Week 21: Fantasy hockey line top 25 rankings for 2018-19

NHL.com ranks the top fantasy hockey forward lines and tracks notable changes and production trends each week during the 2018-19 season. For more fantasy coverage, visit NHL.com/Fantasy.

LINE CHANGES

-- Colorado Avalanche left wing Gabriel Landeskog (upper body) is expected to be out 4-6 weeks, forcing the Avalanche to break up their stacked top line of Landeskog, center Nathan MacKinnon and right wing Mikko Rantanen. MacKinnon had three points (one goal, two assists) while centering a line with wings Derick Brassard and J.T. Compher against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday, and Rantanen played on a line with center Carl Soderberg and left wing Colin Wilson in the first game without Landeskog. Compher (C/LW/RW, 6 percent owned), who has set NHL career highs in goals (15) and points (30) this season, matched a season high with five shots on goal Saturday and is worth streaming in deeper leagues with exposure to the elite MacKinnon.
-- Entering Sunday, Anaheim Ducks right wing Troy Terry (2 percent owned) has seven points (two goals, five assists) during a three-game point streak, including back-to-back three-point games. Terry has played on a line with left wing Nick Ritchie and center Adam Henrique in the past two games, a trio that led the Ducks with 10:00 at 5-on-5 against the Montreal Canadiens on Friday. The line has combined for 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in two games together, and Henrique (16 percent owned) has four goals during a three-game goal streak entering Sunday. Terry is an intriguing waiver wire option and potential deep sleeper moving forward.
-- New York Rangers left wing Vladislav Namestnikov had three points (one goal, two assists) against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday, giving him 11 points (six goals, five assists) in the past 12 games compared to 16 points (four goals, 12 assists) through his first 52 games this season. Namestnikov, who played on the top line with center Mika Zibanejad and left wing Filip Chytil on Saturday, has bounce-back potential down the stretch with a shooting percentage (10.0) much lower than his rate from last season (14.2). Left wing Chris Kreider has lost significant fantasy value since being moved off Zibanejad's line.

PRODUCTION TRENDS

-- The Minnesota Wild line of left wing Ryan Donato, center Eric Staal and right wing Jason Zucker joins the top 25 for the first time since Donato was acquired Feb. 20. Donato (C/LW/RW, 24 percent owned) has nine points (two goals, seven assists) in nine games with the Wild and has played with Staal and Zucker over the past four games; the trio has combined for nine points (four goals, five assists) in four games together and is worth stacking for moderate prices in FanDuel DFS contests.
-- Edmonton Oilers right wing Zack Kassian (3 percent owned) is once again thriving as a linemate of Connor McDavid's with four goals, 14 SOG and a plus-5 in the past five games. Kassian (12 goals in 65 games) is two goals from matching his NHL career high (14 in 73 games in 2013-14) and also covers hits (162), meaning he could make an impact in fantasy playoff matchups with exposure to McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and/or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. The Oilers play four games this week, including favorable home matchups against the New York Rangers on Monday and New Jersey Devils on Wednesday.

FANTASY LINE RANKINGS FOR 2018-19

1. TBL: Tyler Johnson -- Brayden Point -- Nikita Kucherov (SAME)
   2. BOS: Brad Marchand -- Patrice Bergeron -- Danton Heinen (+1)
   3. TOR: Zach Hyman -- John Tavares -- Mitchell Marner (-1)
   4. WPG: Patrik Laine -- Mark Scheifele -- Blake Wheeler (+1)
   5. CGY: Johnny Gaudreau -- Sean Monahan -- Elias Lindholm (-1)
   6. NSH: Filip Forsberg (DTD) / Mikael Granlund -- Ryan Johansen -- Viktor Arvidsson (+1)
   7. PIT: Jake Guentzel -- Sidney Crosby -- Jared McCann (+1)
   8. WSH: Alex Ovechkin -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- Tom Wilson (+3)
   9. CAR: Nino Niederreiter -- Sebastian Aho -- Justin Williams (+5)
   10. PHI: Oskar Lindblom -- Sean Couturier -- Jakub Voracek SUSP. (+5)
   11. CBJ: Artemi Panarin -- Pierre-Luc Dubois -- Cam Atkinson (-1)
   12. BUF: Jeff Skinner -- Jack Eichel SUSP. -- Sam Reinhart (-3)
   13. FLA: Jonathan Huberdeau -- Aleksander Barkov -- Evgenii Dadonov (+4)
   14. EDM: Leon Draisaitl / Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Connor McDavid -- Zack Kassian (+7)
   15. WPG: Kyle Connor -- Kevin Hayes -- Nikolaj Ehlers (+3)
   16. STL: Brayden Schenn -- Ryan O'Reilly -- Vladimir Tarasenko (DTD) / Jaden Schwartz (SAME)
   17. TOR: Andreas Johnsson -- Auston Matthews -- Kasperi Kapanen (-4)
   18. SJS: Timo Meier / Gustav Nyquist -- Logan Couture -- Joe Pavelski (+2)
   19. DAL: Roope Hintz / Jamie Benn -- Tyler Seguin -- Alexander Radulov (+3)
   20. VGK: Max Pacioretty -- Paul Stastny -- Mark Stone (+5)
   21. COL: Derick Brassard -- Nathan MacKinnon -- J.T. Compher / Mikko Rantanen (-15)
   22. TBL: Ondrej Palat -- Steven Stamkos -- Yanni Gourde / J.T. Miller (-3)
   23. PIT: Zach Aston-Reese -- Evgeni Malkin -- Phil Kessel (+1)
   24. WSH: Jakub Vrana -- Nicklas Backstrom -- T.J. Oshie (-1)
   25. MIN: Ryan Donato -- Eric Staal -- Jason Zucker (NEW)
       NOTES:Voracek and Eichel have each been suspended two games. … Forsberg (Nashville Predators) and Tarasenko (St. Louis Blues) did not play Saturday because of upper-body injuries and are day to day. Granlund, acquired from the Wild on Feb. 25, replaced Forsberg on a unit with Johansen and Arvidsson, and Schwartz returned to the Blues' top line with O'Reilly and Schenn, who has five points (two goals, three assists) in three games since returning from injury. … Center Matt Duchene has been moved off the Columbus Blue Jackets' first line, which features Panarin, Dubois and Atkinson again. … The Chicago Blackhawks have broken up their top line of elite forwards Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, causing the unit to drop out of this week's rankings. Kane has been reunited with former linemate Artem Anisimov, who's worth monitoring in fantasy.
       Read: Week 20 line rankings