Categories counted. Games and starts counted. Then the memo argues.
Fantasy hockey is nine numbers, a schedule and two goalies. Fantasy Memo computes all of it in the open — every skater and goalie in your categories against your league's pool, times the games and starts before the week ends — and uses the model for the three things it is good at: reading this week's reporting, writing a clear argument, and arguing back when you disagree.
Every slot has an Analysis. The G is the close one this week.
Both are expected to start 4 of their team's 5; Vasilevskiy is worth more per start in this league's goalie categories (4.5 to 3.6).
This week's value: a per-start z-score across this league's goalie categories, against the goalies your league rosters, times the starts he is expected to get. It compares players; it never predicts points.
G unchanged. The consultant checked the claim and held the number. The exchange stays on the slot; withdraw it and the number goes back.
Not a screenshot: one slot's analysis, played through. The numbers are the board's on this season's projections; the exchange is illustrative. Hover to pause, tap a bar to jump.
Five steps, in this order — because the order is the point
Every roster, the scoring, and how lineups lock.
Connect Yahoo or ESPN with a league id (two cookies if private); anything else by pasting or screenshotting your roster. Fantasy Memo reads the categories or the points-per-stat, whether lineups lock daily or weekly, every team's roster and set lineup, the matchups and the standings. It never writes anything back. Reading the whole league is what makes the rest possible: the category projection needs your opponent's starters, and a trade has to improve their lineup too.
Skaters against skaters, goalies against goalies — not a generic top 200.
This season's projections, blended with the actual lines as they come in, become a z-score in each of your categories against the players your league actually rosters. Goals against are measured below what the pool would allow in the same minutes, saves above the pool's rate on the same shots, so a goalie's rates carry his workload. Punt a category and its weight drops — the whole board reorders. That profile, without the schedule, is the season value; with the schedule it becomes this week's value: per game times games, per start times starts.
A number you can take apart.
The lineup is the exact best assignment of your players to C, LW, RW, D, G and UTIL by this week's value — a forward eligible at F or UTIL goes where he does the most good. Every slot has an Analysis: the starter beside every player who fits, how each number was made, and any free agent who would beat him this week. The matchup is every category projected from each side's starters times their games, with the swing categories and the one move that flips each. Streams are valued for the games, adds for the season. The weeks ahead show light weeks and thin slots from the real schedule.
Argued, not ranked. "Skip" is an answer.
Monday morning the model gets the computed moves and the research and is told: argue each one, say skip when it is not worth it, and never invent a move. It knows the difference between a stream and an add, between this week's value and the season's, and that goalie categories are decided by starts. The arithmetic ran first, so it cannot tell you to start a player with no games.
A consultant, not a verdict. You ask, we answer, you decide.
Disagree with a slot? Make your case in a sentence — he's on the first power-play unit now, the tandem has changed, the return date is Thursday. The consultant sees the same numbers you do and the research behind them, checks a factual claim against current reporting when it needs to, and answers: held, partly conceded or agreed. When you are right it leans the player for the week (never more than 15%) and recomputes the lineup on the spot.
Monday memo. A check before puck drop. Every night if your league is daily.
The lineup with games and starts counted, the category matchup with the swing categories, streams, adds for good, the trade, the light weeks ahead, the league.
Daily-lineup leagues: an open slot tonight, a benched player with a game, a goalie start worth making. The Daily Memo add-on ($15 a season) turns the check into a written note.
Weekly-lineup leagues. No model, no cost: the arithmetic re-runs against injuries and the schedule; an email only if something needs a hand.
Roster, Matchup and Standings with the week arrows, a day tab per game night, the Analysis on every slot, the card on every name, and the consultant when you disagree.
Questions
Does the AI pick my lineup?
No. Arithmetic picks it — a per-game contribution across your league's categories, times the games the player has this week (starts, for a goalie), zero if he is out. The assignment across C/LW/RW/D/G/UTIL is solved exactly. The model never chooses a player; it reads the reporting, writes the memo, and answers you when you disagree.
How are goalies valued against skaters?
Separately, then together. Goalie categories are scored against the goalies your league rosters and skater categories against the skaters; each player is then measured against his own replacement level and the two are put on one axis by how much of the week's categories each group carries per roster spot. A starting goalie ranks with the top skaters; a tandem goalie does not.
What counts as a goalie's week?
His expected starts: his share of his team's games, from the projections and this season's starts as they come in, times the games his team plays this week. His per-start line is what he does when he plays; the two multiplied are what he adds to your week.
Does it handle points leagues?
Yes. The same per-game lines are scored with your league's points-per-stat instead of z-scores — ESPN's defaults are read from the league — and the matchup verdict is a ratio instead of a category count.
Weekly or daily lineups?
Both. Yahoo and ESPN set lineups daily; some leagues lock for the week. The app reads which: a daily league gets a lineup per game night and a check every night; a weekly league gets one optimal lineup and a stream phrased for next week if this one is locked.
How current is the injury information?
ESPN's NHL injury feed is read every two hours: the designation, the body part where it is given, the expected return and the note as written. Out means no games until the return date; IR and LTIR mean out of the lineup; day-to-day is flagged, not discounted — check the morning skate.
What if the AI is down on a Monday?
You still get the computed moves: the lineup, the category projection with the swing categories, the streams, the adds for good, the goalie starts, the trades. The memo degrades to the arithmetic; it never disappears.