Free NHL Fantasy Hockey Leagues
Choices for Fans Looking to Join Online Hockey Pool
When it comes to trades, player signings or just about anything related to the game, hockey fans pretty much always have an opinion. Thanks to fantasy hockey leagues, armchair GMs can mimic their real-life NHL counterparts with their own teams.
Yahoo! Sports and NHL.com
In 2008, in conjunction with a complete site redesign, the NHL became the first sports league to team up with Yahoo! Sports for their fantasy game. The game is hosted on Yahoo!, and hockey fans must register with the site in order to participate. Once their ID is created, fantasy general managers are able to set up as many as four teams – among a combination of settings – under a single username.
Those wanting to create an online pool open only to a select group can create a custom league. That user becomes the Commissioner and is responsible for establishing the settings for his or her entire league; modifications can be made right up until the set draft day. The settings available vary by the type of points (rotisserie, fantasy points, head-to-head) and include options such as maximum player acquisitions, injury reserve, trade deadline, playoffs and length of the waiver period, among others.
Hockey fans flying solo on the fantasy front, fret not. In addition to being able to select a custom league that welcomes outsiders, single poolers can opt for a Yahoo! public league. The latter allows the fantasy user to select various preferences for the type of league they’d like to join and then assigns them to one with other hockey fans who have chosen the same.
NHL Fantasy Hockey with a Salary Cap at The Sporting News
The Sporting News offers fantasy hockey fans the opportunity to truly feel like an NHL general manager with their Salary Cap Challenge Hockey. Fantasy GMs buy seven players for their team and must adhere to the $30 million salary cap. The final roster must consist of a center, two wingers, two defensemen, a goaltender and an extra body.
Trades are also available, both free and purchased. Every Wednesday, two free trades are deposited into a user’s “trade bank” and accumulate. For fantasy general managers who want to make more swaps than are available to them, the option exists to buy trades; stock up on anywhere from one to 25 trades, with fees ranging from $0.99 to $19.99.
Play Fantasy Hockey Online at ESPN and CBS Sports
Over at ESPN, users must pick a league to join or create their own; automatic assignment to an existing league is not an option. Players who aren’t happy with their first choice need not worry about a disappointing fantasy campaign; ESPN allows fantasy owners manage up to 10 teams. Like most NHL fantasy hockey games, users opting to play on ESPN can decide between public or private, rotisserie or head-to-head scoring, and what type of draft they’d like to participate in (auto-pick, live draft, or auction).
Fans choosing to be a commissioner have two options for free leagues: Custom League Manager or Standard Free. In the former, only private access is available, while scoring settings, rules and roster size are left up to the commissioner. There can be at most 20 teams in the league and it is possible set it as a “keeper league”. The latter offers public or private access, standard scoring, rules and roster size, and at most 10 teams per league.
Hockey fanatics can also look to CBSSports.com to put together an online pool but only those in the United States are eligible to participate. Similar to ESPN, the user must select the desired league on their own or put together a league of which they will be commissioner.
The filtering options on CBS Sports for those wishing to join an existing league are pretty much the same as the others: public vs. private, draft type and date. Clicking the preferred settings will bring up a list of leagues that meet those criteria; the scoring type (head-to-head or rotisserie) will also be indicated in the list. As for wannabe commissioners, the options when creating a league are no different from what the fantasy GMs are choosing as their filters.
Plenty of Choice for Free Online NHL Fantasy Hockey
Overall, free fantasy hockey is alive and well on the internet, with a variety of sites for fans to choose from. All require interested users to register, a minor step en route to hopefully becoming top dog in fantasy hockey circles.
Once managers have their team set up, the next step is to check out websites offering fantasy hockey news, tips and tricks.
Lots of Free Fantasy Hockey Options for Fans
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