Between the Lines: Week Six

Chris Wassel

2014-11-11

PatrickMarleau

Looking at the hottest lines in the league from the past week.

This was a weird week for fantasy hockey owners. When you really think about it, it was just insane. Then the numbers started to come in and the pit in my stomach sank even lower. Now it is time to go "Between The Lines" one more time.

Lead Us Forwards

Steve Downie–Nick Spaling–Brandon Sutter (Pittsburgh) – The Gods are crazy! This trio had nine points while together as Brandon Sutter led the way with four points and Steve Downie had three points along with his usual penalty minute contributions. In leagues were PIM's are needed, Downie is your guy. With Beau Bennett returning, something tells me this line, as constituted will come to an end but the parts are there where these players could fare decently as the top six regresses in Pittsburgh. You could do worse, after all.

Logan Couture–Joe Pavelski–Joe Thornton–Patrick Marleau (San Jose) – The combination that San Jose uses when on the man advantage or an empty net situation had nine points also in Week 5. None of the quartet had five points but Joe Pavelski and Patrick Marleau had four points each. This week saw lots of mixing and matching across the board with injuries, etc. The quartet faces some tough challenges this week also. I would not expect more than nine or ten points combined. There should be stronger buys.

Phil Kessel–Tyler Bozak-James van Riemsdyk (Toronto) – So, that bigger question is how? They always seem to find a way together, especially on man-advantage situations. Even when Nazem Kadri gets into the mix, the above mentioned trio still magically appear on the ice all at the same time. This week it was for nine points. Let's see how Randy Carlyle handles the fact that Kadri is a better player than Bozak in Week 6. Something tells me the lines will magically jumble towards the same as it ever was. This is no matter what they start out as for those scoring at home.

Defend This

T.J. Brodie–Mark Giordano (Calgary) – Truthfully, I had been gushing about Mark Giordano and T.J. Brodie for some time. Giordano has proven everything and then some as Brodie and him piled up a whopping dozen points in Week 5. Giordano had nine points (3 G 6 A) and has now vaulted himself into the Norris Trophy lead. Brodie racked up five points and like I said they generate power play and even short-handed points. It is a fun pairing to watch and they are on the ice almost all the time. That 80% power play frequency (37.5% EV) translates to 96 seconds out of every two minute man advantage. That elevates their chances and at least slims the chance of major future regression.

Tim Erixon–James Wisniewski (Columbus) – The question mark may just be how long will they be together? For one game, Wisniewski and Erixon looked like world beaters, totaling five points as a pairing. Can they come close to that this week? Columbus has taken it on the chin and they may get Sergei Bobrovsky back by the weekend. They need something but at least they can still produce offensively. After all, things could be worse for fantasy owners of Blue Jackets, right?

Andrei Markov–P.K. Subban (Montreal) – In a slow week once you went down the list, we found P.K. Subban and Andrei Markov almost just sitting there. They had four points as a tandem and could have had more. They left at least several points on the table as Montreal struggles to find its form after a solid early season start. Their defensive lapses have also been a key reason why Montreal has had some glorious tire fires in the last few weeks. They have to get it together offensively and defensively to help balance the scoring pressure.

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As always you can follow me @ChrisWasselTHW and thanks for reading. See you next week with four more line combination and three pairings for "Between The Lines".

UPCOMING GAMES

	May 30 - 20:05	FLA	vs	CAR

Starting Goalies

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Top Skater Views

	Players	Team
	MARCO ROSSI	MIN
	JJ PETERKA	BUF
	ZACH HYMAN	EDM
	MATTIAS EKHOLM	EDM
	SEBASTIAN AHO	CAR

Top Goalie Profile Views

	Players	Team
	ALEX LYON	DET
	STUART SKINNER	EDM
	JOSEPH WOLL	TOR
	PYOTR KOCHETKOV	CAR
	JOHN GIBSON	ANA

LINE COMBOS

	Frequency	EDM Players
	17.8	COREY PERRY RYAN NUGENT-HOPKINS CONNOR MCDAVID
	16.7	KASPERI KAPANEN EVANDER KANE LEON DRAISAITL
	15.2	JEFF SKINNER ADAM HENRIQUE TRENT FREDERIC

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