Stats That Should Be In Fantasy Hockey

Fantasy hockey, with its focus on fighting and goal scoring, fails to track which players are truly vital to their team. It also fails to track which players are being harmed by the enforcement of mediocrity, the clutching and grabbing -- and, now, intent to injure -- that goes unpunished or lightly punished in the league. I therefore think the following statistics should be followed by every fantasy league.

1) PIMs drawn

Unless penaties are coincidental, the player who is fouled should get credit for the PIMs the opposition takes. Players like Brind'Amour, Briere, Kariya, Lecavalier, and Dvorak are targets for the opposition and this stat would recognize that.

2) Time on Ice

Ice time is a key measurement of a player's importance to the team, and his coach's opinion of him. A key example is Kurtis Foster, keystone to Minnesota's impressive D, who plays a significant amount of ice time each night. Among forwards, the Tampa Three (Lecavalier, Richards, and St. Louis) play an astonishing amount of ice time.

3) Shots Blocked

The unsung heroes of the NHL include Colin White, who often blocks 8 shots in one night. If Brodeur's save percentage is 92.5, then 8 shots x 7.5 percent goals = 0.6 goals blocked by White in Brodeur's favor. It's not only an important stat, it's also an indication of courage and those players who lead the league in blocked shots deserve recognition.

4) Game Tying and Go Ahead Goals (GTGAG)

Everyone agrees that GWG is a meaningless stat but nobody knows what to replace it with. Obviously, there would be more GTGAG in close games, but that's the point! Close games are great and the back in forth in them deserves recognition.

5) Short Handed, Penalty Shot, and Empty Net Points (SHP) / Penalty Shot Saves

Short Handed Points are too rare to stand alone, as are penalty shots and empty nets, but all are game changing events and deserve recognition. Penalty Shot points and saves in a shootout could count too. The game winning penalty shot, of course, would be the Go Ahead Goal.

Empty Net Points would not count as SHP if the scoring team was on a power play -- they would count as PPP.

6) Hits

WHY ISN'T THIS A STAT!!!!! Because it's unofficial? Folks, fantasy hockey's a game. Let's treat it like one, by including this unofficial but very fun stat.