Welcome to another addition of Lining Up. This week will examine a few players either riding hot streaks or who are finding themselves in very good situations that could pay big dividends for your roster. As well, early considerations need to be made for looking at players who will be leaned on heavily after the All-Star break. Some teams have dense schedules while others are very sparse which may cause managers to drop lesser players.

Be sure to continue monitoring your league schedule changes with All-Star break. Let's get started.

Alex Formenton – Drake Batherson – Tim Stützle

Speaking of teams that will be playing a lot of games following the All-Star Weekend, OTT actually is the team that plays more than any other so a recent line combination needs to be looked at.

Batherson is having a great season so far, 12 goals, 21 points and on pace for 90 overall. Plus he is contributing in the peripherals with over two hits and almost two and a half shots per game. Since returning from the long COVID break he has pedestrian five points in six games but best not to bet against him. He is the driver of this line but Stützle is no slouch either. He currently has four points in his last five games and so is keeping up with Batherson. On the season he has an unremarkable 19 points in 34 games but he has been receiving 61.4% of the power play share. So long as he is lining up with Batherson at EV and on the PP he is worth a look at only 34% rostered in Yahoo leagues.

Stützle actually has seen more time with Formenton than with Batherson so far this season and on two separate lines, the pair have operated with a corsifor% of 52.6 and 60. The two other players joining them? Connor Brown and Zach Sanford. So to see these two now get a crack with Batherson, who is arguably the best player on the team right now, means they could be in for a big bump. Formenton is right behind Stützle on the season with 17 points in 32 games and contributes nicely like Batherson does but to a lesser extent, over one hit and nearly two shots on goal per game. Formenton is on a bit of a hot streak with three points in his last three games and is only 2% rostered in Yahoo leagues.

Circling back to the schedule highlights the importance of considering an OTT addition to your lineup, reminder that this team plays six games which is more than any other team following the All-Star Weekend. For reference seven teams play two games or fewer. They also play five more times between the remainder of this week and next.

Tyler Toffoli – Nick Suzuki

It is no secret that MTL has been flat out awful at times this year. Recently however, there have been bright spots and the duo of Toffoli and Suzuki is one of them. While on the season both players have been performing below expectations, they were each bound for some positive regression and are currently riding hot streaks. Toffoli has six points in his last four games and Suzuki has five points in his last three. Although they have had a few players trying out for third wheel on this line, these two have played consistently together. Over 100 minutes played and over 30% of their time with each other.

Keep in mind that once you have hit rock bottom there is nowhere to go but up! MTL plays twice more this week.

Jesper Bratt

A little over a month ago, the line combination of Bratt, Andreas Johnsson and Dawson Mercer was examined. At the time, he was at 24 points in 29 games and only 54% rostered in Yahoo leagues. Since then, Bratt has been on a tear with 12 points in his last 8 games to bring him up to one point shy of a point-per-game pace on the year. The best part is that Bratt is now lining up with Jack Hughes and Yegor Sharangovich and they are dominating with a CF% of 60% in over 70 minutes of playing time together. At 53% his percent rostered has barely changed, and N.J plays five times before the All-Star break and after that, they have one of the more dense schedules.

Jared Spurgeon

Rounding out the column, Spurgeon has been on a particular tear since his return from injury. With six points in his last three games and three of those points coming on the power play. On the season, he is on pace for over 50 points, seeing over 60% of the PP and is getting that share with the top power-play unit. At only 52% rostered in Yahoo leagues and with three more games coming prior to the break, Spurgeon could be just what your squad needs if you are lacking in contributions from your defense.

Ilya Mikheyev

Recently noted by Luke Fox on Sportsnet, Sheldon Keefe is switching up the top lines and it looks as though Mikheyev is going to get some time with John Tavares and Mitch Marner. On the season, Mikheyev has seven points in nine games played to go along with nearly three shots on goal per game. Although this is preliminary and a game has not been played yet, consider picking him up in advance of your opponents. This is especially true given the upcoming All-Star schedule where TOR is one of the busiest teams during this stretch.