OffThePost.org

Week 9: As Above So Below

In week 9 there were no nail biters....

The Indifference Makers (6) do the needful and drop a bomb (225 points) on the MIA therapist Sofa King Rad (12). Taking full advantage of his freebie the Makers ride acceptable performances to victory. Old Balls Sydney Crosby and Hellybuck continue to keep the Makers treading relevant playoff water. Fox and the Thrill remain trapped under the clown's floor boards for the forseeable future.

Glitz and the Intangibles (2) fend off a challenge from our aspiring actuary Hudsons Team (8). The Professor was able to dodge a non-fully armed and operational roster from Hudson this week to easily secure the W with a 117 pt spread. The Professor is having a great team effort from his lineup. Kyle Connor and Kopitar led the way for the actuary in training who had some let downs along the way. Hudson is still poised to chip away at his positioning.

Habless Habs (5) continue to fade losing to The Faithful Go Nuts (4). Shades of last year? The Habs started out hot but have cooled to the middle of the pack. Kirby Dach makes his fantasy rounds this week with the Habless...not counting out anyone with Conor McDavid. Meanwhile, the Faithful's Butch strategy of taking Leafs and hoarding goalies seems to be paying dividends finally. Nylander, Matthews, and his 6 goalies were enough to keep the train rolling.

In our upset of the week the No You Relax (3) were handily defeated by the upcoming EA Sports Champion (9). This actually could have been way worse as the Champion missed starting Murray for a SO. The Relaxers are looking for a bit of help without Eichel and Larkin...Point and Scheiffle attempted to rise to the occasion but they were no match for Tage Thompson's 5 goal night. After a rough start the Champion seems to have righted the ship and is one to look out for.

The Not So Tight Tookus (1) defends the peak against a fully healthy Stay In Your Laine (10). The Tookus is trapping everyone's head under the covers lately and is in juggernaut status. Ironically, its a handful of heavy lifters doing the massive damage with almost 6 players putting up 40 plus points and minimal goalie support. In your Laine has everyone back and healthy...even Patrick Laine. He's looking to get back on track and make a charge to the playoffs proving the kids mettle.

In our final and closest matchup the Buffalo Bills (7) put it in the win column against Sams Astonishing Team (11). Lindholm and Marner help the Bills cover the 47 point victory while Stuart Skinner negates an exceptional performance out of Shesterkin. The Astonishing team looks to get Skinner back from Suspension next week to help out Keller and Kuznetsov up front. The Bills are employing a generous amount of back office wizardry to stay in the hunt.


Don't look now folks but we've got some teams that are firing up from below.

As I am sure you all have noticed the waiver wire is pretty thin.....Swayman, Dach, Boeser, Sharangovich....they seem to be making the rounds. Will they find permanent homes?

Thanks for playing gents....I will be over here enjoying my newly doubled utility bill! Just in time for the holidays!

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It's pretty crazy but it took me like a decade of playing fantasy hockey to realize it's way better to have a good or even just adequate goalie on a bad team as opposed to an inconsistent goalie on a good team. Christmas Karel Vejmelka has been an absolute stud for the Glitz, Craig Anderson has been mostly good. Sergei Bobrovsky can eat a fat one.

Coincidentally, I did think about mentioning your waiver wire Gold in Vejmelka this week but then I just forgot.

Typically I look for a goalie who is really going to be a 1A and get a lot of the workload. In years gone by I have added in more stats categories which benefit smart goalie choices on the whole. I also usually add in indirect points categories like faceoffs and blocked shots but that tended to overweight the centers. This year I did not do that (I ran out of time and couldn't make the point balancing work) so I am having to adjust. Markstrom and the Flames players in General (minus Anderson) have been terrible this year. So much for Huberdeau! Carter Hart was a surprise early on but that faded quickly. So I am left with Hellybuck carrying the mail.

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Week 10....Tookus runs out of Gas....sorry I couldn't help myself.

The Indifference makers (3) slay the giant Tookus (2) which allows the Glitz to slide in to the number 1 spot. The Makers are resurrecting their fantasy season with performances from the players that were drafted accordingly. Led by Trocheck, Hagel, Kyrou and a solid helping from his trio of goalies the Makers overcome the devastating lineup of the Tookus that includes Ovie, Giroux, Dubois, Pasta, Rantanen and Karlsson. A little bit of luck went a long way in this one and I expect the Tookus to recover while the Glitz keeps his seat warm. The Makers continue to punch above their weight class so we'll see how long he can keep that up.

