Welcome to LCL where we take a look around the league for recent changes to line combos or power play set ups.

I'm using quite a few resources to put this post together. FH911 (who power our Latest NHL Line Combo page) and Left Wing Lock are the two key ones. You should check them both out if you need some line combo info. Great, great stuff by both.

Anaheim Ducks
Jason Blake - Ryan Getzlaf - Corey Perry. Blake on the top line? What year is it? He's even getting some good PP TOI. Don't expect this to last..

Calgary Flames
Mike Cammalleri - Blair Jones/Krys Kolanos- Blake Comeau. Cammalleri owners can't like that. He's been playing on this 'second' line for four games now and with the 1st line killing it lately don't expect it to change anytime soon. He is still getting some decent PP TOI though so all hope is not lost.

Chicago Blackhawks
Michael Frolik - Jonathan Toews - Marian Hossa. I've used to really like Frolik so I'm having trouble accepting the fact he's on pace for just 19 points. Playing with these two can only help. He had zero points in the first game of that beauty assignment.

Columbus Blue Jackets
R.J. Umberger - Derick Brassard - Rick Nash. Brassard hasn't been that bad lately (11 point in 15 games) and he's getting a ton of PP TOI (second on team over the last five). Looks like he's getting showcased for the trade deadline. A change or scenery could do nice things to his value.

Detroit Red Wings
Want to hear something messed up? Henrik Zetterberg has played more on the PP than Pavel Datsyuk (3:10 / game vs. 3:07 / game) but Datsyuk is more than doubling Zets' PP production (19 vs 7 PPP). Gotta think Zetterberg starts getting those PPP eventually.

Los Angeles Kings
Dustin Brown - Anze Kopitar - Justin Williams. Williams is an under-appreciated source of production. Great linemates, good PP time and he's current red hot (13 points in last 13 games).

Minnesota Wild
Marek Zidlicky has been the PP QB the last few games. Not that he's earned it; he has only 2 PPP this season. I used to love this guy as he was always good for around 40 points but he's on pace for just 19 this season. Ugly.

Phoenix Coyotes
Ray Whitney - Martin Hanzal - Radim Vrbata. I've never been a big Martin Hanzal fan but he's centering the best line the Yotes have and has been getting the third most PP TOI on the team over the last five games.

St. Louis Blues
Chris Porter - Vladimir Sobotka - Chris Stewart. I'm not sure how Stewart is supposed to have a second half surge with linemates like that.

Vancouver Canucks
The Canucks split up the twins this week for a game. It didn't last as they were reunited in the net game (with Byron Bitz instead of Alexandre Burrows)

Welcome to LCL where we take a look around the league for recent changes to line combos or power play set ups.

I'm using quite a few resources to put this post together. FH911 (who power our Latest NHL Line Combo page) and Left Wing Lock are the two key ones. You should check them both out if you need some line combo info. Great, great stuff by both.

Today we'll look at the East... click here for the West. All statistics are for games up to Tues Dec 6th, 2011.

Boston Bruins
Joe Corvo's PP time has taken a dive. He was fifth on the team in PP TOI / game but over the last five he's down to 10th. He only has two points in his last 10 games.

Buffalo Sabres
Ville Leino got another shot on a scoring line. Failed again. He's back on the third. $6 mill for a 28 point pace... he's really giving Scott Gomez a run for his money.

Tyler Ennis is back and played with Derek Roy and Drew Stafford in his return. Speaking of Stafford, when healthy, he was seeing a bit of time on the fourth line. A 37 point pace will do that, I suppose.

Zack Kassian saw a bit of time on the 2nd line (with Stafford's demotion) but for the last two he's been with Leino and Luke Adam (who is still on pace for 56 points... he deserves some better linemates, methinks).

The guys taking the spot I would like Adam to fill is Jochen Hecht. He just returned from his concussion and has three goals in six games.

Carolina Hurricanes
It's looking like Kirk Muller is a fan of Jamie McBain. He's been playing a ton on the PP and has responded with four points in his last two games. Considering he was the occasional healthy scratch... things are definitely looking up here. He's on pace for a pretty decent 32 points (although a minus-17 as well).

Continue reading this post »

Welcome to LCL where we take a look around the league for recent changes to line combos or power play set ups.

