Sharks Gameday: Phantasy Star

Blah blah Sharks blah blah blah inconsistency blah blah every point is key blah.

Moving on! NHL.com recently unveiled some new stats specifically designed for fantasy hockey. It's a pretty cool idea and for people like me who are hanging out around the bottom of the standings for the Battle of California fantasy league, it might actually be useful.

Here are some of the new stats, along with any Battle of California players who appear near the top:

Hat Tricks

Knowing how many hat tricks a player has during a season isn't really that useful of a stat, but it's still fun to know. I guess if you're trying to decide which player to start on a busy day and you want the best chance for a three-goal game you might take a look at this? Maybe? Anyways, Alexander Semin leads with three. Nobody from the BoC has more than one.

Playmaker

This is when a player has three or more assists in a game.

I don't know how the name of this stat works exactly: does a player "score a playmaker"? Or "have a playmaker"? Or maybe "is a playmaker"? It's confusing. Anybody have a better name for this stat? It should probably be related to the phrase "hat trick."

Sorry, I got a bit distracted by the nomenclature there. Ryan Getzlaf, Joe Thornton, and Drew Doughty all have 2 playmakers this season, to tie for the league lead. Everyone's a winner!

Games with Shots

I like this category a lot. It lets you know how many games a player has recorded at least one shot. Many fantasy leagues (including BoC's) have "shots on goal" as a scoring category, and this is a useful alternative to simply looking at the players who have the most total shots.

Corey Perry leads this category, having had at least one shot in each of the 33 games he's played so far. That's pretty impressive. Bobby Ryan has 31 and Joe Pavelski has 30.

Multi-Goal Games

Bobby Ryan and Patrick Marleau both have 3.

Multi-Point Games

Corey Perry has 11, Ryane Clowe has 10, Getzlaf and Ryan both have 9. Weren't you Anaheim fans complaining a lot about these dudes earlier this season? What gives?

Games with Positive +/-

Another cool idea for a stat: how many games has the player recorded a positive +/-. No BoC players are anywhere near the top of the list. Toni Lydman is 23rd with 14 positive games. Ryane Clowe has 13, which is impressive as hell on the Sharks.

Games with Even +/-

This stat is pretty boring. George Parros is near the top.

Games with Negative +/-

Here are the five players in the NHL with the most games with a negative +/- (number of games on the far-right):

Christ, Marleau, what the hell is wrong with you this year?

That's all for skaters. There are also a few interesting goalie stats.

Games with 1 GA

Atlanta's Ondrej Pavelec leads the league with seven of these "almost shutouts." Jonathan Quick is tied for second with six. Antero Niittymaki has four. 

Games with 2 GA

Jonas Hiller leads the league with ten. Good for him.

Games with More than 3 GA

Jonas Hiller is second in the league with nine. He sucks.

Games with 40 or More Shots Against

Hiller's endured four of these. Quick has faced two. Despite the Sharks troubles on defense, neither of their goalies appear near the top of this list.

There are a few other categories I didn't talk about, but you get the idea. It's nice to see NHL.com finally starting to do more to support the fantasy sports side of the game.

In less fantastic news, the Sharks play tonight against the Predators. Here's hoping Marleau gets a multi-goal game and somehow avoids being a minus.

Prediction: Sharks win 4-2, with goals from Clowe, Vlasic, Marleau, and Heatley.