Glitz and his intangibles (1) romp their way to victory over The Habless and slumping Habs. Draisaitl, Dahlin, Tuch too much, and Reinhart put up almost 200 points themselves...hopefully The Habless ones have not disengaged as it would be a shame to waste 65 point efforts out of Connor McDavid. The Glitz looks to prove that he's just not keeping a warm seat for the Tookus.

Hudson's Team (8) squeaks out a 24 point victory over the flailing Stay in your Laine (11). A meager effort out of both teams this week but Alex Debrincat and MAF bring home the bacon for the actuary in training. Meanwhile, things are looking bleak in our bloggers world. Pannarin and Saros are tried and true but the rest of the team has gone missing. Perhaps he needs to bring in Daryl Sutter for a pep talk!

In a spirited affair and our closest matchup of the week, Sam's Astonishing team (10) attempts to right the ship and posts a 20 point win over the perplexing production of the NO YOU RELAX (4). Batherson and Shesterkin were the tip of the spear for Sam, however, the rest of his team contributed generously to the victory. Hounsy had decent showings out of Smith, Tckahchuk (the other one), Scheiffle, Vasilevsky and Point....but the depth of the Astonishing bench did him in.

In our nut punting of the week (198 pts) The Buffalo Bills (6) pick up their freebee against the Sofa King Rad (12).....folks....you should not be losing to the clown! Tyson Barrie loses his mind and leads the Bills this week while the Thrill and #FREE THE FOX make it look like the mental therapist is setting his lineup on a consistent basis. Maybe we can get a stinky sighting...hopefully life is treating him and his (forgive the pronouns) gently!

In our final matchup of the week The Faithful Go Nuts (5) are shown the way by the EA Sports Champion (9). Displaying no mercy (as is the way) for his Grandfather, The Champion unleashes the beast named Tage Thompson to sweep the leg of the Faithful. Kucherov and Cam Talbot also contributed to the All Valley 115 point spread. The Faithful attempted to wax on and wax off with a 60 point plus performance out of Zucarello and painting the fence with his 5 goalies. The rest of the faithful's team could not channel enough Miyagi-Do to overcome the power of Cobra Kai.

Get him a body bag...YEAH!


Merry Christmas Boys!

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NO YOU RELAX! is the one to watch out for. Leading the league in points but has only managed a 5-5 record. Some bad luck there, and I expect him to be moving up over the next couple months.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

Week 12 - Hangover Holiday Week

Yep we missed Week 11 which was a short Christmas week. Week 12 wasn't much better with a reduced game and player output. Really...these should have been combined into one week.

So here we are at the halfway mark and we are starting to have clear separation. While no one but our annual ephemeral participator Stink is out of it there is some serious ground to make up for those in the rear with the gear.

Here we go with the week 12 recap. The Indifference Makers (3) continue to eek out meager victories. This time over the Habless fading Habs (7) by less than 25 points. Stutzle, Hagel, Andersson, Hellybuck and Rodrigues were just enough to get the Makers by while the rest of his team contributed lightly. He mas met on the other end by the eager Connor McDavid, Zach Hyman, Mark Stone, Krieder, and Bergeron. This one really came down to bench depth and long contributions. Not a very exciting matchup but a grind it out affair.

In a 178 point blowout Glitz and the Intangibles (2) give up the heated seat to the Tookus. NO YOU RELAX (5) remains the enigma and grabs the high point total this week. A thundering 100 point plus explosion out of the Relaxing tenders and a point leader out of Soft Dougie for the Glitz is all you need to know in this one. Waiting for Hounsy to put this all together and make his charge in the second half.

Hudson's Team (9) remains in holiday mode and is soundly trounced by the IR stockpiling Buffalo Bills (6). Only 4 players decided to show for our high school honors member. Debrincat, Connor, Robertson and Fleury..the rest of this fairly star studded team was drinking eggnog and champagne. Meanwhile, The Bills were using a stellar performance out of Skinner and Oettinger and a somewhat solid showing up and down the lineup to secure the victory. The Bills seem to be playing the long game with some of these IR players...I suppose I am not sure the point of having more than 2 but if they can keep winning while sacrificing bench space more power to the Bills!

The Not So Tight Tookus (1) picks up his gimmee against the Sofa Rad King (12). The Tookus climbs back into the top spot with a decisive victory over the absent therapist. Deangelo turns into a nice waiver pickup and a lot of the old boys are doing the lifting for the tookus. The Sofa King's team has some stranded players but even they are getting tired of contributing. #FREETHEFOX.

