Welcome back to another edition of Lining Up. It’s the start of the season but there are already controversies and injuries starting to mount. This means many players are getting new opportunities to thrive and Liner Up will try to make some recommendations to help fantasy rosters in the coming week. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some get Florida’s top power play quarterback.
Let’s dive into it.
Dominik Kubalik
Dominik Kubalik had a moderate start to his career in Chicago. His first two seasons showed great promise as he produced back-to-back campaigns with a pace of 0.68 points per game. However, last season saw a dip where he had just 31 points in 78 games for a 0.40 pace. Now, with a change of scenery in a rising Detroit team, he kicked off his fourth season with eight points in five games and is lining up alongside Dylan Larkin for more than half of his time at even strength.
He also apparently earned a spot in the power play unit with David Perron and Dylan Larkin. Detroit may be splitting time between two units more than other teams, but this unit saw a slightly larger share of available time last game at 54.5%. Kubalik is currently enrolled in only 40% of Yahoo leagues, get him while he receives this deployment and on the right streak.
Jeff Petry
After a dismal season last year in Montreal that saw Petry register just five points in his first 34 games, he began to come back under new coach Martin St. Louis, ending the campaign with 11 points in 13 matches. Petry then moved to Pittsburgh where his fantasy value became questionable. From the 2017-18 season to last season, Petry had a 50% PP average compared to the 33.6 he’s seen so far with Pittsburgh. Even with this lesser deployment, he has been very valuable at the start of this season, especially in the multi-cat leagues. Petry currently sits at one goal and four runs in five games with just over two shots per game and over five hits and blocks. In practice and last night’s game against Edmonton, Petry temporarily supplanted Rickard Rakell in the top unit on the power play and will have his chance with the team’s stars until Jake Guentzel returns.
Pittsburgh has three more games to play this week, including a potentially great back-to-back game against Vancouver and Seattle. Consider trading it even if Guentzel returns.
Brandon Montour
Brandon Montour is another defender who finds himself on the power play. Florida’s final game on Sunday saw Montour with 6:15 of power-play time on the ice with the top unit, replacing injured Aaron Ekblad and beating Gustav Forsling for the top spot. Montour has driven in three runs in four games so far and as long as he maintains that deployment, it’s worth listing. Florida has three potentially high games this week against Chicago Philadelphia and an Ottawa team possibly without Anton Forsberg. He’s also only listed at 27% in the Yahoo Leagues, so consider rotating him into your roster.
Cole Perfecti
Cole Perfetti has had a strong start to the season and is currently on a fine five-point streak in his last four games while playing on the second line with Blake Wheeler and Pierre-Luc Dubois. Last season he saw a similar display in his short 18 games, playing alongside Dubois and Kyle Connor, but had more mixed results. He scored seven points in those 18 games while playing nearly two-thirds of the time on that line and sadly lost the rest of the season to multiple injuries. So far though, a full offseason to recover and start with the team from day one seems to be paying off as he produces more efficiently.
Perfetti was the 10e overall pick in 2020 and is the top prospect within the Winnipeg organization. He had 15 points in 17 games while in the OHL before a short run for Team Canada at WJC where he had six points in two games. He has a points-per-game advantage and is comparable to a Nicklas Backstrom-style player. At just 16% registered in the Yahoo Leagues and with three games to go this week for Winnipeg, pick up Perfetti and ride the right streak to a win.
Nicholas Robertson
Toronto rookie forward and younger brother of Dallas star Jason Robertson recently lined up alongside John Tavares and William Nylander on the second line. He’s spent just over 70% of his time there, and so far has produced three points in three games, including two goals in his opener. Additionally, Robertson is averaging 15:04 of TOI so far, which is an increase of nearly five minutes from his previous recalls with Toronto and he’s seeing 55.5% of his faceoffs in the zone. offensive. Both are good indications of a strong deployment and should keep him producing. Toronto still has three games to play this week on its road trip, including one back-to-back on Saturday and Sunday. Keep an eye out for Robertson perhaps as a weekend pickup for both of those games.
Thanks for reading.
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