Fantasy Focus: To sell or not to sell? That is the question

OK, so here’s the deal. Ever since we were able to get our grubby little hands on a bag of candy or a new toy we’ve heard the expression, “Buy low and sell high.” It makes perfect sense, even to my 6-year-old: Try to forecast whose value is uncharacteristically low for whatever reason and capitalize on it. 

Conversely, you need to recognize inflated value and when it’s time to smash the sell button. 

Now, if it was that simple, we’d all be stock market millionaires. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never had any luck trying to time the market. The fantasy hockey market, however, I’ve had a pretty darn good track record with. And the sole reason is this: You have to ignore your heart and trust your gut. 

When a player is struggling, especially a good player, the inclination is to try and sell them before their value plummets even further. If we had access to trade data from the three big fantasy hockey platforms, I would guess that Elias Pettersson has been moved 100x more frequently this year than any other year he’s been in the league.