Week 4 is in the books in my Yahoo fantasy hockey league, and I had my best week to date! Going into the final day of the week I had 8 of the 10 statistical categories in the bag, and a chance for the ninth. Especially with this being my first year to play Yahoo fantasy hockey, I was surprised to have this kind of success, but I am definitely happy!
Always start with the Goalies
Starting off with 3 of the 4 goalie statistics is always a great way to begin the contest. Although I was unable to get the ever elusive shutout category, and only had 2 wins which might now have stood up against other teams, the goals against average of 1.68 would probably get me a win every week as would the save percentage of .944. Great way to move ahead of the pack, my quartet of goalies stand strong, and this week I will be able to play each starting goalie every game, unlike the last couple of weeks when one would have to sit on the bench when they all had a game on the same night.
Almost had the Ninth Statistic
Going into the last day of games on Sunday, the score was 8-0-2, with the two ties being shutouts and overall plus/minus. My opponent did not have anybody playing, and I had Jakob Silfverberg and T.J. Oshie playing. Not exactly my best players, and probably should have just put them on the bench so that their stats didn’t count towards my totals. I have never played like that in any fantasy sport though, so they were in the game for me.
Unfortunately Silfverberg finished with a -1 plus/minus, and Oshie has a -2 so I ended up losing this part of the match up. Silfverberg did get 4 shots on goal and a hit, but I was already well ahead in those stats and of course the other team had no way to catch up.
We have a Dallas Stars appearance!
Although Ben Bishop has started to find his groove in the net for Dallas, my other two players from that team have not been holding up their part of the deal. This week, finally, Jamie Benn played very well even if it didn’t show up on the stat sheet. He finished with 1 assist, a +2 plus/minus, with 6 shots on goal and 7 hits.
Alexander Radulov benefited the most from Jamie Benn’s aggressive play, with 4 goals and an assist on 19(!) shots on goal, and 2 of those being power play points. This helped Radulov finish off with a +5 plus/minus, which almost was enough to push me over the edge for the week.
This is a Team Sport
Just about everybody on my team contributed this week, with only Benn and Silfverberg not scoring a goal outside of the defensemen. Claude Giroux tallied a goal, 1 assist, with both of those being power play points, in addition to 13 shots on goal and 4 hits.
My first pick, Brad Marchand, has scored in 12 straight games, scoring 8 goals and 15 assists in these games. Only had 7 shots on goal, but his presence is opening up other scorers and helping his assist numbers.
Weak Links
Jakob Silfverberg is still not quite living up to the level he was playing at just prior to me picking him up on waivers, if he has another week like this I may look to replace him. With only the 4 shots on goal and 1 hit being his only stats for the week, that is not enough to warrant a starting position.
Although defensemen aren’t necessarily know for their ability to score obviously, Josh Morrissey of the Winnipeg Jets hurt my team more than helped this past week. He did manage 9 shots on goal, with 4 hits, but his -7 plus/minus single handedly cost me that point this week. I will be looking at the waiver wires for replacement defensemen.
After the dust settled…
I have moved up to third place in my league, with a combined 24-14-2 record, worth 50 points. I sit behind only JEN, who has 53 points, and DirtyJerseyDevils with 55 points. With my initial goal just making the playoffs, this is a very nice spot to be in!
Behind me in 4th place are the Las Vegas Gamblers, who have 49 points, and the Worst Team Ever (that aren’t really that bad, ironic huh?). They have 48 points to date.
Next week
Up next is jeremy’s Boss Team, who is currently sitting in 7th place with 36 points. They faced the Las Vegas Gamblers last week and lost 4-6, although did have a strong goalie week. This will be an interesting match up with my goalies, but hopefully I can continue to improve and move up the standings.
As always, please leave a comment below if you have a question or some advice for me. Thank you for following, check back next week to see how the season continues!
Leave a Reply