I'm using quite a few resources to put this post together. FH911 (who power our Latest NHL Line Combo page) and Left Wing Lock are the two key ones. You should check them both out if you need some line combo info. Great, great stuff by both.

Today we'll look at the West followed by the East, likely tomorrow.. All statistics are for games up to Mon Dec 5th, 2011.

Anaheim Ducks
Bruce Boudreau isn't doing anything different in Anaheim as he's pretty much running the same lines we're used to.

Kurtis Foster returned on Sunday and played on the 1st PP unit. I've given up on this guy so I'll need to see some actual production before I jump back on board (he had zero points and a minus-1 in the game).

Calgary Flames
Over the last few weeks the Flames have switched things up. Curtis Glencross - Olli Jokinen - Jarome Iginla form unit one. Alex Tanguay - Roman Horak - Rene Bourque are on the second. The Flames have been playing a bit better lately, but I avoid putting your faith in the Flames if you can.

Blake Comeau is the new Flame and he's playing with Mikael Backlund and Lee Stempniak on the 3rd line. He's got three points in six games with the Flames... which doesn't sound great until you compare it to the zero points in 16 games he had with the Isles. Way to go, Blake!

Chicago Blackhawks
Marcus Kruger has been lining up with Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa lately. That's good work if you can get it. He's playing a bit on the PP. He's got some upside but I'll be surprised if he keeps this job long term.

Colorado Avalanche
Finally Matt Duchene has some decent linemates (Paul Stastny and David Jones). It's been a pretty miserable start to the season (six points in first 12 games) but he's turning it on since (13 points in 15 games).

The Gabriel Landeskog, Ryan O`Reilly and Milan Hejduk line has been tres hot lately. Especially O`Reilly. Don't think this will be lasting too much longer, but get on board if you're desperate.

Rookie Stefan Elliott is logging a ton of PP time (even though he's barely playing at full strength). He leads the Avs over the last five games in PP TOI but he does have three points in those fives games (of course none of them came on the PP).

Columbus Blue Jackets
Hey guess who's back? Kristian Huselius! I've never been a big fan, but he played with Rick Nash and Antoine Vermette in his 1st game. He might be a decent add if he can stick with Nash (and eventually Carter for the rest of the year).

Dallas Stars
I've been wondering how Eric Nystrom keeps scoring. 3rd line role + no PP TOI does not normally equal a 36 goal pace. Don't expect this to keep up.

Tomas Vincour does have a scoring line job and does get some PP time. I don't like him either... just sayin' is all.

Another unexpected stat out of Dallas... Philip Larsen leads the team in PP TOI over the last five games and has been playing on the 1st PP unit.

Detroit Red Wings
No major changes to the lines but just thought I'd mention that Ian White is playing with Nicklas Lidstrom at even strength and on the 1st PP unit. He has the fourth most PP TOI on the team over the last five games. He's curently on pace for 39 games and plus-48. He makes a great fourth d-man.

Continue reading this post »

Welcome to LCL where we take a look around the league for recent changes to line combos or power play set ups.

I'm using quite a few resources to put this post together.  FH911 (who power our Latest NHL Line Combo page) and Left Wing Lock are the two key ones.  You should check them both out if you need some line combo info.  Great, great stuff by both.

Today we'll look at the West... if you want to see the details on the East click here.  All statistics are for games up to Fri Oct 29th, 2011.

Anaheim Ducks
The big five (Lubomir Visnovsky, Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Cam Fowler and Teemu Selanne) all have over 4:51 PP TOI / game this season.  The next highest is Saku Koivu at just 2:08 / game.

One name missing from that list is Bobby Ryan.  Many were expecting a huge season from Ryan but it's going to be pretty tough to top 70 or 80 points with just 1:56 / game of PP time.  Want more bad news, Ryan owners?  The last two games he's been playing on the second line with Koivu and Selanne.

With Ryan on the second line, Patrick Maroon has been lining up with Getzlaf and Perry.  Don't go running to the wire for Maroon as he's been sent down to the AHL.  We'll see who gets the plum assignment going forward.

Calgary Flames
Brendan Morrison may be centering the top line but he's getting hardly any PP TOI.  He has zero points so far this year.

In his last game Roman Horak played with Lee Stempniak and Rene Bourque for the majority of the game.  He's been hot with four points in his last two games.  If he can keep up this streak you have to think the team will eventually give him a shot with Iggy and Tanguay.

