Welcome back to another edition of Lining Up. This week will focus on a few hot line combinations, particularly out of Vancouver while still trying to set your team up for success this coming week.

Let's dive in.

Jake DeBrusk

Since J.T Miller took a leave of absence from the team for personal reasons, and since Brock Boeser returned from a brief injury, the Vancouver line combinations have been in a state of flux over the past few weeks. One of the players who has stepped up to fill the gaps in the lineup is Jake DeBrusk, currently on a hot streak with nine points in his last five games. After seeing secondary power play exposure for most of the season, DeBrusk is assuming Miller's role on the top unit and it's allowing him to thrive. Four of his last nine points have come with the man advantage and prior to this five-game stretch, his last power play point was on October 15^th, or just the third game of the season. DeBrusk has also been attached at the hip to Elias Pettersson for most of the season at even strength, and now that Pettersson has started to pick up his production, certainly can only help DeBrusk moving forward.

It’s worth nothing that DeBrusk currently has some high individual metrics that are causes for concern, notably a 21.3% personal shooting percentage and a 13.2% 5on5 shooting percentage. DeBrusk also has the highest PPIPP since the 2020-2021 season, all indicators that he is wielding a hot stick at the moment. Regardless however, don't hesitate to cash in while he's scoring, particularly because Vancouver plays a favourable Friday and Sunday matchup later this week, including a game against Columbus, who despite being a top six offensive team is still a bottom five defensive team by goals against per game.

Conor Garland

Another Canuck who has been enjoying quality deployment is Conor Garland, now up to 10 points in eight games despite going pointless against Detroit on Sunday. He has been a fixture on the top power play unit since the end of October in addition to spending time with Pettersson at even strength. As a result, Garland is seeing career high numbers across the board: 71-point pace, 3:31 PPTOI, 19:26 in TOI and all advanced metrics have room to grow with the exception of a slightly above average 15.6% shooting percentage. Lately he has been separated from Pettersson at even strength and is on a line with Pius Suter and Dakota Joshua but don't let this deter you – Vancouver is scoring on the power play and Garland should continue to be used here even if Miller returns soon.

Both players are just above 50% rostered in Yahoo leagues and as noted, Vancouver has a good schedule to close out the week. If neither are available and you are in a deeper league, Pius Suter may also be a solid option while he is on the line with Garland. He has five points in his last four games, including 12 shots in that span.

Dmitri Voronkov

A little over a month ago, the top line in Columbus of Sean Monahan, Kirill Marchenko and Yegor Chinakhov were highlighted and since then, the line continues to roll along, although Monahan and Marchenko are now joined by Dmitri Voronkov. The trio have 12 goals for and only two against while dominating opponents with a 62.9% shot share. They are the drivers for a seemingly miraculous offensive output from Columbus, a team that many expected to struggle offensively but who now find themselves sixth in the league in Goals For per game.

Voronkov is making the most of his opportunity at even strength while also joining the top power play unit. The culmination of this great deployment has led Voronkov to collect eight points in his last five games and puts him on a 64-point pace for the season. His last four games have also seen his ice time increase, seeing an average of 17:56 in TOI prior to his game misconduct against Chicago on Sunday that cut his ice time short. That is a full three minutes higher than his current season average. The deployment and usage are important as he currently has a lot of red in his advanced metrics, notably a 21.4% personal shooting percentage. The increase to his TOI may help to alleviate some of the inevitable regression that is coming to his underlying numbers.

However, Columbus has one of the best schedules between this week and next. They play the most of any team with eight games, four remaining this week and four next week in addition to games on Friday and Sunday this week. Even with the risk of regression for Voronkov, the great schedule warrants scooping him up while the pucks are going in.

Marco Rossi

As something more of a minor note here, Marco Rossi has been up on the top power play unit in Minnesota recently, seeing close to or above a 60% share of the power play time in three out of the last four games (plus a game where Minnesota did not draw a penalty). Any extra exposure to Kirill Kaprizov is worth mentioning but continued power play usage could allow Rossi to really build off of his current 65-point pace. Keep an eye out as Minnesota plays seven games between this week and next, one of the better schedules for teams during this time.