Welcome back to another edition of Lining Up. This week we will examine how some of the recent big trades have impacted the line deployment of respective teams as well as how each new acquisition is faring in their new roles. We will also touch on a few quick hits who are seeing favourable line combinations to stream in for your home stretch into the playoffs.

Let's dive in.

Ryan O'Reilly – Noel Acciari

Starting with the most recent headliner trade that Toronto made, Ryan O'Reilly has really benefitted from the move. He has been playing alongside John Tavares and Mitch Marner on what has become a stacked line and after a big four points against Buffalo last night, now has five points in his first three games with Toronto. He also has contributed in peripheral categories with eight shots, 20 FOW and a 69.8 FO% in the same span. On the season, O'Reilly has been having a down year, the worst in fact since the 2010-2011 season. With the trade and this new deployment however, his time and pace in St. Louis is not indicative of how he should fare in Toronto. Owners can expect for him to perform at least a 60-point pace for the remainder of the season. The only thing missing from completely launching O'Reilly into top-tier fantasy asset down the stretch is the power-play time. He has so far not been able to crack the top unit which is heavily used in Toronto. Unfortunately, managers will just have to settle for playing with two top talents on a high-octane offense. Oh well.

The other part of the big deal was Noel Acciari. When viewing his player profile over on Frozen Tools he has a cold streak of only one point in 12 games but that single point was a goal in his first three games with Toronto. Similar to O'Reilly but to a lesser extent, the move to a higher scoring team could marginally improve his production. So far, he has been playing alongside Alexander Kerfoot which is a nice upgrade from one of his most common linemates in Nathan Walker and Alexey Toropchenko. He is receiving very similar ice time to his TOI average with St. Louis and in leagues that count peripheral categories, he has already taken seven shots and dished out 13 hits.

The only player who is seemingly not benefitting from the new trades is Alexander Kerfoot. After playing predominantly on the third line with appearances alongside John Tavares, Kerfoot has been playing Acciari and Zach Aston-Reese on the fourth line since the trade. Needless to say, his 37-point pace on the season will not improve with this kind of deployment and given the minimal peripheral contribution, his value takes a hit here.

O'Reilly is only 55% rostered while Acciari is 11% rostered in Yahoo leagues. With Toronto playing twice more this week, consider streaming in these options.

Vladimir Tarasenko

Another trade that happened recently was Vladimir Tarasenko moving to the New York Rangers in a big move. He has been deployed on two lines, one with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider, the other with Vincent Trocheck and countryman Artemi Panarin. In his more recent games, he has been with the latter but regardless has so far notched four points in his first six games. He is without a power-play point but has been playing on the top unit in New York alongside Zibanejad, Kreider, Panarin and Adam Fox. Despite having good deployment in St. Louis, including a 59.3 OZ%, his value takes a boost here by virtue of being on a team that over the last month has been very strong offensively. In the last month alone, New York has the most goals for in the league, whereas St. Louis sits in the bottom ten teams.

Max Domi

Speaking of trades, Patrick Kane has really flipped a switch lately, perhaps in an attempt to sell himself to a dwindling list of potential suitors prior to the deadline. One major beneficiary is his frequent linemate Max Domi who is on his own hot streak with eight points in his past four games. He is having his best season since he scored 72 points in 2018-2019 with a 63-point pace and is also receiving the most ice time of his career, averaging just over 18 minutes. He is also receiving the highest %PP and PPTOI average. Domi is also maintaining this hot streak while playing within his normal metrics as indicated with a 12.1 Shooting %, 8.5 5on5 Shooting %, 2.5 PTS/60 and 1018 PDO. With Chicago being so bereft of talent this year, Domi was the easy candidate to receive prominent deployment on the top power-play and with Kane. His ice time and power-play deployment may not carry the same value here as it might on a top-10 offensive team, but a lesser player might make less of such an opportunity and it is clear that Kane has more to give.

Chicago plays twice more this week including a Saturday matchup against San Jose before playing four games next week that kicks off with a back-to-back against Anaheim and Arizona. Assuming Patrick Kane has not been traded by that point, Domi could be in for a continued hot streak against three non-playoff teams so long as Kane keeps putting on a show.