Our Weekend Streamers series aims to help you steal your matchup by getting the most value possible out of the limited transactions in your fantasy league. Every Friday, I break down the teams and skaters with the most streamer-friendly schedules over the weekend.
This weekend features six games on Friday, 11 on Saturday, and seven on Sunday. There are a whopping nine teams rocking the Friday/Sunday schedule this weekend, giving us plenty of streaming options to consider. After combing through the wire, I’ve narrowed down the top options at each ownership range in Yahoo! Fantasy leagues, starting with 40% – 31%. Good luck, and happy streaming!
40% – 31%: Nick Schmaltz (C/RW – 36% Owned)
Just like so many other times this season, Schmaltz tops the list of streaming targets heading into the weekend. As I’ve said countless times before, Schmaltz is truly worthy of a long-term roster spot across all formats, but his undervalued ownership rates continue to make him available as a streaming option in shallower leagues. In terms of his usage, not much has changed for Schmaltz since we last spoke about him. He continues to see plenty of minutes at 5v5 as well as on the power-play, skating with Logan Cooley and Clayton Keller on the team’s first line and power-play unit. The Hockey Club from Utah is averaging 30 scoring chances and 12 high-danger chances at 5v5 with their top trio on the ice.
Schmaltz has consistently produced all season long, racking up 15 goals and 35 assists across 65 games, but has been particularly productive of late. The 29-year-old winger has four goals and five assists in his last nine games, averaging nearly three shots per game across that stretch. Look for Schmaltz and his linemates to stay hot this weekend across a relatively tame matchup spread. Utah heads to Seattle on Friday and Vancouver on Sunday.
30% – 21%: Mason McTavish (C – 23% Owned)
Tagged as a potential breakout candidate in fantasy for the last couple of pre-seasons, the 3rd overall pick in the 2021 NHL Entry draft may finally be starting to recognize his true potential. Dating back to the middle of January, McTavish is up to 21 points across his last 23 games, and appears to have taken his game to another level since being paired with fellow young guns Cutter Gauthier and Sam Colangelo at 5v5.
Unsurprisingly, the three of them are far from a shutdown unit defensively, but Duck fans are getting to enjoy some incredibly high-event hockey when they are out there together at 5v5. Of course, for fantasy purposes, all we’re really concerned about is the amount of offensive action a player is involved in, and the Ducks are averaging a robust 32 scoring chances and 16 high-danger chances per 60 when McTavish, Gauthier, and Colangelo are on the ice. With seven points in his last six games, McTavish is undoubtedly the ring leader of Anaheim’s exciting young trio. He’s one of the hottest players in the league, and with a pair of matchups against the Predators and Blues on the docket, there’s no reason to expect any sort of drop-off in McTavish’s production this weekend.
20% – 11%: Kyle Palmieri (RW – 16% owned)
Up next we have another recurring favourite in Kyle Palmieri. Brock Nelson’s departure may have dampened Palmieri’s quality of linemates, but it also created plenty of extra ice-time and shooting opportunities for him to assume. Though it’s yet to result in any concrete production, Palmieri is averaging four shots and over 20 minutes in ice time in the three games since the Isles traded Nelson. Of course it would be nice to only recommend players in the midst of a heater as streaming targets, but where there’s smoke there’s fire. If Palmieri continues to see this sort of opportunity and shooting volume, then he is destined to burst into flames before too long. You can stream him with confidence this weekend, even despite a difficult matchup spread against the Oilers and Panthers.
10% – 0%: Cutter Gauthier (LW – 8% Owned) and Sam Colangelo (RW – 4% owned)
Of course, I had to revisit the Ducks dynamic young trio when dumpster diving for deep-league streaming targets this weekend. Gauthier is the primary shooting option on the line. He is averaging 2.5 shots per game in his time together with McTavish and Colangelo. Oddly enough, he’s also the only one not to find the back of the net in those six games, but he has racked up seven assists. The high-event nature of this line combined with Gauthier’s shot volume and playmaking ability make him a more than viable target this weekend.
And of course, If I’m on board with targeting Gauthier and McTavish, then I have to consider Colangelo a worthy consolation prize in deeper leagues. A second-round pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, Colangelo enjoyed the most productive stretch of his young career in his first four games with McTavish and Gauthier. He managed to light the lamp five times and added one assist before being held off the scoresheet in each of the Ducks last two contests. Colangelo doesn’t offer as sturdy of a floor as McTavish or even Gauthier, but I want as much exposure to this kind of high-event hockey as a I can get.