The HockeyBuzz SuperLeague playoffs are in the second round of competition and the competition increases each round. Which of course means you will have to put more thought into each round and pay more attention to not only who’s hurt and who has how many games each week; but also the players you pick and the teams they are going against. Sometimes you are debating between a few players and are having a tough time deciding which player to pick for your roster that week. One thing that is overlooked is the matchups that player has that week, sure they make 7 million and are a 30 goal scorer…but perhaps the 20 goal scorer versus weaker competition that week will produce you more fantasy points.
You can go as far as looking at the history of the player and their career points versus the teams they play that week. It’s a known fact that some players for whatever reason seem to get their name on the score sheet when they play certain teams. Here is an example I am making in my head, but it should give you an idea of what I mean if you are somewhat confused.
Just say Perry plays 3 games in the week and he and the Ducks play against Los Angeles, Minnesota and Nashville. Well we can all agree those teams have all been good as of late and the odds of Perry having a ‘monster’ week are pretty slim.
On the other hand you have a guy like Anders Lee who makes a fraction of the salary as Perry, and his competition is much easier. Something along the lines of the Islanders playing versus Buffalo, Toronto and Ottawa…looks like an easy one for me, as I’m not only saving millions on salary, but I’m also picking a player who’s been hot but also has easier opponents.
Of course looking even further into the depth of it all; Perry career wise may have bad luck against two out of the three of those teams; which further solidifies the point that you should go with the younger, cheaper, easier match up. This not only makes sense in terms of production for this player slot, but gives you salary dollars to invest into another player who you may not have been able to afford if you took Perry.
It’s totally up to you on how deep you want to look, and how much research and time you want to invest. Anything can happen on any given night, or week of hockey; but I find the more research you put into picking your team the better results you should get. Nothing is a given, but at least you can say you gave it your best and have no regrets if you lose the head to head matchup that week.
It’s an absolute must that each of the goalies you pick will start three games in the week. If by chance you see a team that plays four games in a week, take a look; if those games are spread out by a night in between you just may get lucky enough to have four goalie starts in one week. (Monday-Wednesday-Friday-Sunday) that’s the combination of games you are most likely to have a goalie play in all games, back to backs are quite rare unless the team is battling for a playoff spot and desperately needs the points.
First and foremost congratulations to everyone who made it through the first round of the HBSL playoffs! To those of you who were unable to beat your match-up, better luck next year. Myself, I lost by two points in an excellent head to head battle. It was a lot of fun and I found myself refreshing the scores more than I had any other week. After all, enjoying the fantasy hockey is what it’s all about; winning the week and or the pool is just that much more glorious. Who knows, perhaps the person you lost to ends up winning the pool. Feel free to continue to follow the last six weeks of competition!
This week there is not nearly as many hockey games so the top scores at this point are not as high as last weeks.
Here are the top 10 scores in the free HBSL:
203.5 – Giroux loves police officers 195 – Eiso Baka 194.50 – Sprutz a sprutz 194.50 – Zarker 189.5 – Lord Stanley Anew 188.5 – Running Man 186.5 – MTL1 185.5 – Montreal MoFos 185.5 – Shoot to thrill 179.5 – tgentry1084
Here are the top 10 scores in the STH HBSL:
205 – 867devils 191.5 – Tom Ace 182.5 – runningraby 182.5 – Blue and Gold Forever 182.5 – Ron Francis’s Red Wings 175.5 – DIPAs 171.5 – Prescott Pharma 169.5 – The Fighting Squirrels 169.5 – Saber Tooth Tigers 165 – Predswilrule
A special thanks to Cabin for sending me the STH (top 10) who has a score just outside of the top 10 (164.5).
Best of luck in the last four nights of hockey left on the week!
Thanks for reading.