Chicago Blackhawks
Andrew Brunette has been playing with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp.  That's good work if you can get it.

Daniel Carcillo has lining up with Marian Hossa and Patrick Kane... they gotta find a way to get Michael Frolik or somebody else with a bit of talent on that line.

Colorado Avalanche
As a guy who is pretty heavily invested in Matt Duchene I'm dismayed to see who he's been playing with lately.  The last two games his wingers have been Joakim Lindstrom and Chuck Kobasew.  Gross. 

Gabriel Landeskog is here to stay but that stay may be on the third line.  He is on pace for 48 points but I think a breakout season will be hard to come by on that line and with the small amount of PP TOI he's been getting (ninth on team)

Columbus Blue Jackets
In his first two games back James Wisniewski was playing with Fedor Tyutin at ES and picked up a whopping 7:11 / game on the PP.  He is going to get used a ton this season.

Derick Brassard has been centering the top unit with Jeff Carter out.  He has three points in those five games.

Rookie Ryan Johansen has been seeing time on the second line lately.  He picked up his first three points of the season in his last three games.  He has played seven game and could still be sent to junior before he hits game #10.

Dallas Stars
Loving Jamie Benn and his hot start (nine points in ten games), but I'm not loving the fact he's only played the ninth most PP time on the Stars.

Detroit Red Wings
Ian White has been seeing some nice PP minutes on the top unit.  He has three points in eight games so far but makes a nice target for those of you in deeper leagues.

Jiri Hudler may only be playing at a 40 point pace but I think that will change as long as he continues to get big PP minutes and play with Johan Franzen and Valtteri Filppula on the 2nd line.

Just a reminder that Danny Cleary is the lucky guy who gets to line up with Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk.

Continue reading this post »

Welcome to LCL where we take a look around the league for recent changes to line combos or power play set ups.

I'm using quite a few resources to put this post together.  FH911 (who power our Latest NHL Line Combo page) and Left Wing Lock are the two key ones.  You should check them both out if you need some line combo info.  Great, great stuff by both.

Today we'll look at the East followed by the West tomorrow (hopefully).  All statistics are for games up to Wed Oct 27th, 2011.

Boston Bruins
It's been two games now that we've seen Chris Kelly centering Tyler Seguin and Milan Lucic.  Maybe Seguin gets winger status one day? If you're in a Yahoo! league anything is possible!  Got to think that Kelly's days on L1 are numbered as I can't see David Krejci on L3 for an extended period of time.

Dennis Seidenberg is leading the team in PP TOI the last five games.  He has 1:10 / game more than Zdeno Chara, which is surprising.

Buffalo Sabres
Ville Leino has been rescued from checking line hell (thank you Tyler Ennis injury).  His PT has been pretty low (~ 14-15 minutes per game) and he's barely getting any PP TOI.  Nice signing there Buffalo.  Playing with Derek Roy and Drew Stafford might give him a bit of a jump start.  He sure needs it.

Carolina Hurricanes
At the beginning of the year we were trying to pick who Eric Staal would have on his wings.  Zac Dalpe and Jeff Skinner were early favourites but so far it looks like the winners of those prime roles are Alexei Ponikarovsky and Tuomo Ruutu.  Both have started out a bit slow but we like their chances if they can hold on to those jobs.  Ruutu has four points in his last four games so it might be a good time to jump aboard.

After a few early season healthy scratches Jamie McBain is back in the lineup and is seeing some solid PP minutes (sixth on team over last five games).

Continue reading this post »

Welcome to LCL where we take a look around the league and any recent changes to line combos or power play set ups. Since this is the first edition of the season we'll be focusing on early season surprises.

I'm using quite a few resources to put this post together.  The guys over at FH911 are back doing this year and doing an amazing job already.  Click on our Latest NHL Line Combo page for a complete listing of each team lines courtesy of FH911. 

Another great (and new!) line combo resource is at Left Wing Lock.  It's similar to Dobber's Frozen Pool tool but, unlike Dobber, LWL is giving it away for free!

Click here to check our yesterday's Line Combo Look which featured the Western Conference.  All statistics are for games up to Mon Oct 11th, 2011.

Boston Bruins
We wondered who would be lining up on the 2nd line at RW for the B's.  Rich Peverley has won the job early but we might see some shuffling for Tyler Seguin (RW on #3) or Jordan Caron (healthy scratch).

