What is your opinion of the GWG category in fantasy hockey?

Question

I was curious to get others opinions on this as a stat in fantasy hockey.
Personally, I hate it, and here is why:

Your team scores 8 goals on the week but no GWG's.
Your opponents team scores 1 goal but because their team's goal happened to be the 2nd goal scored in 5-1 victory, they receive a GWG.

So the team with a far superior offense that week is punished for being unlucky and their dominant performance eliminated with a 1-1 tie. More often than not, GWG's don't take anymore skill than normal goals, just the luck that the opponent scores one less goal than that players goal. If it was just overtime goals, that would be a different story.

Do you think its fair that you obviously had a much better week in goals but that is washed clean by luck?

I seem to be in the minority on this one but I hate the category and I haven't really gotten a legitimate reason as to why it is still liked other than "its cool" or its "so random."

What is your opinion?

TBL- How was Nick Lidstrom's goal any different than any other that was scored in their 5-0 win last night other than the order it was scored in? Or Stu Barnes goal in their 8-3 win?
In one of the leagues I am in we use shots, short-handed points, and faceoffs instead and that makes for a much more interesting set-up. One where players value like Brind Amour for faceoffs and Sharp for shorthanded points go through the roof.
These are researchable stats that you can go out and look for sleepers in, where GWG is more of a shot in the dark.
I just prefer to take as much luck out of the equation as possible and with injuries and so many other things already beyond our control.

Lubers- Good points as usual, but I am not claiming that this provides any more of an advantage to one team over another. It is true, we are all playing on a level field to start.
The difference to me is that I know who I can pick up if I am struggling in G, A, PIM, +/- etc. It takes more research rather than a dice roll.

Answer 1

I agree to some extent but my team scores goals and gets game winners so I don't mind the stat. GWG has some bearing on a player's value. Did you see the list LITY had up last week of the top GWG career goals? Reads like a who's who of hockey history.
I'd rather see hits than PIM. How many penalties win games?
And then there's shots on goal. Anyone can shoot on goal. But putting the puck in the net takes a better shot. Seems to me shooting percentage might be a better stat as well.
And then of course there are the goalie stats. Wins, last time I checked the whole team wins. Shutouts can be a result of a total team effort but only goalies get credit for it.

We could pick at this carcass until the bones are clean and we still wouldn't get anywhere.

That reminds me I got some turkey leftovers to eat.

And here's the list of all time GWG leaders:
136 Gordie Howe
119 Phil Esposito
114 Bobby Hull
110 Jaromir Jagr
110 Brett Hull
107 Brendan Shanahan
97 John Bucyk
97 Guy Lafleur
94 Steve Yzerman
92 Mats Sundin
92 Mark Messier
92 Maurice Richard
91 Wayne Gretzky
90 Mike Gartner
90 Sergei Fedorov
89 Luc Robitaille
87 Jeremy Roenick
86 Joe Sakic
86 Pierre Turgeon
85 Glenn Anderson
85 Teemu Selanne
84 Mike Modano
82 Mike Bossy
80 Mark Recchi
79 Ron Francis
78 Vincent Damphousse
78 Petr Bondra
77 Dave Andreychuk
74 Mario Lemieux
74 Marcel Dionne
72 Dino Ciccarelli

See anyone on this list you wouldn't want on your team?

Answer 2

Baseball eliminated game-winning RBI as an official stat because they realized that it was almost completely arbitrary, and the NHL should really do the same. As in the example you cite, it's an almost meaningless statistic unless the GWG is scored late in the game or in overtime.

I would expect a list of all-time leaders in the category to read like a who's-who of all-time great goal-scorers, and that only further proves your point. If there was any value to the GWG category, or if it was more difficult to score such a goal, then the list should include players who weren't necessarily all-time greats.

Lubers - I thought that was pretty funny on the RBI thing.

Answer 3

I will admit it did make fantasy fans stay glued to their box scores and their TVs, cuz when there guy just broke up a tie, they want to watch the clock until the game is over. Kidna like when your goalie is nearing a shutout. It does get more watchers. But generally, i dont think GWG really defines a player much. FOr example, Jaro Spacek picked up a lotta GWG last year early, but he deserved to be in the free agency by the end of the year. Or what if someone had a hat trick in a game and the score was tied 3-3 and then one guy comes in a scores. Kinda takes away the lime light.

Answer 4

I had never given it as much thought as you had. Looking at it using your arguments I see where you are coming from. Baseball did away with the game winning RBI stat about 10 years ago because it really was just a meaningless statistic in a sport that loves meaningless statistics.

That led me to do a little research. In the 13 weeks we have played in the Y!A Hockey league, here is the breakdown.

I have one tie in GWG during a matchup where I was winning or losing on goals, lost a point once in GWG during a matchup where I was winning in goals and gained a point in GWG in a matchup where I was losing in goals 1 time. (That just so happened to be against your team!)

The way I look at it, first off, we are all on the same playing field. Any player on our roster could bang in that lucky goal for that point. Rob Globke could get called up and notch a GWG in his first game. With that said, it is much more likely that Zetterberg will get one though. That leads to my second point. If team scores more goals, they have better odds of notching the game winner. Third, I kind of view it the same way as goalie wins. You could have a goalie face 100 shots over two games, put up a 1.00 save % and a 0.00 GAA and still lose both games and you lose points in the win column to a guy who wins two game by the scores of 9-8. It is completely out of the goaltender's hands whether they actually win a game or not. The best that they can ever produce is a tie. The way I look at it, those categories can still be washed by pure luck as well.

Craig: Thanks for stealing my thunder on the baseball stat!!!!

EDIT: Looking at the list Puck posted, I don't think it is as much of a crap shoot as you think it is. Aside from Bobby Hull, who I eliminate for the simple reason that he couldn't get a shot past LITY, those would all be keepers players in any fantasy league.

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Answer 7

I think GWG should only apply in 1-goal games. But yeah its a stupid stat otherwise

Answer 8

Yeah it's a pretty stupid stat, but I don't really care about it that much. They should make a stat called GWG but make someone (like the commentators) decide who it goes to, or decide that it shouldn't go to anyone (in case of blowout).

Answer 9

Zam I always thought that stat ment Gay Winger Goals and only showed up under Daniel Sedin's stat line.

Answer 10

People are hating on the G "dub"

wow there sure is a lot of former players on this site

PuckDat best answer hands down

Yeah I wouldn't mind one or two of those fine beauties on my team