Marsac wrote:Dates look good to me.
I recall there being some discussion about new scoring categories for this season, is that still happening and if so what are the new ones?
Yeah, I plan on refining our scoring categories. Some of the main points are (a full discussion can be found somewhere in the middle of this thread) :
1. Address stats involving lower-is-better averages (GAA and SV%).
2. Reduce impact of goalies, better matching their share of the roster.
3. Address lack of Shorthanded Goals.
4. More importance for defensemen.
1. The problem with these averaged stats is that they play against the spirit of fantasy hockey by having a "perfect" stat reachable in only one game. This means that the aim is to play as few good games as possible, and then bench it for the rest of the match-up. For example, we saw many occasions (and potential for it had the GM spotted it) last year where a team's first goalie-start would result in a shutout, earning him a perfect 0.00 GAA, 1.000 SV% and 1 SO. This team could now bench all goalies for the rest of the week, and never be at risk of losing GAA and SV%. That single performance automatically locks two categories. They way to fix this for sure is to eliminate, or reduce, stats that involve averages. Another way is to simply implement a minimum Games-Started for goalies, but ESPN has yet to provide this option for it's fantasy hockey. I sent them the suggestion earlier in the year, and I believe batdad did the same, but who knows if they'll implement it this year.
2. This was a good point by batdad, that goalies have a large share of scoring despite having a low share of the roster. To address this, we should reduce the number of goaltending categories. And given the above problem, I propose we start by eliminating GAA and SV%. Then replace Shutouts with Saves, simply because Saves is more more specific to the goalie.
3. This one's pretty simple: Shorthanded Goals is pretty much a dead stat. It hardly moved at all last year. So I propose we give it a little more life by changing it to Shorthanded Points. Having assists now contribute to the stat should give it some more meaning.
4. This is one I thought of pretty early on. I think we could use some stats that give some importance to defensemen. To do this, I think we should add Blocked Shots, and change Powerplay Goals to Powerplay Points. This will allow any assists on the powerplay to have meaning, plus it will keep our special teams stats consistent by both being for Points.
So, finally, it all looks like this from what I propose above:
G, A, +/-, PIM, PPP, SHP, BS, GWG, SOG ... W, SV
