Yahoo Fantasy Hockey: Using special teams stats to your advantage

(Ed. Note: We’re once again pleased to partner with Dobber Hockey to provide fantasy hockey insight throughout the NHL season. Here’s Steve Laidlaw, the Managing Editor of Dobber Hockey, as your new fantasy hockey smarty-pants!)

By Steve Laidlaw

It’s the giving season. With that in mind, we should celebrate the most giving teams in the NHL. By “most giving” I mean the teams that concede the most power play goals. Some teams just cannot help but take a bunch of penalties. Others are hopeless while down a man. The worst teams fit into both categories, making them the most generous in the league.

The league average for power play goals allowed per game is 0.59. The Winnipeg Jets blow past that as the single most generous team in the league. Not only do they take a ton of penalties but they also can’t keep pucks out when they do. Poor Connor Hellebuyck.

The Buffalo Sabres boast a lethal power play but are hapless down a man. The single worst penalty killing team in the league.

It’s a good thing for Corey Crawford that the Chicago Blackhawks do not get whistled for many penalties because the way that they kill those penalties has been disastrous. He has the single worst save percentage of any goaltender while down a man.

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No one takes more penalties than the Calgary Flames or Colorado Avalanche. Either team would fare better if they played with more discipline.

The numbers in Calgary are a bit skewed as Chad Johnson has a league average save percentage on the penalty kill while Brian Elliott has allowed a goal on one of every five shots while down a man.

Mike Smith has been a wizard. While the Arizona Coyotes feature on this list we cannot blame Smith for not pulling his weight. He has stopped 92.4% of shots while down a man. He is fourth in the league in this category.

What to do with this information? If you are playing in daily fantasy leagues, you should always look to load up on guys with power play time but you should especially do so with players playing these teams.

Meanwhile, in yearly leagues, you should be dubious of goaltenders on the teams listed above. Obviously, the Tampa Bay Lightning are expected to turn a corner at some point, while Matt Murray has been lights out for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

You should also target players skating power play minutes and going against these teams as streamers in any given week.

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On the flip side is our Scrooge McDuck list, the stingiest teams in the league with regard to power-play goals allowed:

The Carolina Hurricanes may have been sent here to crush your dreams. Not only do they never take penalties but they also boast the stingiest penalty kill on the rare occasion that they do. The second place St. Louis Blues are as close to the league average number of power-play goals allowed per game as they are to Carolina in first place. Unbelievable. The Cam Ward rejuvenation, everybody!

Jake Allen has been heroic on many a night. The Blues are one of the league’s most penalized teams but they shut teams down once they take those penalties. Allen’s 0.921 save percentage on the PK is a big reason why.

Columbus, Vancouver, New Jersey and Washington are all tied with Los Angeles giving up 0.53 PPG per game but these are all essentially league-average squads in this regard. The truly impressive teams are the ones allowing less than 0.50 PPG per game. Those are the teams to avoid going against whether you are playing daily fantasy or looking for a streaming target.

Steve Laidlaw is the Managing Editor of Dobber Hockey. Follow him on Twitter @SteveLaidlaw

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