Why is higher PIM a good thing?

[Judrix]

I recently started my first ever fantasy hockey league and I didn't do much research. I figured lower PIM would be better, so I drafted with that in mind. Now I find out having higher PIM is what you want. That makes absolutely no sense to me, how about you guys?

 

[snizzbone*]

Just another novelty stat to make things interesting. I believe its being phased out though, at least in my leagues.

 

[Paranoid Android]

Yea I just joined a league that eliminated them. Now that so many leagues offer defensive stats like blocked shots and hits, PIMs are becoming less popular

 

[CJV123]

Some leagues are replacing with Fighting majors. The origins of PIMs was to reward toughness, but now that the internet stats are more complete, especially with Hits, some leagues are changing. BUT it must be noted Hits are not an objective stat, and there are rink-to-rink variables in how they are defined. For this reason, my preference is to replace PIMs with Fighting Major penalties. It's fun to have a tough guy on your team, and fighting is a part of the game. And, as you note, hooking and tripping penalties are never good and should not be rewarded.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Some leagues are replacing with Fighting majors. The origins of PIMs was to reward toughness, but now that the internet stats are more complete, especially with Hits, some leagues are changing. BUT it must be noted Hits are not an objective stat, and there are rink-to-rink variables in how they are defined. For this reason, my preference is to replace PIMs with Fighting Major penalties. It's fun to have a tough guy on your team, and fighting is a part of the game. And, as you note, hooking and tripping penalties are never good and should not be rewarded.

To add to this, when fantasy leagues were first created, the majority of PIMs were from "toughness" penalties - fighting, roughing (often coincidental), elbowing, misconducts, etc and a high PIM player was often a good thing to have on your team because he really could intimidate the competition. But nowadays, with so many PIMs coming from "lazy" penalties like hooking, holding, and tripping, and intimidation not as big a part of the game, high PIM players are usually liabilities in real life.

 

[Fantasyhockey0001]

PIM creates another challenge of having a good balance off your team. I've seen people pickup players that simply just have high PIMs and no other stats.

 

[yakitate304]

I actually like PIM in fantasy leagues, for two reasons.

One is that the alternatives I've seen (ie. Hits, blocked shots) are VERY subjective stats. What counts as a hit according to one statkeeper isn't a hit in another rink. Same with blocked shots. PIMs aren't perfect but they are concrete.

The second reason is that having PIMs creates a balance between offensive production and time spent in the box. A 60 point player who puts up 120 PIMs is obviously great, but you also have to consider that without some of those fights and penalties, he might have been a 75 point player. In most cases, drafting for PIMs means sacrificing some offense.