Welcome to another edition of Lining Up. This week will examine more promising deployment situations, whether it be lining up with top-tier stud at even strength or joining a lethal power-play unit. Don't forget to check out the NHL Line Change Tracker over at Frozen Tools to see who is seeing the greatest change in role and opportunity. You can also check out NHL Game Day Lines over on Twitter for posts from NHL beat writers on the most recent line combinations. As always, players are moved up and down the lineup game to game and even within games so keep an eye on the changes so that you can maximize your roster moves for each week.

Let's dive in.

J.T Compher

With Evan Rodrigues set to miss a few weeks with an injury, J.T Compher is the lucky player to fill in on the top power-play unit. The role has already shown up on the score sheet for Compher as he notched two power-play assists last Wednesday against Vancouver. In the two games since he has taken over, he has seen 68.1 and 74.5 %PP which is a significant increase from the 16.1 %PP he was averaging for the season prior to those two games. Additionally, Compher has a low shooting percentage at only 5.0% where the lowest percentage in his career was 9.9% back in the 2017-18 season.

Not that there needs to be any additional reason to acquire a piece of the top Colorado power-play unit, but the team plays seven times between the remainder of this week and next week. Compher is also rostered in a putrid 2% of Yahoo leagues, so there should be no excuses for not picking him up if your league counts points and power-play points.

Calle Jarnkrok

The offseason acquisition has, throughout his career, primarily been utilized as a depth option for teams. Recently however, Jarnkok has been lining up alongside John Tavares and the red-hot Mitch Marner and subsequently has delivered three points in all three games with this change of scenery. Toronto runs this and the Auston Matthews line fairly evenly as 1A and 1B lines, so this elevation essentially has Jarnkok seeing first line minutes. Given that Marner is showing no signs of slowing down, he is in an excellent position to continue chipping in points so long as he holds this deployment.

Note that Toronto plays twice more but has an enticing matchup at home against San Jose tomorrow night on what is a quiet day with only four games played across the league. Jarnkok could be a good addition, at least for the off night if you find yourself behind in points early on.

Dawson Mercer

After spending a period of time with Yegor Sharangovich and Jesper Boqvist, Mercer has found himself reunited with Jack Hughes and Erik Haula. This is good news for Mercer owners as he bounced between Hughes and other line mates last season, collecting 42 points in 82 games for a solid rookie debut. Any continued exposure to the New Jersey star is bound to pay off as indicated by his current three game point streak of four points. He is currently outpacing his point total from last season while averaging less ice time, 14:30 down from 16:32. However since he has been reunited with Hughes, he has already averaged 19:05 and is retaining his spot on the top power-play unit. Mercer has solid defensive prowess which also gives him time on penalty kill units if your league counts shorthanded points. Scoop him up as it looks as though New Jersey is not slowing down.

Sam Steel

After what may have been a harrowing offseason that saw Sam Steel toil away in free agency, he was finally awarded a one-year contract with Minnesota and all of a sudden is now being deployed alongside Mats Zuccarello and Kirill Kaprizov on the top line. In 51:02 of ice time he has so far produced three points in four games but with this opportunity he is averaging a little more than three extra minutes per night. That kind of bump in nice ice time has allowed him to not only get in on more scoring but he is also increasing his shot output from a 0.9 shots per game average on the season to two shots per in that same four game span.

While this deployment should allow for Steel to provide quality depth production to your roster, owner beware if he is moved off this line as he only had one assist in the 13 games prior to joining the top group. Minnesota has three games remaining this week including catching Edmonton on the second of back-to-backs where they are travelling from Chicago to Minnesota. Consider adding him in the short term and for so long as he is the third wheel on the top line.

Mikhail Sergachev

Finally, it is about time to talk about the deployment that Sergachev has been stealing receiving. He is currently riding a seven-game hot streak where he has collected 12 points, putting him on pace for his best season to date and almost doubling his previous career high point per game rate of 0.54. Although he has some high advanced metrics, including an 11.4% shooting percentage, the rapid point increase can be attributed to him supplanting Victor Hedman on Tampa Bay's top power-play unit. Sergachev already has 11 power-play points in 21 games this season which is an enormous increase from his previous high of 16 points with the man advantage in 79 games back in the 2017-18 season. While he is unlikely to continue at this torrid pace, keep in mind that Hedman has averaged 28 points on the power-play since 2016-17 with a career high 38 last year. If Sergachev were to hold this spot all season, just another 10 points on the top unit and maintaining his even strength production from the last three years would be a career year for him. Regardless, there is no telling when Hedman will take his spot back or whether Sergachev will hold it long-term. Until that time, any game where he is quarterbacking Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point is worth rostering him in.

It may be difficult to acquire Sergachev but Hedman might never be cheaper to buy than now.

Thanks for reading.