If hockey is king in Canada, then it would figure that fantasy hockey would be the king of fantasy sports in the country with the superior national anthem. Following that logic, two-time FSWA Hockey Writer of the Year Sean Allen would be fantasy king of Canada. Logic is neat, eh?

The 2008 and 2009 award winner knows that hockey pools still dominate the “fantasy” landscape in Canada, but stateside fantasy hockey has a devoted following who pepper Allen with questions. He had been nominated for the award in 2006 and 2007, but he was able to burst through as a winner in the following two seasons. Allen said, “Not many folks get into the fantasy industry to make a living, we do it because we are passionate about it and enjoy sharing our opinions. To put in the hours and effort you do as a fantasy writer and to be highlighted for your work is just incredible. It keeps you going. To win again in 2009 was just more of the same great feeling.”

Allen got his start in 2004 when he sent in a sample article to the TalentedMrRoto.com after noticing their lack of fantasy hockey content. His writing career was put on hold because of the lockout the following year, but he said, “I put in my hours over the next year on TMR’s very active message boards and built up a bit of a profile on the site. When the NHL was set to return from the lockout I got back in touch with the TMR folks and they gave me a chance to write for them.” From there, he made himself indispensible by writing about a variety of topics (including baseball, basketball, and football) as well as being a presence in podcasts. He noted, “By the time TMR made the move over to ESPN, I was lucky enough to be among those to move with him.”

Among the things that make Allen special is that he is unafraid to take risky picks. He relishes speculating on rookies even though minor league statistics are somewhat unreliable when translating to the NHL. He also likes to guess who is going to have the hot hand between the pipes. Allen said, “Goaltenders are easily the toughest aspect of hockey to predict and there is no formula that can be applied to their statistics to come up with anything useful from year to year.”

One needs to look no further than Allen’s self-described complicated relationship with Bruin net minder Tim Thomas. Like many goalies, Thomas has been inconsistent, which is often causes headaches for fantasy writers. Allen said that Thomas’ unconventional flopping (similar to Dominik Hasek) had caused him to think the Bruin goalie was somewhat of a fluke. He said, “With much trepidation I endorsed him as a top-10 goalie (in 2008-09) and he came through in spades as the best fantasy netminder hands down. I dropped my guard and decided to fully invest in Tim Thomas as a first-round asset this season. Boy, oh, boy, was that a bad idea.”

Allen was more proud of his prediction about Ducks’ center Ryan Getzlaf for the 2007-08 season. Getzlaf had shown promise in his first two seasons as an Anaheim skater, but Allen went all-in with him prior to his third campaign. Allen noted “I committed to him as a top-10 player and potential first-round investment. I caught some flack for suggesting a 58-point player should go before a laundry list of proven commodities, but I was vindicated when he produced 82 points, a plus-32, 94 PIMS and an incredible 36 power-play points. Easy top-five value for someone everyone else pegged as a third or fourth rounder.”

While that prediction and many others came through for Allen, his advice to writers new to the fantasy realm is to “check your pride at the door.” In any venture in which you speculate on an unknown future, you will be wrong … a lot. Allen said it is not a fantasy writer’s job to be right all of the time. They should “offer an opinion, entertain and keep people informed.” If you are right once in a while, so much the better. He also noted the flooded market in which “For every fantasy writer there are 10 people who are willing to actually do your job. You have to be willing to put in your pro bono hours before you get anywhere. Do the work, do it well and be willing to do it for free. Those who are willing to dedicate the time for nothing will get noticed and will get somewhere. It just takes time.”