The end of summer also means the start of fantasy football, basketball and hockey season. Many handicappers play fantasy sports on the side; both pursuits deal with evaluating teams and athletes, using many of the same statistics.

The stats for a typical fantasy hockey league are fairly straightforward:

Skaters: goals, assists, penalty minutes, plus-minus, etc.
Goaltenders: wins, goals against average, save percentage, shutouts

A starting roster usually consists of 13 players: six forwards, four defensemen, two goaltenders and a utility skater. You also get four bench players. The key to winning this game is drafting for need. Strong goaltending is essential with this set-up, so draft the three best you can get your hands on.

There are only a handful of good scoring defensemen out there, so they get second priority at the draft. If you can’t get Sidney Crosby or Alex Ovechkin as a forward, don’t sweat it. There are plenty of second-tier forwards to go around.