Good day everyone, and welcome to the latest edition of Lining Up! I'm your host, Eli Feldman.

With the NHL trade deadline just a few days away, NHL front offices are bracing themselves for change: teams in "win-now" mode will mortgage the future to go all-in for Lord Stanley, while teams out of the playoff picture will say goodbye to current roster players to build a better tomorrow.

As general managers anticipate an inevitable swell of deals leading up to Friday at 3PM ET, fantasy managers continue holding their collective breath. To run the marathon of a fantasy hockey season, successful managers keep a constant eye out for lineup changes – and pounce when opportunity knocks. Depending on the size and competitiveness of a league, this could mean staying up late to watch the nightcaps; waiting for the right time to make a roster move; or simply taking a flyer on a player poised to step into a prime role if their teammate goes down.

As we often say in fantasy hockey circles, deployment is enjoyment. So, without further ado, let's look at the latest roster shakeups – and corresponding fantasy implications – around the NHL.

Seth Jones

This past weekend, Seth Jones was dealt by the bottom-feeding Chicago Blackhawks to the Stanley-Cup-threatening Florida Panthers in exchange for goaltender Spencer Knight and a 2026 first-round pick. Just before leaving the Windy City, reports surfaced of Jones' desire to move to a contender, and the defenceman publicly voiced his discontent with Chicago's lack of progress this season.

Despite drawing the ire of many disgruntled Hawks fans, Jones enjoyed a productive campaign in Chicago – at least from a fantasy perspective. In 42 games this season, the minutes-munching rearguard was a fixture on the Hawks' top defensive pairing alongside promising young gun Alex Vlasic and quarterbacked the team's surprisingly effective top powerplay unit.

Greatly benefitting from prime deployment, Jones was pacing for his highest 82GP points total (53) since 2017-2018. Although Jones' remarkable point production (coupled with his typically strong peripheral contributions) has made him roster worthy in most fantasy leagues this season, his -18 plus/minus rating was an unsightly stain on his resumé (Jones posted a dreadful -108 plus/minus rating over his four-year tenure in The Chi).

Now that Jones has joined the Panthers, managers can expect his woeful plus/minus rating to stabilize. As of Tuesday evening, there are only three active Panthers players (excluding Jones) sporting negative plus-minus totals. Despite this positive projection, however, Jones' move to the Sunshine State comes with a potential cloud: a reduction in his power-play time. In his first game with the Panthers last night, Jones played a measly six seconds on the power play, far below his season-average PPTOI of 2:21. While it is unclear if Head Coach Paul Maurice will stick with Aaron Ekblad on Florida's top powerplay unit or give Jones a shot with the big dogs (or, better yet, the big Cats), Jones' lack of powerplay time during his first game is a cause for potential concern.

Before fantasy managers celebrate any increases in Jones' fantasy value, they must wait and see if the 6'4" rearguard can continue producing the points that have made him a valuable fantasy commodity this season.

Alex Vlasic

As we've heard countless times before, one man's trash is another man's treasure. This certainly holds true in Chicago, where the recent departure of Seth Jones has paved the way to fantasy relevance for 23-year-old defenceman Alex Vlasic.

After breaking into the League full-time last season, Vlasic was forced to play second fiddle to Jones, who ate up most of the available power-play minutes in Chi Town. Despite showing a knack for shot blocking over the past two seasons, Vlasic's lack of powerplay time precluded him from emerging as a bona fide fantasy option in most leagues.

But what a difference a week can make.

In his first two games since becoming the main man in Chicago, Vlasic has been a fixture on Chicago's fifth-ranked powerplay, amassing 4:33 PPTOI in Anaheim this past Saturday and 2:41 PPTOI at home last evening. Along with a substantial increase in power-play time, Vlasic has continued to munch minutes at even strength, playing alongside Louis Crevier for nearly 16 minutes at 5-on-5 against the Kings on Tuesday night.

Given his team's continued struggles, an increase in Vlasic's minutes will almost certainly mean a hit to his plus-minus rating. That said, Vlasic's prime deployment, coupled with his already-elite shot blocking ability, makes him a viable option in most fantasy leagues down the stretch.

Boone Jenner

Unlike the other two players highlighted in this article, the recent change in Boone Jenner's deployment stems not from a trade, but from a return. After missing the first 56 games of the year with a shoulder injury sustained during training camp, the Blue Jackets' captain has returned with a vengeance, racking up an eye-popping seven assists in his first four games. Now centering Yegor Chinakov and Kent Johnson on Columbus' second line and filling the bumper position on the team's second powerplay unit, Jenner is making an immediate impact – and quickly disappearing from waiver wires.

Jenner is no stranger to fantasy hockey relevance, having netted 20+ goals over each of the past three seasons. While Jenner's Band-Aid Boy Certified status is justified (with 10+ missed games each year since 2018-2019), if he continues to occupy a top-six role on a squad quietly writing its own Cinderella story this season, the skate should fit for managers searching for a Prince Charming.

***

Along with the players discussed above, here are some powerplay deployment tidbits making headlines across the NHL recently:

• Mason Lohrei is quarterbacking Boston's top powerplay unit in the absence of Charlie McAvoy, who is out with an upper-body injury;
• Alex Tuch remains on Buffalo's top power-play unit in place of Jason Zucker, who has missed three games with a lower-body injury;
• Artturi Lehkonen and Jonathan Drouin remain on Colorado's top power-play unit despite the recent return of Valeri Nichushkin;
• Thomas Harley has recorded 6 power-play points in 10 games played on Dallas' top power-play unit since Miro Heiskanen's injury in late January;
• Mackie Samoskevich has joined Florida's top power-play unit in the absence of Matthew Tkachuk;
• Veteran forward Vinnie Hinostroza is playing on Minnesota's top power-play unit;
• Zac Jones is quarterbacking the Rangers' top power-play unit in the absence of Adam Fox;
• Kevin Hayes is playing on Pittsburgh's top powerplay unit over future first-ballot Hall-of-Famer Evgeni Malkin;
• Darren Raddysh and Mitchell Chaffee joined the Lightning's top power-play unit against the Panthers last night over Victor Hedman and Brandon Hagel; and
• Noah Hanifin is quarterbacking Las Vegas' top power-play unit in the absence of Shea Theodore.

***

That's all for this week! Stay tuned for the next edition of Lining Up next Tuesday, March 11. Until then, Happy Trade Deadline Day and best of luck to all!