In our squeaker of the week the Faithful Go Nuts (4) maximize their retirement time by sneaking folks in and out of the lineup to secure a 5 point victory over Sams Astonishing Team (10). The Faithful were on this thing like a hawk surveying a field during dinner time! The Faithful rode his usuals (minus his leader Eric Gustafsson) and used his keen GMing to work the waiver wire. Most Impressive! A decent contribution from the lineup of Sams Astonishing Team led by Barkov and Arviddson. Seems like the Goalies let Sam down.

In our final matchup and the blowout of the week...Stay In Your Non Producing Laine (11) gets shelled by the up and coming EA Sports Champion (8). This 216 point shellacking came courtesy of a massive performance out of Forsberg, backed up by over 40 efforts from Kucherov and Hedman. After a rough and rushed inheritance of his team the Champion has done a good job building his goalie corps. He is facing a bit of adversity with extended injuries in Wheeler and Terasenko but shouldn't be anything he can't handle with Tage the beast Thompson driving. Our Blogger and his team of kids aren't doing so well mid way. Sadly, it appears our blogger is checking out as well since there were over 40 points left on the bench with Makar and Seguin. I hope you are all right sir, please just hit the start active players button! Do it for the Laurentide and Poutine!

Just a heads up I don't really like the points layout of the league this year. I went with a standard Yahoo format this year and I don't really like the emphasis on scoring alone. There are plenty of other categories that make folks (Like a #2 DMan like Lindgren) valuable. Next year we will have blocks, hits and a few other goalie stats (shots against). Plus no GWG points? Eh....weak.

Happy New Year and keep going!

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Well it was revenge week for me, I lost to the Sofa King in our first encounter, so not quite a gimeee.

Regarding the change in points, I do wish dmen were a bit more impactful. The system is really weighted to forwards.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

While I obviously am benefiting under the default system I have no issue with any proposed changes to scoring along these lines for next year.

Someone text our blogger and have him hit his start active lineups button! If not I will start trolling him around here.

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Ok ok I did it!

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Thank you! The Laurentide and Poutine as well as the Degens from Laval thank you. Maybe even Bar Chez Diane!

Hounsy probably does not appreciate me waking you up though.

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You can hate me now Hounsy! Shouldn't have woken up E.L. You got a good team E.L. and there is still time at the halfway mark. Please don't give up!

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Week 14 - Managers starting to fade

Missed week 13 somehow but a quick recap goes like this.....folks at the top falter a bit......Hounsy gets screwed with Stay in your Laine hitting his start active players button. Is Sofa King Rad back? He somehow beats Hudson.
So on to week 14.

NO YOU RELAX (5) does not take kindly to the Indifference Makers (4) reminding our blogger to set his lineup in week 13. Exceeds forecasted expectations and stops the Makers from eeking out victories. Scheiffle, Point, Vasilevsky and Evan F'n Bouchard (give me a break) crash the ceiling while Markstrom, Huberdeau and Stutzle do their best to sink the Makers once again. For some reason the Makers have decided its a great idea to put their drafted roster back together. Mackenzie Weegar decides to play this year and the Makers ride the Kraken wave on Tolvanen. Meanwhile the Relaxers are back at .500. A big showdown looms for 3rd place in week 15.

Glitz and the Intangibles (2) cruises to victory over Sam's Astonishing and Vanishing Team (11). Its not hard to rack up victories when folks are checking out. The 50 plus points left on the bench in this one would not have provided a victory but would have made it more entertaining. Draisaitl delivers the 50 plus point killing blow for the Intangibles. Shesterkin's 40 point effort is for naught.

In our ass whooping of the week the Sofa King Rad (12) looks to be checked back in and picks up 2 in a row against the now missing Habless Habs (9). Our Mental health professional must have provided a rousing motivational speech in the Rad locker room. Huge performances out of Aho and Dunn. Just goes to show you just have to hit Start Active Players (even with Konecny on the bench)...you can even keep all of your injured jabronies on the roster. Habless Habs appears to be waving the white flag on his season at this point and seems to have found something better to do than watch the Canadians and play fantasy hockey. Hopefully that includes broads and beer! That should be against the law since he has Conor McDavid!

Hudson's team (8) wins a close one and sticks to the line beating Not So Tight Tookus (1). This one was as forecasted and our actuary counts the beans for a 10 point win. Huge 100 point plus performance from Hudson's goalies and a return to form for MacKinnon. RNH and Sorokin led the way for the Tookus. Hudson has the horses to make a run at this if they can get it all going (which they haven't been able to do yet).

