Welcome back to another edition of Lining Up! This week we will take a look at a couple of players from the trade deadline who were not covered last week as well as start to prepare for playoffs with a look at who can help you right now based on their deployment.

Let's dive in.

Jake Guentzel

Jake Guentzel made his debut with Carolina last week and by all appearances seems to have immediately adjusted to his new environment. He has eight points in his last four games and has 14 shots in that span. He also notched two of those points with the man advantage where he has been lining up on the team's top unit with Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis and Andrew Svechnikov. Guentzel has been fluctuating within the top six but most recently was deployed alongside Aho and Jarvis on the team's top line as well. There was legitimate concern over how he would transition from Pittsburgh. Over the last five seasons, Guentzel has averaged just over a point-per-game pace while playing with Sidney Crosby for the majority of his career. It is difficult to imagine landing in a better spot than that and how such a move might impact his production after being so consistently deployed in a similar situation for a long period of time. However, early indications and line combinations show that Carolina is putting Guentzel in a position to succeed so fantasy owners should rest easy for the moment.

Anthony Duclair

Another trade deadline acquisition that was not touched upon last week, Anthony Duclair has not missed a beat in his transition from San Jose to Tampa Bay. He currently has 10 points in his last six games, including five points in four games with his new team. In the most recent game, Duclair was lining up alongside Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point on the top line and even joined the star pair and Steven Stamkos on the power play. This no doubt surpasses most owners' wildest dreams for how Duclair would fit into the Tampa Bay lineup. Playing with Kucherov at even strength and on the power play will make Duclair a must-own down the stretch if he can maintain this deployment.

Alex Nylander

Moving to the fourth team of his young career, Alexander Nylander has been playing on the top line with Johnny Gaudreau and Boone Jenner at both even strength and on the power play. With this prime deployment, Nylander has become fantasy relevant overnight, scoring 11 points in 13 games with Columbus while seeing career highs in power play usage and overall time on ice. If you are in a desperate situation or battling in the playoffs, Nylander may be the surprise stream of the year. With back-to-back games this week on Friday and Saturday, followed by a game next week against Arizona and two against a floundering Pittsburgh squad, the short-term could pay big dividends for Nylander who is thriving in his new environment.

Elias Lindholm

I know, I know. Lindholm is mired in the slumpiest of slumps and is barely rostered in Yahoo leagues more than his defensive namesake on Boston. Ian Gooding also recommended to drop Lindholm if you must and that still stands true because in playoffs you cannot afford to wait. There are six games total on light days next week. All of the other 41 games are on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Amidst this incredibly dense schedule, Vancouver is one of two teams who play two out of their three games on the light nights. If you are in a situation where you will be forced to bench players on those busy nights during the playoffs, it may be worth gambling on Elias Lindholm with his deployment. A chance at something, anything, is better than a guaranteed waste of a roster spot.

Buffalo

The other team that has two of their three games next week on light days and two games still to come this week is Buffalo. Let's do a quick look at the recent line combinations and highlight a few players worth streaming in.

Zemgus Girgensons – Alex Tuch – Tage Thompson

Alex Tuch has been heating up at the right moment after suffering through a cold stretch that saw him put up 10 points in 22 games. He has consistently been playing with Tage Thompson for most of the season but since the Casey Middlestadt trade, Buffalo has been reworking their line combinations. In spite of the trade and with Bowen Byram joining Rasmus Dahlin on the top power play unit, Tuch is fortunately still holding down a spot on both that unit and at even strength with Thompson. Luckily that is unlikely to change soon because Tuch has recently posted six points in his last five gams with 11 total shots. Those are good numbers at this point in the season and is worth a stream while the schedule is good.

Finding himself as the other member of the top line with Thompson and Tuch is Zemgus Girgensons. He has three points in five games and even has been able to contribute outside of scoring with 20 hits, six blocks and four penalty minutes in those four games. He is not receiving any ice time but if you have a deep league, he could be worth a look with the favourable schedule.

Bowen Byram

Perhaps a surprise performer in Buffalo currently is Bowen Byram. Many owners made the natural assumption that because the team already had Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power that he would be behind both players for any meaningful deployment. That has not been the case though and Byram has been playing with Dahlin on the top power play unit and as a result is seeing a 62.3% share of the power play time on top of over 23 minutes of TOI on every night except one since arriving. Byram is now up to five points in six games, a fifth of his points all season. With this kind of deployment and keeping in mind Buffalo's upcoming schedule, Byram could well be worth a stream for the games on light days.