Welcome to DFS Gameplan brought to you by CrossCzech who will be contributing for a new feature here at Inside Edge Hockey News. We will try to keep it simple, and concise, aiming to help you in the nightly quest to construct a winning fantasy hockey team. I am not here to provide you with a myriad of stats, but rather to help you have a better mind frame and mental approach going in to constructing your team. Our goal is to help the casual player improve on something he enjoys, and to hopefully help that player become better by understanding the mental aspect of roster construction.
It all begins with your daily game selection, a vital starting point in DFS because it helps you define your goal for the night. Do you want to play only one lineup and spread out my game selection over a variety of cash games, that only allow a single entry with the entry fields being less than a large tournament? Do you want to play multiple lineups, three at the max, and spread them out over a few large GPPs. Try to stick to the 3-entry max games to keep the playing field as even as possible? Because ultimately, unless you have unlimited funds, taking the money equation out of play is important in balancing the playing field. Or do you simply want to become a better player over time by taking small steps in the world of DFS. Personally, I avoid playing in games that allow mass entries because I don’t want to play against someone who can play multiple mass entries. I would rather keep the playing field more balanced and not favoring a few people, but that is just me. Of course, you can’t win the big GPPs that way, but that is not my goal. My goal is to win and succeed financially over the long term. Mass entry players have a much higher likelihood of winning with the odds well in their favor, coupled with their above average DFS ability. I have no problem with it and look idealistically upon players who are successful and have the bankroll to continuously play this way. It is not easy trying to build 40 successful lineups nightly. Some people enjoy it, and if so, go nuts.
If you think you can do it, go to the quarter arcade and try to put 40 or so lineups together until you think you are good enough to do it nightly.
When it comes to beginning to construct a roster for the night, the way I like to approach it is to let the slate dictate the terms for me by the way the slate presents itself. For example, is it a small slate? is it a lopsided slate with only one game projected from Vegas to be over 5.5 goals? Is it a large slate with all the games projected to be high scoring? This way I can begin to construct different scenarios, game flow situations that I foresee happening, and then applying that for-knowledge and constructing a lineup based on what I perceive is going to happen in that night’s games. Sometimes there is many scenarios that you foresee, and call for multiple lineups to create the best team that night. On a night with a small slate sometimes it calls for all players from the same team, stacking the lines. The fact that Vegas projects only one game of the imaginary 4 games to be high scoring. Therefore, you try to fit in both forward lines or as many forwards from that team while using two different defense to fit within rules parameters. The above examples are just a mental snapshot into what goes into the mental approach when building lineups. I think using the slate as a starting point to help construct a lineups(s) is a great way to begin the process of building a successful team.
Doing everything you can to gain a firm foothold in fantasy is very important to the success you have. That involves learning who NOT to play. The players you know have enormous bankrolls as well as being top-ranked players are the ones you want to try to avoid. In hockey, there are only a few players who mass entry and play large volume. Look at the entrants and LIVE contests that Draftkings allows players to view. This is a great reverse engineering lesson that can help you become a better player just by spending a few minutes perusing the LIVE games and to see who won or is winning. This way it is easier learning who to play against and avoid head-to-head if that is your forte. Please take advantage of the fact that you can BLOCK certain players from playing against you in whatever sport you deem. This keeps the sharks out of the shallows and lets the casual player swim freely unimpeded by large volume, mass entry players. Finally, when you figure out your system that is successful and works for you, stick with it.
CrossCzech
Macaulay Scott Renner began playing ice hockey at age 6 in the Brick Hockey Club, N.J. in 1978 and then moved on to Christian Brothers Academy High School (alumnus include Trevor/James VanRiemsdyk). After lettering in varsity all 4 year, he moved on to play college hockey in the ACHA for both Johns Hopkins University for two years and finishing his eligibility at Monmouth University. In 2002, he worked for NBC in Broadcast Operations for NBC Sports covering all men’s Olympic ice hockey games in SLC, Utah. In 2003 took over the Commercial Coordinator job (that his father helmed for 19 years) with the NHL at the NJ Devils in 2002-2003. A diehard DFS NHL/PGA/NFL grinder playing since its inception in 2000, he is a world traveler, surfer, and golfer of 35 years. He currently resides in South Philadelphia with his girlfriend Micha and cat Rosie. He can be found on DraftKings playing under CrossCzech and MissCalculated(the tuna fishing boat) and is always willing to help answer any type of hockey/strategy/DFS questions.