We really appreciate courtiebee taking the time to write up this hockey intro for the FTR community. Talking to us from Vancouver, BC, courtiebee has been a part of the FTR forums since May 2005.
Hockey? What's that?
Far from being the most popular sport in North America, the National Hockey League (NHL) did few favors for itself by going on strike for the 2004/05 season. But the NHL is back for 2005/06, along with a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and several new rules intended to increase the flow of the game. This here is a guide for any new hockey fans and any old hockey fans unfamiliar with the new CBA and rules.
NHL Basics
Most people are familiar with the general concept of the game (guys wearing ridiculous amounts of equipment at either end of a hockey rink guarding a net, five more players on each team trying to shoot a rubber puck into the opposing team's net for a goal, the team with the most goals wins, yada yada yada), but many people are unfamiliar with the NHL as a league. There is a total of 30 teams divided into 2 conferences, the West and the East. Each conference is divided into three divisions. The NHL consists of the regular season, which is from early October to late April, and the playoffs, which starts in late April. Only a total of 16 teams (8 per conference) will advance to the playoffs; the 8 teams with the most points in their conference will play each other for the ultimate hockey prize, the Stanley Cup.
Points? What are those for?
Teams are awarded 2 points for a win and 0 points for a loss. In previous NHL seasons, there have been points awarded for ties, but this is no longer the case (ties have been eliminated from the game, see "The Shootout"). The number of points a team has at the end of the regular season determines which team it will play in the playoffs. The team with the most points in a conference at the end of the regular season (aka the 1st place team) will play the 8th place team for the first round of the playoffs. Similarly, the 2nd place team plays the 7th place team, etc, etc.
A Stupid Little Detail
I just wanted to include the minor fact that the rankings in a conference aren't strictly according to number of points. The top three spots in each conference are reserved for "division winners", and THEN the 4th through 8th spots are filled with teams that have the most regular season points. WTF is a division winner? It's really a stupid NHL invention. Remember that conferences are divided into divisions, each division containing five teams. As a way to (supposedly) increase competition within each division, the NHL has decided to award a top 3 spot to each team that has the most points in their individual division. I know that didn't make sense, so here's an example. Colorado and Vancouver are both in the Northwest division of the Western Conference and suppose that Vancouver finishes the year with 112 points and Colorado with 111. If Vancouver has the most points in the Western Conference, it will be placed in 1st place in the standings. One would logically think that Colorado would be placed directly after Vancouver in the standings in 2nd place. HOWEVER, the NHL reserves 1st through 3rd for division winners. Suppose Dallas, from the Pacific division, finishes the regular season with 100 points and that it has the most points in its division. Even though it has 11 fewer points than Colorado, it will be ranked either 2nd or 3rd (depending on how many points the team in the third division has) AHEAD of Colorado. The highest Colorado will be placed is 4th.
The Playoffs
Each playoff round consists of a 7 game series, the team winning four games advancing to the next round, the team losing getting kicked out of the tournament. A team must win a total of 4 rounds to be declared the Stanley Cup Champion. The first three rounds are against teams in your own conference, the last round is a championship series between the two conference winners.
The Shootout
If two teams are tied at the end of a (regular season) game, there is a 5 minute playoff ("sudden death" -- the first team to score wins the game). If there is no goal by the end of the 5 minutes, there is a shootout. Each team picks 3 players to go one on one against the goalie and the team with the most goals at the end of that shootout is the winning team. If it is still tied, the shootout becomes sudden death (where if one team scores and the other misses, the scoring team wins the game).
Tell me ALL the new rules!
This is already becoming too long, so here's a lovely link the most helpful page I've found regarding the new CBA: New Rules - CBA
Fantasy Hockey and Hockey Pools
I'm certainly no expert in this field, but I of course have my opinions on the players who will score most this year. The most difficult thing about creating a hockey pool this year is the fact that we haven't seen most of the players in a game situation for over a year. If one wants to go back to the 2003/04 season, it'd be easy to pick Jerome Iginla, Martin St. Louis (who isn't a huge fan of this guy?), Ilya Kovalchuk, or Rick Nash (being Canadian, I am in love with Rick Nash). But that was a year ago. What has happened since? Some players didn't play at all, others went to Europe. Looking at how some players did in Europe may be helpful. Joe Thornton played in Switzerland and, along with Rick Nash, was able to lead HC Davos to a championship. Both Pavol Demitra and Miroslav Satan played in Slovakia; Demitra won the scoring title, and Satan won the playoff MVP. In the Swedish Championship, Daniel Alfredsson's team won and he was the top playoff scorer. Who DIDN'T do well in Europe this past year? Vincent Lacavalier, Alexei Kovalev, Dany Heatley and Ilya Kovalchuk all played on a team with a $65 million roster that went nowhere (hmm sounds like the Rangers); their team went out first round of the playoffs (and to rub salt in the wound, the team that won the championship had a $20 million budget). How about the big name Swedish players? Peter Forsberg, Markus Naslund, and the Sedin twins all played for Modo, but they were eliminated first round. If you'd like to read more about players in Europe this past year, here's a link: Players in Europe
Fantasy Hockey Advice
I was skimming some stuff in FantasyHockey.com and came across an article called "Top 5 Fantasy Hockey Tips". I'll summarize it very quickly for those who don't want to bother with registering with the site to read it themselves.
1) Don't spend countless hours prepping for your draft. The main point here is that there's no way to tell how the year is going to go. Don't forget that many players hadn't been playing hockey during the lockout. Also, the vast number of rule changes is sure to bring changes to the style of play seen in games this year. It is impossible to know which type of player will dominate.
2) The preseason is just the preseason. A player going goalless in exhibition games does not necessarily mean he has forgotten how to score. However, you should be paying attention to what coaches and the media say during this period of time. If player REALLY looks out of it during the preseason, then maybe think twice about drafting him.
3) Watch as many games as you can. Stats don't tell the whole story, you need to see the players on the ice. How are they playing? Are they comfortable with the new rule changes? Are they with the same linemates throughout the course of the game, or does the coach juggle people around a lot? These will be important while you're juggling with your own lineup throughout the season.
4) Look for players getting significant power-play time. I think this is an excellent point as there will be many more penalties this year (with the crackdown on penalties ... I know, we've heard this story before, but I think it might actually happen this year!). This means that the first two lines of particular team will be getting significantly more ice time than the third and fourth lines of a team on a power-play, therefore avoid third and fourth line players.
5) Don't pick any Washington Capitals. HAHA ... I'm sorry to any Washington fans. I feel very sorry for Kolzig. The author of this article says that this might be one of the worst teams in NHL history. I'm a Vancouver fan, so I have a special place in my heart for Andrew Cassels, but I don't think I'm drafting him.
English
Deutsch
Español
Français
Italiano
Nederlands
Pусский
Svenska
