This week on Frozen Tool Forensics we are going to focus on some preseason storylines. Preseason is an interesting time with wild line combinations, players out of the lineup, random depth players scoring big in preseason games, and players being sent back to the minors. We are going to try sifting through some of the noise to help evaluate players heading into our drafts.

In order to do this, we will be looking at Player Profile pages, digging into line combinations, and looking at Dobber Reports for preseason games.

Washington had a splashy off season, and with all of the up-and-coming players getting a first look at their lines was certainly a priority for many managers. We have seen some lines in preseason though it is anyone's guess as to how the minutes will be deployed. Newcomer Jordan Kyrou has been with the Protas brothers, then there is a line of Alex Tuch, Pierre-Luc Dubios, and Tom Wilson, and to round out the top nine we have Alex Ovechkin, Dylan Strome, and Ryan Leonard. The power play has been split as well with kind of the old guard running with Jakob Chychrun and all of the new/young players with Cole Hutson. Leonard is an interesting guy here, getting an opportunity on the line with Ovechkin and Strome and on the new guy unit. We shall see how much time Ovechkin gets going forward, but it is an interesting place to be for now.

Over in San Jose the prime deployment is wherever Macklin Celebrini happens to be and so far, Mason Marchment has gotten some looks as the third wheel with Celebrini at even strength. The most surprising has got to be Luca Cagnoni getting the top power-play spot for essentially the duration of camp. He certainly bears watching and is worth a speculative add, though there is certainly no guarantee that he keeps that spot over all the vets on the roster.

Chicago had some turbulence over the offseason adding Patrick Kane and rookies Roman Kantserov and Anton Frondell, plus losing Connor Bedard for the start of the season. Camp lines have been interesting with Frank Nazar lining up on what seems to be the top line of Kane and Kantserov while Frondell is with Tyler Bertuzzi and Nick Lardis. Chicago definitely seems to be embracing a youth movement here. On the power play though they have Frondell taking priority over Nazar along with Kane, Kantserov, and Bertuzzi. At least while Bedard is out both Nazar and Frondell are with a stream and guys like Bertuzzi and Kantserov might be worth a longer look if this deployment sticks.

Nashville appears to be going for something of a top nine, but it is not clear that they actually have the personnel to do it. Generally playing with Filip Forsberg is where you want to be, but that is not where Steven Stamkos, Ryan O'Reilly, or Mavrik Bourque are lining up. The Forsberg line is Matthew Wood and Nils Hoglander. Wood could be interesting in this situation, but in six seasons Hoglander has never put up more than 40 points or earned more than 13 minutes a night. Stamkos and O'Reilly are together with Alex Kerfoot, which leaves Bourque alone on the third line. The sentiment during the off season was that Bourque was essentially guaranteed a top six role, and at the moment that does not seem to be the case. These lines don't provide a lot of optimism for either Bourque, or Forsberg. We will see how long Nashville sticks to this arrangement.

New Jersey also added during the off season with Anthony Mantha and Luke Evangelista. They went and immediately extended Evangelista, so it probably isn't too much of a surprise that he has been playing in the top six and on the top power play. He has been pretty consistently on the second line with Timo Meier and Nico Hischier, while Mantha has been on the top line with Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt. That has pushed Dawson Mercer down the lineup to the third line and unfortunately for him off the second power play, with newcomers Mantha, Evan Rodrigues and Arseny Gritsyuk taking the other forward roles. This all makes Evangelista even more interesting, and Mercer less so.

There aren't a lot of exciting options in Vancouver, but some interesting developments on D. Filip Hronek ended 2025-26 on the top power play and provided some pretty good depth value. In the off season though Zeev Buium signed an eight-year contract which seemed like an indication that he would be deployed a bit more prominently. Thus far though in preseason it has been Hronek again on the top power play. That certainly adds a bit more value to Hronek for now.

In St. Louis the top line from the end of 2025-26 has stayed intact, but new addition Mason McTavish is looking quite interesting. He has been on the second line with Pavel Buchnevich and fellow newcomer Connor McMichael, and has been getting looks on the top power play. This deployment is significantly better than his role by the end of his tenure in Anaheim and he is certainly worth a look if you have the space.

Finally, we are going to hit a bunch of one offs/third wheel situations that might make reasonably interesting swings or streams.

In Edmonton Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have been paired at even strength with Vasily Podkolzin. He has actually gotten on a power play or two as well, though likely that is because of the split squad nature of preseason.
In Toronto Jack Roslovic has been on the top line with Matthew Knies and Auston Matthews, plus also getting a look on the top power-play.
Mackie Samoskevich is getting deployed on the top line in Seattle with Matty Beniers and Jared McCann. No power-play time though.
Iyla Mikheyev has been on the top line with Nikita Kuchverov and Brayden Point.
Gabe Perrault has been up on a line with Mika Zibanejad and Alexis Lafreniere, and on the second power play.
Noah Cates has been up and down a bit, but recently got on a line with Travis Konecny and Tyson Foerster.
Blake Coleman is in the top six in Minnesota with Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek.
When in the lineup, Tyler Seguin has been skating with Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz.