Maximizing your games played

I will always be an advocate for being able to maximize games played in fantasy hockey. Quantity is better than quality when it comes to streamer-level skaters. I probably don't need to convince many of you of this, but let's take a look at an example:

Here are Player A's average stats in Goals, Assists, Points, Power Play Points, Shots, Hits and Blocks (.2 G, .5 A, .7 P, .1 PPP, 2.5 S, 1 H, .5 B). It is fully reasonable to use the average stats (maybe we look at the last 2 weeks or the last month, depending on the situation) to predict the most likely outcome for upcoming games.

Player B's average stats aren't quite as good (.15 G, .35 A, .5 P, .08 PPP, 1.8 S, .8 H, .3 B), but we can get 2 games played out of him, whereas we can only fit in one game played from player A. To predict the total stats from player B, we would multiply his most likely outcome by 2 to get the most likely total stats for the stream.

Player B (.3, .7 A, 1 P, .16 PPP, 3.6 S, 1.6 H, .6 B) beats out player A in every category now. Take the quantity over quality.

Obviously, our streamers aren't putting up fractions of stats and there us tons of variance that is unaccounted for when using a simple model like average stats. It is entirely possible for Player A to have a career night scoring a hat trick, but that is not the most likely outcome. I like to play fantasy hockey using the most likely outcome rather than a hunch. No matter what the actual result is, it was always more likely for Player B to put up better numbers over 2 games, than player A in one game.

Heavy Nights and Off-nights

To really maximize our games played, we must take a look at our team on each night of the week to determine if we can even fit in our streamers. In most leagues, on heavy nights, we have to bench some players. Adding a streamer just to put him on your bench (or just to have to put someone else on the bench in place of the streamer) is a waste of an add. It does not maximize games played.

Eastern Streamers for the Final Stretch

With all that said, let's take a look at the final stretch and see who can help your team the most. 30 teams play on Thursday, making it very unlikely that you have any room for help that night. Tuesday is another heavy night and most teams may not have room either (but you better check). The only true off-nights left are Wednesday and Friday, and the teams that play on Wednesday do not play on Friday, and vice versa. So, if you can't fit anyone in on Tuesday or Thursday, you can only get 1 Game Played per add/stream. The question is, do you save all of your adds for Friday? Or do you use some for Wednesday? This might come down to the quality of the streamers as there is no games played difference here. Let's see who you can stream:

Wednesday Streamers

In the NYI vs. MTL game, I would target Islander streamers first. The Islanders will likely need to win this game to hold onto their playoff spot. The Islanders are much stronger and will be giving it there all, whereas Montreal has nothing to play for. Here are the streamer options:

Jean-Gabriel Pageau (19% owned on Yahoo) is on a 3-game point streak and will likely get you two or three hits even if he doesn't produce in the points department. I would bet on a point against a weak Montreal team though.

Kyle Palmieri (8% owned on Yahoo) is more of a boom or bust play. He has three multi-point games in his last 11, but also six zero-point games. He is on PP1 and plays on an even-strength line with the Islander's best scorer (Brock Nelson). Against a weak Montreal team, I would bet on the boom for Wednesday.

Pierre Engvall (1% owned on Yahoo) is skating on a line with Nelson and Palmieri. He's not the flashiest player, but can get the job done at even strength. I do think this line will succeed on Wednesday and Engvall will get a point.

Rafael Harvey-Pinard (6% owned on Yahoo) is on line 1 and PP1. He's started to increase his shot rate recently and is good for a Hit a game. He's the best option if you wanted to target Montreal, though I would target the Islanders first.

Joel Armia (0% owned on Yahoo) scored a hat trick last week against Washington and is seeing time on PP1. He can put up a bit of help in the peripheral categories and there is upside for points. This is a dart throw for deep leagues.

If you are strictly chasing Hits, look no further than Michael Pezzetta (1% owned) or Cal Clutterbuck (2 % owned) to but up anywhere from 3-8 hits. I would target Pezzetta first as the Islanders will probably have the puck more in this game.

Friday Streamers

If you want to save your adds for Friday, I would suggest making these adds on Thursday instead. Set you lineup for Thursday, and whoever you are benching (if they don't play Friday) should be dropped. You can then make the Friday add a day early to beat your opponent to your sought-after streamers.

In the BUF vs. CBJ game, both teams won't really have much to play for, and both teams are near the bottom of the league in expected goals against the past two weeks. I would expect a high scoring game and the streamers below could secure the championship for you. Buffalo is much stronger offensively, so I'm more inclined to target them, but Columbus has some low owned streamer options as well.

Casey Mittelstadt (9% owned on Yahoo) is on fire lately, scoring 11 points in his last 7 games. He's not on PP1, but is getting plenty of opportunities at even-strength lined up with Jeff Skinner and Alex Tuch. He's fired 7 shots on goal in his last 2 games and is my top target for a Friday stream.

Dylan Cozens (61% owned on Yahoo) is a great option for shallower leagues. He has exposure to Tage Thompson at even-strength and on PP1. He has 6 points in his last 5 games and would be my go-to grab in shallower leagues.

Boone Jenner (38% owned on Yahoo) is a great option if available. The add on Thursday would be smart for Boone. He's on PP1 and line 1 playing with two highly skilled scores in Gaudreau and Marchenko. This should be ahigh scoring game and the scoring should come from this line.

Kirill Marchenko (2% owned on Yahoo) is seeing tons of ice-time lately on both line 1 and PP1. He hasn't had many points of late, but fires shots on goal and has a great opportunity to capitalize in this final game of the season. I would bet on at least 3 shots on goal and, at least 1 goal in what should be a high scoring game.

Jordan Greenway (1% owned) is playing at even-strength with Tage Thompson and Cozens. He will likely help you out with a couple of Hits and will benefit from any bursts from the other two skilled players on his line.

Good luck in the final stretch everyone! Thanks for reading. Feel free to follow me on Twitter @fantasycheddar (https://twitter.com/fantasycheddar)