Welcome back to another edition of Lining Up! This week we will wrap up the ongoing series of a team-by-team review of noteworthy line combinations over the last calendar year for any useful information moving forward.

Let's dive in.

Pittsburgh

Over the last calendar year and historically, Bryan Rust has assumed a role alongside top Pittsburgh players, Jake Guentzel, and Sidney Crosby. However, during the month of December he left with an injury and since returning on January 2^nd, Rust has been playing with Evgeni Malkin while Rickard Rakell is on the line with Crosby. Rakell has been cold lately with two points in his last five games as well as pacing for only 41 points on the season, but it will be worth monitoring to see how long he can maintain this spot for. In the short term, he is worth streaming in for a Friday night and if your roster has space, for a matchup against Montreal on Saturday.

San Jose

While San Jose has not yet emerged from the basement of the league from this season to last, there have been a few bright spots in spite of injuries to key players and plenty of roster turnover. Notably, Mikael Granlund is having a resurgence after being nearly written off completely when he was traded from Nashville to Pittsburgh last season. He is currently on pace for 63 points which would be his second-best season since 2017-2018. Granlund is averaging over 20 minutes of TOI and is seeing a 72.7% of the powerplay share which is, to date, a career high. He has spent most of his time this season lining up alongside Anthony Duclair and Fabian Zetterlund so not even with the top players. Yet all of his underlying numbers indicate that he is well within normal ranges for production, meaning that there is good reason to assume his production is for real. If he can elevate his position in the lineup, perhaps as Logan Couture regains his form, Granlund could be a sneaky good option to stream in over the playoffs as between March 25^th and April 14^th, San Jose is among the top teams in games played.

Seattle

Over the last calendar year, from January 1^st, 2023, to January 1^st, 2024, Quinn Hughes has the most points among defensemen. Number two is Vince Dunn. In points per games played, he is sixth, and ahead of names like Adam Fox, Roman Josi and Rasmus Dahlin. Even though Dunn has never averaged more than 3:00 minutes of PPTOI or seen greater than a %PP of 60 since Seattle spreads ice time more evenly than other teams, Dunn has been excellent and is on pace for a career 68 points this season. As much as is possible on this roster, Dunn receives the best deployment for a defenseman. Much like San Jose, Seattle has a high number of games played during the playoffs but more importantly, they also have one of the easiest schedules during this time. It may be worth seeing if Dunn owners are sleeping on his potential for the playoffs.

St. Louis

A situation worth monitoring is the role of Brayden Schenn. Over the last calendar year, Schenn held on to a spot on the top power play for the most part. Lately however, Jake Neighbours has been usurping that time. St. Louis has also been steadily improving their power play, over the last two weeks they have converted on 28.6% of their opportunities, a big correction from the 13.8% conversion rate they have on the season. If or when Schenn returns to the top unit, he could see his 41-pace increase in addition to providing his usual two shots and two hits per game. Great value for the playoffs as St. Louis has a good number of games played on light days.

Tampa Bay

Brandon Hagel has been an exemplary candidate of Lining Up. He has been locked in with Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point for the majority of his time at even strength, this season and last. Hagel is having a near identical year, on pace for 66 points or one more than last year. His role almost assures that he can keep the pace and if he were ever fortunate enough to replace Nicolas Paul on the top power play then watch out.

Toronto

Toronto lacks consistency in line combinations over the calendar year, but perhaps the most noteworthy player for retaining a spot with one of the superstars is Matthew Knies. Through some offseason turnover and frequent line shuffling, Knies has been playing with Auston Matthews for over half of his time at even strength. The deployment has not translated directly to point production and he will likely never see time on the top power play barring significant injuries, but he is worth keeping an eye on heading into the fantasy playoffs as Toronto is among the top teams in games played during that span.

Vancouver

An ongoing story in Vancouver despite all the success the team is having, is the disappearance of Andrei Kuzmenko. After finishing last year with 74 points in his first NHL season, Kuzmenko has fallen off the map and is only on pace for 42 points. He has been a healthy scratch at times and is a frustrating own for many fantasy managers. And yet, when he is in the lineup, he is being given every opportunity to succeed, seeing more power play time than last season, all on the top unit and still spending over a third of his time at even strength with Elias Pettersson. He is worth monitoring and potentially streaming for the playoff period as Vancouver plays eight of their 11 games on lighter days. His overall point pace is irrelevant if he can heat up at the right time, though the question is will he?

Vegas

Another curious case of declining production over the last calendar year is Chandler Stephenson. Similarly to Hagel, Stephenson is a textbook example of an otherwise underwhelming player who is lining up frequently with the top players on the team. Prior to this year, he had back-to-back seasons of 66-point paces before dropping this season to a 50-point pace. During each instance, Stephenson continues to be deployed alongside Mark Stone. He has recently picked up the production with seven points in his last five games so perhaps he is correcting course. If owners were impatient and cut bait with Stephenson, scoop him up for the playoffs as Vegas has an even higher percentage of games on lighter days with nine out of twelve between March 25 to April 14.

Washington

After finishing last season on the top line with Tom Wilson and Alex Ovechkin, Dylan Strome has continued with that role into this season, playing about a third of the time with them at even strength and completely supplanting Evgeny Kuznetsov. He is also holding down a spot on the top power play, averaging almost three minutes of PPTOI. The result is that Strome has quietly put together a decent season, on pace for 52 points on a Washington squad that is in the bottom five teams offensively. If they can improve that offense down the stretch, Strome would be a solid streaming option for fantasy playoffs as Washington is among the top teams in games played.

Winnipeg

A big transition between last season and this over the calendar year in Winnipeg was the departure of Pierre-Luc Dubois and Blake Wheeler and the arrival of Gabriel Vilardi. Even though he has had some injury troubles this season, Vilardi has been lining up with the top players both and even strength and on the power play this season. He is averaging a career-high 3:26 of PPTOI and 16:59 of TOI while adding nearly a full shot per game more this season compared to last. He is on pace for 63 points and is still available in over half of Yahoo leagues. Vilardi has been a nice addition to Winnipeg and can help your roster as well.