafted him relatively early, so I’m still all in. One of the things I like to do is target the best players on some of the more off-the-beaten-path teams and he is him. The corollary was that if I could land Barzy, I would have to do what I could to stack him up with Dobby. Again, if you can get a team’s (any team’s) best/better players, you do so.
David Pastrnak- my first overall pick in two of my three leagues. I had either the 5th or 6th pick in each, he was the best player of the elites at my turn, and so I had to because…. (it’s one of The Professor’s standards and, to me, it never gets old)
Never been much for rostering Bruins (the Devils made me do it), but I’ve gone up against him enough over the years to have experienced the terror. And of course, my first Pasta dish has been a bit al dente so far.
Roman Josi- I’ve been fortunate enough to have had Josi on at least one team for many years and this year is no different. I’ve got him in two spots. Like Buffalo, I’ve been a fan of Nashville’s ability to score in bunches. With that though, comes some rough patches and I’m inclined to think that before long, they start to “pop off” (right Blake?!).
Writer’s Block
There’s an adage in writing that goes something like this, “write for yourself and your audience will find you.”
That’s sort of what I’m getting at here because I’m talking to myself with the hopes that I’ll find you too.
Keep listening to the podcast. Keep setting your lineups. Keep rolling out your best players. And keep at it because “I’d rather go 0-30 than 0-0.”—Babe Ruth.
P.S. Do you know which song is Number One on Rolling Stone Magazine’s All-Time Greatest Song List?
Good. Then I’ll sign off in this way…
Thanks for reading, The Fantasy Hockey Professor
Apples and Ginos 