The Buffalo Bills (6) get smacked around by the EA Sports Champion (7). Butch continues to stockpile the injured....and his lack of production and folks to actually do the scoring this week bites him. Why Butch? The Champion doesn't rely on Tage the Beast this week and instead gets his victory led by Kucherov and Bjorkstrand. The next generation is charging hard from the back of the pack folks. Must be that NFT strategy that the old balls can't comprehend!

The Faithful Go Nuts (3) sneak by a back to sleep Stay In Your Laine (10). Being a Habs fan must really suck because all of them have checked out here. Not even winning in a fantasy league can make their shitty season better! Our depressed blogger leaves over 100 Plus points on the bench. I bet you Hounsy is asking why not last week! Good for the Faithful! Bad for the league. A good performance out of the Laine team regardless with Laine and a pair of Canucks leading the way. The Faithful fall back on Goaltending and the Seattle wave to compensate for a moderate showing up front. You take what you can get!

Folks...I know its the New Year and its a long season. Props to those of you who are sticking it out. The parity on these teams is such that just setting your lineup every week gives you a chance. Hell...Stinky isn't exactly adjusting his lineup but if you just hit start sometimes it works (2 in a row)......especially if you have Conor McDavid or a lineup like E.L. Its not too late. The active boys are reflected in the current standings and I appreciates it! Keep up the grind!

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(Not So Tight Tookus)
37 minutes ago
I'd also suggest if you drop or pickup a player to reset your lineup. I've gotten burned by this, not realizing it can drastically reset your lineup leaving Ovechkin on the bench in favour of say Daniel Sprong. Two of my losses were because of this, before I finally figured it out.

harmfuljays (Indifference Maker)
Less than 1 minute ago
Good point! If you pickup or drop a player it is good practice to hit start active players again.

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Jonathan Huberdeau might be the biggest bust move I have ever made in Fantasy Hockey . I took him as my first pick........and somehow I am still in contention (thanks to the ever solid Sid) despite every single Flame on my roster trying to sink my boat!

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I think in future drafts if I remember to show up I won't pick any Canucks. Just too damn subjective. Considering how I'm doing this year I may be better off just letting Yahoo draft for me.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

As a rule I NEVER draft players from my favorite team. Way too superstitious. I used to sit goalies whenever they played the Avs too but I've long since abandoned that practice.

Week 15 Better late than never for rivalry week

I probably would have skipped this week but I had a very monumental matchup with the old boss that I wanted to comment on.

The Indifference Makers (3) went head to head with The Faithful Go Nuts (4). A back and forth matchup all week with some gamesmanship thrown in. A fine matchup father and a pleasure interacting with you during it! The makers ride Sydney, Rasmus, and Krejci to a 14 point victory over Marchand and Nylander. The Flames continue to be a fantasy bust for the Makers. The Faithful pick up a key injury to Matthews that they will have to deal with for about a month.

Glitz and the Intangibles (2) come up short against the Stay In Your Laine (9). Our Poutine loving blogger gets back in the game and picks up a win. Kevin Hayes, Georgiev and Seguin put up big numbers and overcome a luke warm performance out of the Glitz. Verhage, Soft Dougie, Reinhard and Tuch Too Much continue to keep the Glitz at the top....who would have guessed!? Hischier continues to be a solid performer for E.L.

Not So Tight Tookus (1) eeks out a squeaker (less than a point) against the Habless Habs (11). The Habless Habs had a 70 pt performance out of Zach Hyman!!!! But was ultimately let down in net with only Logan Thompson putting up points. Meanwhile the Tookus won this matchup in net along with Pasta and Rantanen who carry their own teams respectively. The Tookus has got quite the team but the Habs have McDavid who usually leads the way. Good matchup here this week!

In our nut punting of the week Hudson's Team (7) puts up 500 plus and a 159 point spread on Sams Not Astonishing Team (12). Beware all...the aspiring actuary has a healthy squad and McKinnon is back putting up 78 points!! Only 2 players on his roster who didn't make it to 10 points....Seth Jarvis and MAF.
Sam appears to have gone MIA this week. Hope he comes back.

