Lining Up: Rakell Teaming Up With Getzlaf and Perry

Fred Poulin

2016-11-29

A look at the hottest lines in the National Hockey League since the beginning of the season, including a few defensemen producing offensively. You will also find below the "Cold as ice" line of the week.

 

Hot forwards

 

Rickard RakellRyan GetzlafCorey Perry (Anaheim)

Sliding in alongside Anaheim's big two, Rakell has been racking up points since he signed his contract extension, recording 12 points in his last 13 games. With four goals in his last five games, Rakell is bound to surpass his career-best of 43 points in 2015-16 and reach 50 points for the first time of his young career. With five points in his last six games, Getzlaf now has 18 points in 19 games. With only two goals this season, he will find the back of the net sooner rather than later and should easily reach the 70-point plateau after a disappointing 63 points last year. With five assists in his last six games, Perry also has 18 points this season, albeit in 22 games.  He has been piling up the assists, but his last goal dates back to late October. If both Perry and Getzlaf start scoring goals on a regular basis, the Ducks will be playoff-bound again this year.

EV Strength Production = 48 points

PP Production = 18 points

 

Tanner PearsonJeff CarterTyler Toffoli (Los Angeles)

With Anze Kopitar struggling offensively and missing time with an injury, this line has picked up the slack for Los Angeles. Led by Carter, who has recorded eight points in his last five games, this line has been red hot in recent games. With 19 points in 22 games, Carter will likely reach the 60-point mark for a third consecutive season. After a slow start, Toffoli has heated up with five points in his last five games for a total of14 points in 22 games. He will have to produce consistently to improve on last year's 58-point campaign. As for Pearson, he has two points in his last four games after recording only three points in the previous 12 games. The youngster had started the season with six points in four games prior to this slump. Let's hope he is getting hot once again!

EV Strength Production = 44 points

PP Production = 8 points

 

David PerronPaul StastnyJaden Schwartz (St. Louis)

The streaky Perron is currently riding a hot streak with 11 points in his last eight games, recording at least one point in each game. After two disappointing seasons away from St. Louis, Perron is back in familiar territory and he seems much more comfortable. Ride him while he is hot! After six points in his first three games, Stastny considerably slowed down until he recorded three points in his last four games. If we remove these two hot streaks, the Quebec-City native only has four points in 16 games on the season. With 46 and 49 points in the last two campaigns, I'm fairly confident his season totals will hover around the 45-50 point mark once again. After missing the first few games of the season, Schwartz now has 12 points in his past 11 games for the Blues. In this streak, he has recorded at least a point in his last seven games. Before an injury-marred 2015-16 season (22 pts in 33 games), Schwartz had recorded 62 and 55 points respectively. Another 60-point season is not out of reach this season for the skilled winger.

 

EV Strength Production = 43 points

PP Production = 13 points

 

Mike CammalleriTravis ZajacKyle Palmieri (New Jersey)

With seven goals and four assists for 11 points over the past five games, Cammalleri has been blazing hot for New Jersey. After failing to score in his first ten games and missing time with injury, Cammy is finally leading the goal-starving Devils offensively. If he can stay healthy until the end of the season (which is highly doubtful), he could hit the 60-point mark as he potted 38 points in only 42 games last season. With five points in his last three games and 15 points in 21 contests this year, Zajac is quietly having a solid season. Long gone are the 60+-point seasons, but Zajac is talented enough to record between 45-50 points. After a very slow start (five points in 13 games), Palmieri is slowly finding his name on the scoresheet more often with four points in his last six games. While I highly doubt he will come close to last season's 57-point season, Palmieri should be able to reach the 40-point plateau, especially if he can stay on this line for more than a few games.

