Good day to all the readers. Aaron here with this week’s ‘Lining Up’. I am going to look at a couple key lines from the graph below, plus I’ll take a look at a couple of players that will be stepping onto new lines due to injuries.

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This week I have compiled a list of the top performing lines over the last 10 games using Dobber’s line production tool found here. If you read last week’s column, you’ll see there are a couple of new lines in the top five.

Nashville Predators

NICK BONINO – ROCCO GRIMALDI – CRAIG SMITH

Normally, when you think of the offence in Nashville you think of names like Filip Forsberg and Viktor Arvidsson leading the way. However, when you look at the graph above you see three names you might not recognize as being fantasy relevant. This group may not put up the power-play points but they are surely getting it done at even strength.

NICK BONINO is leading the way for this line. He has scored eight goals on the season, seven being at even strength. He is well on his way to his best season offensively being on pace for 63 points. That's almost half his total from last season in a little under a quarter of the games. It looks like Bonino has found real chemistry with his current linemates. He won't fill up the peripheral stats as he isn't much of a banger but he is only owned in 37 percent of leagues on Fantrax which should be much higher as he is at that elusive 1.7 fantasy points per game.

ROCCO GRIMALDI is in his second full season with the Nashville Predators. He is on pace for 47 points averaging .56 points per game. Grimaldi is second on the team in CF percentage at 57.09. He is driving the offence but not quite benefitting on the scoresheet just yet. If this line stays together for the season you may just see a 50 beside his points totals.

CRAIG SMITH is off to a bit of a slow start. He has the least amount of points on the line with just six. He is shooting the puck just over two times a game so I can see a few more pucks hitting the back of the net soon. His shooting percentage is about five points below his normal average of 10.2. He is also on pace for an absurdly low point total at just 29 points. The two-time 50-point getter will look to get hot and start racking up the points. I’d recommend waiting to see if he gets hot before risking a waiver move on him.

Toronto Maple Leafs

ANDREAS JOHNSSON – AUSTON MATTHEWS – WILLIAM NYLANDER

This trio of players will have to continue their hot pace as the Leafs will be without start player Mitch Marner. We’ll talk about him a little later. Here is a look at how this line has been playing.

AUSTON MATTHEWS is the goal scorer on the line. He has nine even-strength goals to go along with nine assists. Matthews is tied for third in the league for shots on goal with 77 shots. His shooting percentage is right at his career average of 16.4. Matthews is also averaging one and a half minutes more ice time this year over last, which means more chances for him to do what he does best and that’s putting the puck in the back of the net.

WILLIAM NYLANDER sat out the first two months to start last season and it certainly showed in his points totals for last year. This year after a full training camp he is off to a great start. He has six goals and five assists at even strength. He is averaging two and a half shots per game and his shooting percentage of 14.9 is five points higher than his career numbers but it sustainable. Nylander is also up on ice time up two and a half minutes of ice time averaging almost 18 minutes a night. The extra ice time will help him get closer to his season pace of 65 points.

ANDREAS JOHNSSON is the spark plug of the line. Up to 16 hits on the season already, he’s not afraid to go into the corners and dig out the puck to get it to his line mates. He has two goals and four assists at even strength and is currently on pace for 47 points. Currently on Fantrax he is owned in 73 percent of the leagues. He might be a good buy-low candidate as his line is going to be leaned on for offence over the next month or so.

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Injury Replacements

A couple of key injuries happened this past weekend so let's take a look at a couple of players that might be able to step into the spotlight for the next little while.

• With the injury to Mitch Marner someone will need to step up. The Toronto Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock deployed a line of John Tavares, Kasperi Kapanen, and Trevor Moore, and after the first period swapped out Kapanen for Alexander Kerfoot. With Zach Hyman soon returning I see them trying Kapanen again on the wing for a short period of time but expect Babcock to change things up again if this line continues to be beat.
• Sidney Crosby left Saturday’s game with an undisclosed injury. Jared McCann stepped into his role during practice Monday and he will line up with Alex Galchenyuk and Jake Guentzel for the Pittsburgh Penguins game against the New York Rangers tonight. McCann may be a good daily pick up as Evgeni Malkin’s line will see the tough defensive lines over the next few games until Sid the kid returns. 

Thanks for reading. Aaron, signing off.