No You Relax!(5) cruises to a 65 point victory over the Do it for Hamlin Non-Playoff Bills (6). Young Takachuk, Shiefle, Josi and an excellent showing out of his goalie lineup pace the Relaxers. While the Bills had Older Takachuk, Heiskanen and Oettinger do the heavy lifting for the Bills. The Bills will get to test out that theory of hoarding injured players after the all-star break. Tough return for Josh Norris and Landeskog just isn't worth holding at this point. Oddly it appears Bills may be missing out on setting their lineup as well (Chytil coming up empty?). For shame Butch!

In our final matchup our mental health therapist Sofa King Rad (10) beats an overworked EA Sports Champion (8). Call it luck or what have you but the Sofa Kind Rad's pilotless ship continues to string together victories. The EA Sports Champion appears to have switched games midstream and is no longer playing this one with consistency (regardless of Dad's harassing texts). Minecraft, Smite or maybe COD may look more appealing to the Champion currently.

Thanks again boys. Happy New Year...we have one more week until a lengthy break for the dog and pony show.

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Week 17 will be two weeks due to the NHL All-Star Game and run from Monday, January 30th through Sunday, February 12th. Roster deadlines, minimum goalie requirements, and weekly transaction limits will not change during this fantasy week.

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Week 16.....2/3 of the way there.

Week 16 saw a 2 Vs 3 matchup with the Indifference Makers (4) challenging Glitz and the Intangibles (2). Regardless of the projected points this matchup wasn't close at any time and left the makers looking for fingers to point come Monday morning. It wasn't anything unusual...typical shitty performances out of Huberdeau and Markstrom and Sydney leading the way. Then I look across the way and see I am beaten by Verhaeghe, Soft Dougie (50 plus) and a pair of Islanders? Give me a break! ......Whatever....if that's the way this goes than there is nothing I can do about that. Good on you Professor!

Habless Habs (10) gets back in gear against Hudson's Team (7). Just when you think the aspiring actuary is going to put it all together his team lays a monstrous turd At this point its getting late in the season for this cycle to keep repeating but still time. Meanwhile, The Habless Habs return to activity and enjoy yet another incredible week out of their goaltending.....seriously this is probably the 3rd or 4th time Allen, Forsberg and Thompson have put up close to 100pts combined. Who would have thought!? Connor McDavid continues to lead while Kirby Dach has finally found a forever fantasy home with the Habless. Fitting!

In what appears to be our blowout of the week just barely (79 points) NO YOU RELAX! (5) puts and end to the pilotless ship of winning known as Sofa King Rad (11). As a proper beer league goalie turned fantasy professional Hounsy's goalie squad racks up over 100 points. Once again carrying his off and on again group of forwards. Cam Fowler does the heavy lifting for the Relaxers. Savvy pick up of Liljegren. Whorebag and Assho lead the way for the Sofa King but the NAs and IRs appear to be too much to put a smile on our clown's team this week.

The Not So Tight Tookus (1) wins their Bed War against the EA Sports Champion (9). Claude Giroux goes Creeper for the Tookus and puts up a whopping 55 points..where the hell did that come from? Pasta continues to do the dirty work as well. The Champion continues to wield his Netherite sword in Tage "the beast" Thompson and Kucherov, his resident Enderman, continues to be healthy and productive. The Champion appears to be once again experiencing a bit of grief in net. He does have some players that look to spawn new homes at the deadline.

The Playoffs are over once again Bills (6) lose a relatively close one (27 points) to the Faithful Go Nuts (3). I have noticed this ongoing strategy this year of leaving a few flexible spots open to eek out a few more points at the end. It seems to work at times. The Doctor of Love and Class appears to be reconciling his approach to injuries. This week old balls Tavares gets crazy with 60 plus points and Matthew Tckachuk who, as much as I don't like to admit it, continues to be a bonafide superstar in Florida. Still, that wasn't enough to overcome a fairly consistent Bag of Nuts. Kris Letang rewards the old man's Faithfulness while William Nylander provides the kick right in poor Butch's man center. The Faithful appear to be doing without Matthews just fine!

In our final matchup of the week, Stay In Your Laine (8) claims a close victory over Sam's astonishing but not represented team (12). The Laine dodge a bullet with this one as Sam's bench would have put him over the top. There were a few slackers in the Laine but overall a pretty good if low scoring showing. Sams team on the other hand squanders a 50 point Barkov contribution and a good point total out of his From Russia with Love goaltenders. Perhaps Sam decided that his first year in the OTP league will be his last! Come back Sam!

Week 17 spans 2 weeks for the All-Star break and then things will start heating up. Almost time to start talking about an EOY prize.

Thanks for the attention and love to your make believe teams boys! Make sure to share that at home too!

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