JD Fantasy Hockey 2005

[Ryan]

I thought it was every player not every slot... that's good to know I guess, less work for me.

[Morgbug]

Don't get too comfortable with a big lead, every slot gets only 82 games. 

So there really isn't an advantage to making a whole bunch of changes daily to get different players that are actually playing, since it could mean less games available for points at the end of the season?  If so, that's really good to know (although, I've only made a few changes so far).

That's exactly correct.  I didn't learn that until about 2/3 of the way through the last basketball season.  Paid off too as I had lots of games to use and ended up winning towards the end.  My team was pretty good the whole way through, but Dressel was mostly ahead of me because of number of games played rather than a better team overall. 

If you maximize the games now you could conceivably stop collecting points by mid-March or so.  That probably wouldn't be good.

So yes, each slot has 82 games to use.

[Holographic Elvis]

Oh we put a cap on games per position?  Man, wish I'd known that.  I'd have lobbied against that.  I absolutely HATE that rule.  Totally pointless.

[Morgbug]

I disagree.  Without the cap it strongly favors those who are online all the time and work their rosters way more.  Had we not had the cap on games, I'd likely have instituted a much longer waiver to dissuade multiple flippings of players.  In last year's basketball pool without the cap I would not have won as Dressel could have continued to get many more games.  While I agree that his (or anyone's) understanding the system better should confer some sort of advantage, I don't consider that one to be fair.  For example, had we not set a cap here and had I set nothing, I could have probably slotted my positions for 100 games each while Ryan and Jesse may not have kept up as much and only topped out around 85.  Way too dangerous a thing IMO and lends itself to too much controversy.  I know this isn't for money but I have no desire to have it be for blood either.

And speaking of the waiver, I'm about to set it back to it's original two day setting.  I'll do that tomorrow should anyone wish to make more immediate changes, they have a good 24 hours. 

[JesseVader08]

Actually, I like that rule, now that I think about it.  It makes you be more careful about dropping and adding players - you have to be sure you really want to do it and not indiscriminately adding players that are playing that night.

[Rob]

So there really isn't an advantage to making a whole bunch of changes daily to get different players that are actually playing, since it could mean less games available for points at the end of the season?  If so, that's really good to know (although, I've only made a few changes so far).

Bottom right of your "My Team" page is a link called "Maximum Games Played".

That will tell you how many games you have left - you can plug all your guys in every night if you want, but at the end of the year you'll run out of games and ALL of your players will have to sit on the bench.

[JesseVader08]

Bottom right of your "My Team" page is a link called "Maximum Games Played".

That will tell you how many games you have left - you can plug all your guys in every night if you want, but at the end of the year you'll run out of games and ALL of your players will have to sit on the bench.

Thanks Rob!  I didn't even realize that was there.

[Heads off to check it out...]

[Rob]

I enjoyed my brief time in first place this evening, before Jeff's team rolled off 3 more points...

[Ryan]

It's a pretty close race for 1-5, I think the next few weeks are going to be really important.

[Holographic Elvis]

I totally disagree Brent.  What the cap on positions does is allow someone who doesn't follow their team and maintain their roster each and every day to win the league.  I was in a baseball league years back where a guy who was in 5th place won our league because he had a ton of player games left (mainly with his innings) so he kept dumping and adding guys and ended up winning the league by less than 20 points.  For all I know the guy didn't even care about his team and then figured things out.  Bottom line, this is a points league.  It's obviously set up so we all try to outscore each other.  By capping the games, you almost in a way prevent that from happening.  There is no loophole in this league like there was in baseball.  It's not as if we can use our Dmen as forwards.  If you look at the way I drafted my team, I took an extra guy at each position except goalie.  By capping the games, it's almost pointless for us to even have bench players.  Bad move capping the games. 

[Rob]

If you can just plug in all of your backups every night that your starters aren't playing, then it takes away any skill involved in looking for favorable match-ups and knowing who to start on a given night versus a given opponent.

It definitely takes more skill this way - even though in Hockey that puts me at a bit of a disadvantage.

[Holographic Elvis]

If you can just plug in all of your backups every night that your starters aren't playing, then it takes away any skill involved in looking for favorable match-ups and knowing who to start on a given night versus a given opponent.

It definitely takes more skill this way - even though in Hockey that puts me at a bit of a disadvantage.

That's how it's supposed to be.  Why have backups then if you can't use them?  They aren't just there in case someone gets injured.  You try to pick guys later in the draft that can actually help your team, not sit there until someone is hurt. 

Again, this is an all points league so obviously it's a sprint to the finish line, out score the other guy each and everyday league.  What's the point in capping the positions?  I've never liked leagues like that.  It's just plain stupid.

[JesseVader08]

It's just plain stupid.

Not stupid, strategic.  Just keep an eye on your Maximum Games Played at the lower right hand corner of your team screen (like Rob kindly pointed out), and it shouldn't be a big deal.

[JesseVader08]

So far, Sidney Crosby is my highest scorer with 8 points - maybe I wasn't so crazy after all picking him.   

[Holographic Elvis]

It's just plain stupid.

Not stupid, strategic.  Just keep an eye on your Maximum Games Played at the lower right hand corner of your team screen (like Rob kindly pointed out), and it shouldn't be a big deal.

I wouldn't say strategic because again, the only "strategy" involved is basically not using up your games early and waiting for people to burn their games and then overtaking them at the end.  If we were gonna cap games, we should have done a head-to-head league.  Again, I'm no fan at all of the capping.  I just wish we'd known ahead of time so we could discuss it like we discussed the scoring.  I would have been very vocal against it.