 

EV Strength Production = 38 points

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PP Production = 10 points

 

Rene BourqueNathan MacKinnonMikko Rantanen (Colorado)

The Avalanche is struggling to score goals and MacKinnon is trying to reverse the trend with seven points in his last five games. He now has 15 points on the season and is looking to improve his career-best of 63 points recorded during his rookie season. The electrifying skater has yet to live up to his spectacular potential. Will his fourth year see the breakout everyone is looking for? With five points in his last four games, Rantanen is finally gaining the confidence he needed to produce at the highest level. The unheralded rookie now has eight points in 15 games and could become a sneaky waiver-wire pickup if he plays alongside MacKinnon over the long term. Finally, the least sexy player on this line is journeyman Rene Bourque, who managed to land a contract in the summer with the Avs. With six goals in his last 10 games, Bourque is a cheap option if you're looking for goals in a deep fantasy league. He has only one helper this season, so he's a one-dimensional player.

 

EV Strength Production = 31 points

PP Production = 9 points

 

 

 

Dynamic duo

Alec Martinez – Jake Muzzin (Los Angeles)

Following two 40-point seasons, fantasy owners were expecting Muzzin to have another solid offensive season for the Kings. However, with only two points in his first 18 games, Muzzin's owners were left with a sour taste in their mouth. Fortunately, the 27-year-old blueliner has recorded four points in his last four games and seems to find his groove back alongside his defensive partner. Stanley Cup hero Martinez has been on fire lately with three goals and two assists over his last five games. On the season, Martinez has five goals and nine helpers for 14 points, which is good for 8th in the NHL among defensemen. Playing on the first PP unit with Drew Doughty, Martinez makes for a solid waiver-wire pickup in deeper leagues.

EV Strength Production = 20 points

PP Production = 4 points

 

Cold as ice

Max PaciorettyTomas PlekanecBrendan Gallagher (Montreal)

With Alex Galchenyuk and Alexander Radulov doing most of the damage offensively for Montreal, head coach Michel Therrien reunited three slumping players who used to have success together in the past in hoping to jumpstart them. The experiment has yet to work as all three members of this line are still struggling mightily. Plekanec has only one goal this season (with six assists) after notching 54 points in 2015-16. The 34-year-old pivot is still efficient defensively, but he is not creating scoring chances anymore and his power play time has dropped considerably. After three consecutive seasons of at least 60 points, Pacioretty, the team captain, is having a hard time finding the back of the net with only five goals and nine assists for 14 points in 22 games. He has only one point in his last five games. Finally, with only three points over his past ten contests, Gallagher has cooled down greatly after potting seven points in his first seven games. With the Habs heading on the west coast this week (ANA, LAK, SJ and STL), don't expect much production from this line.

 

EV Strength Production = 33 points

PP Production = 6 points

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UPCOMING GAMES

Mar 28 - 19:03 OTT vs CHI
Mar 28 - 19:03 TOR vs WSH
Mar 28 - 19:03 MTL vs PHI
Mar 28 - 19:03 PIT vs CBJ
Mar 28 - 19:03 FLA vs NYI
Mar 28 - 19:03 CAR vs DET
Mar 28 - 20:03 MIN vs S.J
Mar 28 - 20:03 STL vs CGY
Mar 28 - 20:03 WPG vs VGK
Mar 28 - 21:03 EDM vs L.A
Mar 28 - 21:03 COL vs NYR
Mar 28 - 22:03 SEA vs ANA
Mar 28 - 22:03 VAN vs DAL
Mar 28 - 22:03 ARI vs NSH

Starting Goalies

Top Skater Views

  Players Team
TAGE THOMPSON BUF
JJ PETERKA BUF
ANTHONY DUCLAIR T.B
JORDAN GREENWAY BUF
JURAJ SLAFKOVSKY MTL

Top Goalie Profile Views

  Players Team
ALEKSEI KOLOSOV PHI
JOONAS KORPISALO OTT
KAREL VEJMELKA ARI
UKKO-PEKKA LUUKKONEN BUF
JUSTUS ANNUNEN COL

LINE COMBOS

  Frequency NSH Players
22.6 RYAN O'REILLY GUSTAV NYQUIST FILIP FORSBERG
21.9 TOMMY NOVAK MARK JANKOWSKI LUKE EVANGELISTA
18.6 COLE SMITH KIEFER SHERWOOD MICHAEL MCCARRON

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