Buffalo Sabres
Luke Adam has surprised everybody (including us and we love him) with four points in two games as the team's #1 C between Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville.  Derek Roy has been playing as the 2nd line center between Drew Stafford and Nathan Gerbe.  That means Ville Leino is the third line center with Tyler Ennis and Brad Boyes. That's three pretty solid lines.

On the PP the TOI is a little more limited.  Leino (11th on team), Ennis (12th) and Boyes (15th) are barely seeing any action with the man advantage.  Leino and Ennis owners are no doubt holding their breath.  Boyes owners?  They should have known better.

Carolina Hurricanes
The most heartbreaking thing I've seen this season is Zac Dalpe playing on the fourth line.  Everything was pointing to my ROY pick playing alongside Eric Staal so I'm crushed.  Chad LaRose is the guy who won the job so I'm hopeful Dalpe steps up and claims that spot quickly.  The Canes have been trying a ton of different combinations up front so we'll see what shakes out.

Jamie McBain scored 30 points last year but has been a healthy scratch for the first three games of the season. The Canes are carrying nine d-men so expect them to sort this out shortly.  Gotta think McBain will get in the mix soon.

Florida Panthers
Stephen Weiss is centering Tomas Fleischmann and Kris Versteeg on L1.  With David Booth centering Scottie Upshall and Tomas Kopecky on L2.  Sucks for Booth's owners as I had a feeling he might get back up over 50.  That will be much tougher to do if these lines stick.  He is still getting some nice PP TOI though.

Speaking of PP TOI, Brian Campbell leads the team with a huge 6:29 / game and our #3 breakout pick Dmitry Kulikov is second on the team with 5:43 / game.

Continue reading this post »

Welcome to LCL where we take a look around the league and any recent changes to line combos or power play set ups. Since this is the first edition of the season we'll be focusing on early season surprises.

I'm using quite a few resources to put this post together.  The guys over at FH911 are back doing this year and doing an amazing job already.  Click on our Latest NHL Line Combo page for a complete listing of each team lines courtesy of FH911. 

Another great (and new!) line combo resource is at Left Wing Lock.  It's similar to Dobber's Frozen Pool tool but unlike Dobber... LWL is giving it away for free!

Today we'll look at the West tomorrow (hopefully) will be the East.  All statistics are for games up to Sun Oct 9th, 2011.

Anaheim Ducks
The Ducks really need to find a better 2nd line winger.  It is disgraceful that somebody of Teemu Selanne's caliber has to play with Jason Blake.

Calgary Flames
With Mikael Backlund and Brendan Morrison out, David Moss spent some time on the 1st line with Iggy and Tanguay on Saturday night.  That's not an ideal situation.

Chicago Blackhawks
It was surprise that Brandon Saad even made the team but seeing him lining up next to Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp really gets our attention.  It's a great situation to be in but we don't see this dream job lasting long as he's only 18.  So far he's played 13-14 minutes per game and has zero points in two games.

Andrew Brunette, Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa are playing together on L2.  We'll see how long Kane lasts as a centerman but Brunette is a very nice target.  No matter what, he should have some solid linemates this entire season.

Colorado Avalanche
Remember how everybody was saying #2 overall pick Gabriel Landeskog would be playing on a scoring line?  Well in Game #1, he's spent the majority of his TOI with Daniel Winnik and Ryan O`Reilly.  It's only one game but with Peter Mueller actually playing it might mean bad things for Landeskog.

Columbus Blue Jackets
Vinny Prospal was the big winner as he started the season on the big unit with Rick Nash and Jeff Carter.  It didn't last very long as he was demoted down to the second line for part of Saturday's game.  Expect a lot of shuffling this season in Ohio.

Derick Brassard and Matt Calvert have been banished to the third/forth units.  We were really hoping for a nice season from Brassard but so far, not good.

Big surprise here is that Cam Atkinson won a top six job in camp, replaced Prospal on L1 on Saturday and had some time on the PP.  So far he's got nothing to show for the plum assignment (zero points in two games) but the brass is obviously impressed with the kid.  He's 22 years old and has had some big seasons in the NCAA the last few years.

David Savard (4-5 minutes PP TOI) looks to be getting James Wisniewski's PP TOI while he's out suspended.

Continue reading this post »