Today we are going to dig into some of our superstars. Well in reality we are using them to get at some players who you may be interested in considering for your roster, but still, we are going to start with superstars. The point here is lines matter, deployment matters, and the players who get to play with elite producers usually benefit.

This doesn't necessarily mean that a good strategy is to chase every player who gets to line up with Connor McDavid, because sometimes these things just don't work out, but it is something that is good to keep an eye on because when it does work the adds are completely worth it.

In order to dig in today I am running the Scoring Leaders report to get our top producers, using the Last Game lines tool to get an idea of who everyone is playing with, and then the Percent Rostered report to give an idea as to how available these folks are. The tables that I generate from these reports are slightly modified, the columns have been rearranged slightly, or columns removed so they fit better in this format. All data was pulled on December 14th prior to games Thursday evening.

First up let's take a look at our top producers thus far in 23-24. I am sorting this by points per game and have a cut off of at least ten games played.

There aren't a ton of surprises here. Nikita Kucherov has just been on fire all season. McDavid had a slow period but has been back to his old self as of late. Jack Hughes and David Pastrnak have been phenomenal, and while J.T. Miller has slowed a little bit lately, he is still producing and ranked highly overall. Vaguely interesting for sure and we could dig into each and see if their point pace is for real, but ultimately what I am interested in is which players are getting the opportunity to play with these superstars? One caveat I will give here is most of these players are putting up a lot of power-play points, but they are on top power plays with other players who are widely rostered. The best chance we have to grab someone are the folks who get access to these guys at even strength, so that is what we are focusing on today.

First up, Kucherov.

As of Tampa's game (Dec 12th) Kucherov was playing with Brayden Point and Brandon Hagel. That line has been pretty consistent, but not universally so. There have been times and even quite recently when Alex Barre-Boulet was getting a turn on the line. In fact, as of December 13th he was there at practice during line rushes. His rostered percent numbers are incredibly low, and he hasn't exactly been lighting the league on fire, but he bears watching. He put up seven points over an eight game stretch in October which is the only time this season he has gotten over 15 minutes of ice time with any consistency. It is very much with keeping an eye on that top line spot to see if Barre-Boulet can get another run there.

Over Edmonton we can take a look at Connor McDavid's line.

This one has shifted over the course of the year, but recently it has been Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. At times Edmonton has loaded up the line with Leon Draisaitl, sometimes it has included Evander Kane, and briefly it included Connor Brown or Warren Foegle. Generally speaking, this hasn't been a worthwhile position to chase. Either it is filled with guys who are already highly rostered (like Hyman, Kane, and RNH), or with guys who get a shot for a game or two, do nothing, and then are swapped out. Plus, it seems to change a lot.  As tempting as the winger spot next to McDavid is chasing the player just doesn't seem worth it.

Over in New Jersey the Jack Hughes spot has been a great place to produce, especially to start the year.

Things have shifted at times in New Jersey but Jesper Bratt and Tyler Toffoli have spent the most time with Hughes, and were his linemates during New Jersey's December 13th contest. There have been occasional shifts though. Timo Meier was there for a couple of games, and as recently a portion of morning skate on the 13th. Erik Haula was also briefly there before his injury, and Alexander Holtz was there for a few days at practice as well. Meier, Toffoli, and Bratt are highly rostered and the most likely linemates so there isn't much actionable advice here, but I would certainly be interested in a Haula, or a Holtz if they happen to get another shot in the future.

After losing their top two centers in the off-season Pavel Zacha has been out recently. That has meant some opportunity for folks down the lineup. Recently the other winger has been Jake Debrusk. He has not performed amazingly well recently and still can't seem to get onto the top power play. Morgan Geekie stepped into the center role in the game on December 13th, but Matthew Poitras has also been getting some looks. Geekie has put up points in consecutive games, while Poitras was power play with Pasta in that December 13th game. Both are worth a look while Zacha is out. Boston plays next on the 15th so keep an eye on that top line.

Vancouver has been a great place to play all season. They are getting excellent production from top lines and defense alike. Recently Nils Hoglander has stepped into the role of winger alongside JT Miller and Brock Boeser. For much of the beginning of the season that spot belonged to Phillip Di Giuseppe. Hoglander has now put up four points in his last four games so the combination appears to be clicking for the moment. He is very low rostered so is certainly worth a look as long as this deployment holds.

That is all for this week.

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