NHL Fantasy Sports Betting Guide

Fantasy NHL contests offer the fun of traditional fantasy sports competitions over the course of a few days. Doing some research before you get started can help make your experience more enjoyable and more profitable.

Know the Score

Before creating your roster, make sure you understand the rules and points systems set up at the fantasy sports betting site you are using. If you’re new and beginner’s games are offered, take advantage of them no matter what your experience level, as you’ll pick up valuable information about how to play at that certain site.

Forwards and defensemen can grab contest points for goals, assists, shot on goals, blocked shots, shootouts and hat tricks. On FanDuel, you can even grab points for penalty minutes. Most sites offer a separate scoring chart for goalies, who can accrue points for wins, saves and shutouts but will lose points if the opposing team manages to get the puck past them.

Understanding how scoring works will help you as you come to develop the most important part of your fantasy NHL strategy – your team.

Select Your Team

On most major sites, you will assemble a team of eight or nine players, with only a certain number of them allowed to come from the same real-life team. You must further diversify your selection by picking players from a minimum number of different teams. Most sites will enact a salary cap, meaning that you may only have $50,000 or $60,000 to spend on your entire lineup, forcing you to be economical (or even ruthless) about who makes the cut. Depending on the site, you will choose center players, defensemen, left and right wingers and a goaltender.

In fantasy NHL, it’s well worth spending a bit extra on the goalie, even if it affects your budget for the rest of your roster. A tried and tested goalkeeper will yield better results than a player who can’t seem to stay uninjured or in good form. Look closely at each goalie’s save percentage over the last few games to get a better idea of who to pick for the contest.

Check the Lineup

No one wants to design the roster of their dreams only to have it shattered on game day when a player is out due to injury or suspension. Make sure that you keep checking the starting lineup for each of the matches covered in a contest by following fantasy hockey blogs, social media and news sites to get the latest information on who’s in and who’s out. If your player doesn’t start, you’ll miss out on valuable points.

Don’t Forget the Matches

While fantasy NHL relies on the outcome of just a few matches over a short period of time, that doesn’t mean you can ignore the actual games as you build your roster. The scoring period of a contest should be a huge part of your fantasy NHL betting strategy if you want to win big. You’ll need to look at the recent form of your players and who they will be up against on the ice. Have several members of your roster taken part in games with high scores recently? Can you expect them to perform to recent standards?

For example, if your chosen goalie is scheduled to start in two back-to-back games during the course of a contest, you may want to consider swapping him out for a backup player. Recent statistics have shown that these players won’t do as well in the second game as they did in the first, and every minute matters!

Have Fun

Fantasy NHL can offer some huge dividends as a reward for your hockey knowledge, but don’t get so involved in stats and player cards that you miss out on the big picture – watching the games! As your fantasy NHL contest points add up, having the latest face-off on the screen in front of you will make your viewing experience that much sweeter.