Fantasy hockey points leagues: ESPN and Yahoo scoring explained

Yahoo’s head-to-head points league setup page currently shows these values: goals 3, assists 2, plus/minus 1, penalty minutes 0.5, power-play points 1 and shots on goal 0.4 for skaters; wins 4, goals against -1, saves 0.2 and shutouts 2 for goalies. An older Yahoo help article lists different numbers, so treat this as a starting point and open your own league’s settings before making decisions on it.

Fantrax, CBS and Sleeper leagues have no single default worth quoting; commissioners set every value. The principles below apply to any set of weights.

Convert everything into goals to see who matters. On ESPN’s default, a defenseman with 150 blocked shots and 100 hits earns 85 points from those two stats alone (75 + 10), the same as 42 and a half goals. A forward who takes 250 shots earns 25 points for them. Blocks, not hits, are the peripheral that moves the needle on ESPN.

Under the values Yahoo’s setup page shows, the same 250 shots are worth 100 points, a third of a goal each. High-volume shooters gain a lot of value there, and penalty minutes and plus/minus add up for physical, minute-eating players.

ESPN’s -2 per goal against makes bad starts expensive, so the goalie on a strong defensive team matters. Saves pay everywhere, so a busy goalie who keeps his team in games can outscore a goalie who wins more but faces fewer shots.

• Play the most games. Points are totals, so an extra game is roughly an extra night of production. Fill every lineup slot every night and lean on teams with four-game weeks.
• Chase ice time and power-play time. A first-unit power-play role adds both the goal or assist and the PPP bonus, and top-pair defensemen play the most minutes.
• Value defensemen by your weights. If blocks pay 0.5, a shot-blocking defenseman who also plays the power play can rival a second-line forward.
• Pay for goalie starts. Wins and saves both need the goalie in the net, so a workhorse starter is worth more than a better goalie in a timeshare.
• Compare against replacement, not zero. A center scoring 2.5 points a game matters less if the waiver wire has 2.3-point centers every week.

Who Should I Start’s ESPN points profile uses ESPN’s default skater and goalie values for every stat Edgehalla projects; shorthanded points, shutouts and overtime losses are not projected yet, so they are left out. The Yahoo points profile ranks on projected Yahoo fantasy points.