Good morning, Aaron here with this week's 'Lining Up'. I’m back from my Disney vacation and it is now the day after trade deadline day. Before we get into yesterday’s trades, I want to look at how a few players who were traded earlier in the season are doing. Then I am going to look at a couple of key players who were traded yesterday on deadline day.

Line combination information from our own Dobber Frozen Tools.

*

Robby Fabbri

When Fabbri was with St. Louis Blues, he constantly had to deal with being injured so he never really got a shot at a middle-six role. That all changed once he was traded to the Detroit Red Wings. He has been up and down the lineup, but he has played with Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi 29 percent of his time at even strength. Since being moved back on November 6th, Fabbri has scored 12 goals and 16 assists in 46 games which is .60 points per game. That is almost 20 points better than his career average during his time with the Blues. I think being put into a situation to succeed has certainly helped Fabbri. Look out for him next year as a late-round sleeper pick. With all the injuries Fabbri has gone through with his knees it has probably limited his off-season workouts. If he can get in a good full off-season and come into camp healthy, I expect him to only get better. He could easily be a 60- or 65-point guy. 

Taylor Hall

Since being traded to Arizona back on December 16, Taylor hall has scored nine goals and added 16 assists in 30 games. Not quite a point-per-game player the Arizona Coyotes were expecting. He has played primarily with Connor Garland and Christian Dvorak. When you look at his line mates' stats before he joined the team, Conor Garland has had a small bump in points per game. Christan Dvorak's point per game has actually gone down from .60 to .56. Usually when you trade for a player of Taylor Hall's calibre you are hoping he makes everyone around him better. It doesn't look like that is the case here in Arizona. In fact, one might say they were better off without him. Since the trade, Arizona has a losing record of 12 wins and 18 losses. Let's hope that turns around and Taylor Hall can get going over the last 17 games of the season to help you make your fantasy playoffs this year.

Jason Zucker

This trade happened just 15 days ago so it might be a little too early to tell how it will play out, but I imagine that being paired with Sidney Crosby will do wonders for a player. It also gives Crosby a goal scorer on his line to replace Jake Guentzel. His other line mate is Dominik Simon but with all the trades the Pens did yesterday I imagine someone else might get this deployment. Anyways back to Zucker. In seven games with the Pens he has three goals and 2 assists. That is .71 points per game. Now that is a small sample size but if he does stick with Crosby for the rest of the season, I imagine he will get closer to a point per game player. We will call that the Crosby effect.

*

Trade deadline day happened yesterday and there were a lot of players on the move. The day started with one of the bigger names on the trade block getting moved. There was a surprise move by a Florida team and an older star got moved as he is still looking for a shot at the cup. All in all, we had 31 deals done yesterday so I obviously can't talk about every one of them. Here are a few that stuck out to me.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau

The New York Islanders made a splash by sending three draft picks to Ottawa for Pageau. The Islanders immediately signed him to a six-year deal worth an AAV of $5 million a year. That may be a little high for a third line centre but it certainly makes the Islanders deeper at this position. I would expect Pageau to take up third line duties and will get time on the second power play unit and the penalty kill. Expect Pageau to take a few games to get going with his new team as he has to learn a new system in a short span of time. Being that the Islanders are a defense first team, I would expect his production to slide for the rest of the season. He might be a good trade candidate for you.

Vincent Trocheck

This trade caught me off guard a little as a Trocheck owner. He was moved to the Carolina Hurricanes. Four players went back the other way to the Florida Panther, the main piece going back was forward Erik Haula. This move will be good for Trocheck, but it will take him a few games to get over the shock of being traded. Hopefully it lights a fire under him and Trocheck owners can be happy with a close to point per game pace he had from two years ago. I imagine he will take the spot on the third line alongside Martin Necas. Trocheck will also garner top power play duty as well. If Trocheck is still on your wire go out and grab him.

Patrick Marleau

Marleau was moved yesterday, going to just his third team in his long career. OK, fourth, but he never played for Carolina. The Pittsburgh Penguins gave up a conditional 2021 third round draft pick to get him. This only helps Marleau as he gets a chance to play for a team geared for a long playoff run. He will probably end up on the third line with Jared McCann and Patric Hornqvist but I wouldn't be surprised if he gets a little taste of what playing with Sidney Crosby is like.

Andreas Athanasiou

As if Edmonton didn't have enough speed coming from their star Connor McDavid, the Oilers went out and traded for the speedy winger Athanasiou. They also received Ryan Kuffner in the deal. Going back to Detroit was a couple of draft picks and Sam Gagner. Athanasiou might get a chance to play with McDavid once he returns but, in the meantime, he will probably line up on the second or third line. This is a good move for Athanasiou as it gets him out of Detroit and onto a team that is on their way to the playoffs. The move also gives him a fresh start with a new team and a new system. Let's see if he can get his plus minus up and not finish with a -50. He may however challenge Draisaitl for DHT's. If you don't know what that is then have a read here. Either way the move will be a boost for Athanasiou's fantasy stock so it might be a sneaky play to pluck him off the wire before someone else in your league gets the idea.

Thanks for reading this week's 'Lining Up'

Aaron