NHL DFS Terminology and Scoring Systems
Most users spending the time to read this article are, to some degree, unfamiliar with the NHL in general.
If you’re completely new to daily fantasy hockey or just need a refresher, here’s a good run through some of the basic NHL scoring categories.
Skaters
Goal – Pretty self-explanatory, but this is the offensive player who last touches the puck before it crosses the goal line.
Assist – Just like with the NBA, an assist is the player who passes the puck to the player who scored. However, unlike the NBA, each goal can have two assists. All assists are rewarded equally by DFS standards, but here’s an example: Player A passes the puck across the ice to Player B. Player B spots Player C wide open in front of the net, passes him the puck and Player C scores a goal. Obviously player C is the goal scorer, but both Player A (secondary assist) and Player B (primary assist) would register an assist on the play as well.
Shots on Goal – This is what is says it is. If a player shoots the puck at the opposing goalie and it requires either the goalie to make a save or it goes in the net, then that player receives credit for a shot on goal (SOG).
Blocked Shots – It’s important to note that this is not the same as a Save (I’ll get to that in a minute). A blocked shot is when a player (who is not a goalie) gets his stick/arm/leg/face/whatever in the way of an attempted shot. It’s much more predictable than it sounds (the same group of players tend to lead the NHL on an annual basis) and becomes much more important when selecting defensemen.
Power-Play Points – A team goes on the power-play when the opposing team commits a penalty and is forced to send a player to the penalty box. The penalized team is then forced to play a predetermined amount of time with one less man on the ice. Obviously, having an extra skater often leads to sustained pressure in the offensive zone, and consequently goals. If a player records either a goal or an assist in this scenario, they will be credited with a power-play point.
Goalies
Win – If your goalie leads his team to victory, he’s going to pick up a win. There are some caviats, but generally a goalie will receive a win if he is on the ice when the game-winning goal is scored.
Save – If a player fires a shot on goal, and the goaltender prevents the puck from getting into the net, he’s credited with a save. Goalies on good NHL teams do tend to have less opportunities to rack up saves, but it generally also means that they’ll surrender less….
Goals Against – Yep, if the puck enters the net while the goalie is on the ice, he’ll be docked fantasy points for allowing a goal against (GA). It doesn’t matter if he had no chance in the world to make the save or if it was the softest goal allowed all season. A goal allowed is a goal allowed.
Shutouts – If your goalie plays the entire game and holds the opposition scoreless, he will earn the shutout bonus. Note that if for some reason two goaltenders from the same team combine for a shutout, neither one will receive the shutout bonus.
If you’re playing one DraftKings or FanDuel (and I’m going to assume you are) then the scoring setups are actually pretty similar. In most cases, the simplistic rule is that everything on FanDuel is simply worth 4X more fantasy points than on DraftKings. With that said, there are a few major differences to consider and the following chart summarizes things:
As you can see, the goaltending scoring is in fact weighted identically. All four scoring categories are simply worth four times the number of Fantasy Points on FanDuel compared to on DraftKings. The only difference to note here is that goaltenders on DraftKings do accrue points for any offensive stats that they may register. It’s a rather rare occurrence, but be aware.
As for the offensive stats, this is where the two sites have some small differences. Let’s run through them now:
1) They handle the power-play/penalty kill situation entirely different as DraftKings does not reward extra points for power-play points but does offer a short-handed point bonus. FanDuel, on the other hand, gives a bonus for power-play points (albeit a small one) and offers no such bonus for short-handed points.
2) Both sites reward points for blocked shots and shots on goal, but their overall impact is greater on DraftKings than it is on FanDuel. Rather than the “standard” four point multiplier, these two stats are 20% less impactful on FanDuel.
3) DraftKings offers bonus points for both Hat Tricks (three goals by the same player in one game) and shootout goals. Obviously certain star players are more likely to reap the benefits of the hat-trick bonus, but it’s far too uncommon and random to significantly alter any research techniques. Shootout goals are a bit more common, but a player can only record one in a game and their small scoring value (.2 points) limits their impact substantially.