Welcome back to another edition of Lining Up! This week we will examine how a few injuries have impacted line combinations around the league, whether it be from players returning to or recently leaving the roster.

Let's dive in.

Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell

After spending much of their recent tenure on Pittsburgh battling back and forth for a spot alongside Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel on the top line as well as on the power play, Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell have both been elevated to a similar role thanks to an injury to Guentzel that will keep him out for a few weeks. Rust has mostly held down a spot on Crosby's line and again on the power play which has led him to a recent hot streak of five points in his last six games since the All-Star break, including four goals. This has brought him back to a more reasonable pace of 67 points on the season, closer to what managers might have expected and a big improvement over his 46 points in 81 games last year. He has a slightly high secondary assist percentage and 5 on 5 shooting percentage but otherwise all underlying analytics indicate that he is within normal ranges for production.

Conversely, Rickard Rakell is having a lesser season and is currently mired in a slump with only two points in his last six games. Where Rust faltered last season, Rakell thrived, posting 60 points in 82 games after averaging 49 points in the four seasons prior to that. He is back to a 41-point pace, so it seems as though whoever is deployed on the line with Crosby and Guentzel has the upper hand. Given that both are now with Crosby at even strength and have joined with Evgeni Malkin on the power play, owners can rest easy that Rust should not lose his spot and can be optimistic about Rakell moving forward now that he has been elevated. Whether or not the absence of Guentzel will hurt either or both players remains to be seen, but if they can each hold onto a role on the top power play unit, it should be helpful in the near future. Especially considering Pittsburgh has a decent schedule this week with three more games, two of which are on light nights and includes a matchup against Montreal and Philadelphia.

Philipp Kurashev – Nick Foligno

To the surprise of no one, Connor Bedard returned from injury and already has six points in the first three games in addition to ten shots. He immediately resumed his spot at the top of the food chain in Chicago and with his most common line mates of the season in Philipp Kurashev and Nick Foligno. It is interesting to revisit projected lineups from the Dobber Fantasy Hockey Guide prior to the start of the season and wonder what might have been if Taylor Hall had not been injured. Be that as it may, Kurashev and Foligno performed admirably without their star line mate but are definitely worth more attention now as it seems the coaching staff are intent on maintaining this line combination. Kurashev celebrated Bedard's return with four points of his own in the first three games but even before that, he posted eight points in six games since the All-Star break. That has brought him up to a 54-point pace this season, including 10 power play points thanks to an average of nearly three minutes, again with Bedard on the top unit. In spite of the quality deployment, Kurashev unfortunately does not contribute to any peripheral categories with fewer than three shots, hits and blocks combined per game on the season. However, with three games still to come this week, all on light nights, he is worth a short-term stream while he is getting points.

On the other hand, if you do want someone who can net some points while also adding shots and hits, look no further than Foligno this week. The other line mate to Bedard, Foligno has been on his own streak since the break with seven points in six games. He also chips in with two shots, two and a half hit,s and nearly one penalty minute per game on top of the recent hot streak. That is solid all-around production, and he is worth a stream in the short-term now that Bedard is back on his line.

Shea Theodore

Shea Theodore is returning from injury any day now and should immediately be activated into your lineup if he hasn't already. After averaging a 60.6% share of the power play time during his tenure with Vegas and never exceeding more than a two-thirds share of time except for one season, Theodore has so far this season become the sole defenseman with the man advantage. He is up to a 79.5% share now and has averaged nearly four and a half minutes of power play time on ice, completely removing Alex Pietrangelo from the picture. As expected, he is now on pace for a career-high 74 points, which would surpass his previous total by nine points. So long as his deployment does not change, he should pick up right where he left off. If you have the opportunity to add him to your roster, consider making the change as Vegas also has an excellent playoff schedule from March 25^th to April 14^th that sees them play 12 games in that span, one of the most games played and they have nine of those games on lighter days.

Timothy Liljegren

In the very short term, with Morgan Rielly having one game remaining on his five-game suspension, tomorrow night's contest between Toronto and Arizona is a prime opportunity for a stream. He has averaged nearly three and a half minutes of power play time with the top unit in Toronto over the last three games and should continue to quarterback that unit in the next game as well. A Toronto unit which is red hot and has converted on 44.4% of it's opportunities over the last month. They will go up against an Arizona squad that is going through a deep cold spell, having allowed 48 goals, or 4.36 per game, which is the worst among all teams over the same period. This is a prime opportunity to cash in on someone who otherwise would not be seeing this level of deployment, either as a cheap Daily Fantasy option or a quick stream in your leagues.