NHL Line Changes & Fantasy Alerts: Saturday, Jan 4, 2020
12 games on Jan 4, 2020 produced 26 notable changes: 12 power-play changes (5 up, 7 down), 7 line moves (5 promotions, 2 demotions), 4 big ice-time swings and 3 big games. The biggest: Barclay Goodrow moved onto the top power-play unit with Kane, Labanc and Meier, +0:53 of PP time (2 straight games).
Biggest changes
Barclay Goodrow moved onto the top power-play unit with Kane, Labanc and Meier, +0:53 of PP time (2 straight games).
PP1 promotion · SJSPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Mikael Granlund moved onto the top power-play unit with Josi, Jarnkrok and Johansen, +3:52 of PP time (2 straight games).
PP1 promotion · NSHGame reportTeam lines
Ryan Johansen moved onto the top power-play unit with Josi, Jarnkrok and Granlund, +3:11 of PP time (2 straight games).
PP1 promotion · NSHGame reportTeam lines
Kyle Palmieri moved up to L1 with Zacha and Hischier (2 straight games).
Line promotion · NJDPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Nico Hischier moved up to L1 with Palmieri and Zacha (2 straight games).
Line promotion · NJDGame reportTeam lines
Changes by team
Mikael Granlund moved onto the top power-play unit with Josi, Jarnkrok and Johansen, +3:52 of PP time (2 straight games).
PP1 promotionGame reportTeam lines
Ryan Johansen moved onto the top power-play unit with Josi, Jarnkrok and Granlund, +3:11 of PP time (2 straight games).
PP1 promotionGame reportTeam lines
Barclay Goodrow moved onto the top power-play unit with Kane, Labanc and Meier, +0:53 of PP time (2 straight games).
PP1 promotionPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Brent Burns dropped off PP1 to the second unit (2 straight games).
Off PP1Game reportTeam lines
Erik Karlsson dropped off PP1 to the second unit (2 straight games).
Off PP1Game reportTeam lines
Logan Couture dropped off PP1 to the second unit (2 straight games).
Off PP1Game reportTeam lines
Tomas Hertl dropped off PP1 to the second unit (2 straight games).
Off PP1Game reportTeam lines
Pierre-Luc Dubois moved up to L1 with Stenlund and Robinson (2 straight games).
Line promotionPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Kyle Palmieri moved up to L1 with Zacha and Hischier (2 straight games).
Line promotionPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Nico Hischier moved up to L1 with Palmieri and Zacha (2 straight games).
Line promotionGame reportTeam lines
Sami Vatanen played 30:40 (+8:44 vs his recent average).
TOI spikeGame reportTeam lines
Mikko Rantanen dropped to L4 from L1 with Burakovsky and Compher (2 straight games).
Line demotionGame reportTeam lines
Mikko Rantanen scored a hat trick (3 G, 0 A, 3 SOG).
Hat trickGame report
Mikko Rantanen played only 14:58 (−5:32 vs his recent average) (2 straight games).
TOI dropGame reportTeam lines
Frank Vatrano moved onto the top power-play unit with Yandle, Hoffman and Trocheck.
PP1 promotionPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Vincent Trocheck moved onto the top power-play unit with Yandle, Hoffman and Huberdeau.
PP1 promotionGame reportTeam lines
Mike Hoffman played 21:10 (+6:24 vs his recent average).
TOI spikeGame reportTeam lines
Devon Toews moved up to D1 with Mayfield.
Line promotionGame reportTeam lines
Josh Bailey moved up to L1 with Barzal and Beauvillier.
Line promotionGame reportTeam lines
Anders Lee dropped off PP1 to the second unit.
Off PP1Game reportTeam lines
Devon Toews dropped off PP1 to the second unit.
Off PP1Game reportTeam lines
Mathew Barzal dropped off PP1 to the second unit.
Off PP1Game reportTeam lines
Michael Hutchinson stopped all 33 shots for a shutout.
ShutoutGame report
Rasmus Asplund played 15:44 (+6:10 vs his recent average) (2 straight games).
TOI spikeGame reportTeam lines
Antti Raanta stopped all 17 shots for a shutout.
ShutoutGame report
Alex Killorn dropped to L3 from L2 with Stamkos and Cirelli.
Line demotionGame reportTeam lines
How Line Watch works
- •Deployment is rebuilt from the official shift charts: the forward trio and defense pair a player shared the most 5-on-5 time with, and the power-play unit he spent most of the man advantage on.
- •Each game is compared with the player's previous five games (at least three), so a change means a change from his own recent role.
- •Changes that last only one game, come out of blowouts or move by a few seconds are filtered out. What remains is ranked by fantasy impact: first-unit power play and top-line moves first.
192 raw deployment changes were checked for this date; 23 passed.
FAQ
What is Line Watch?
Line Watch flags fantasy-relevant role changes from the NHL shift charts: players moving onto or off the first power-play unit, forwards and defensemen moving up or down the lineup, new defense partners, and big swings in ice time. Each night gets its own dated digest.
How is a line change detected?
After every game we rebuild each team's lines, pairs and power-play units from who was on the ice together, then compare every player with his own previous five games. A change only counts once the team has three games of history to compare against.
Why are some line changes left out?
Coaches shuffle lines constantly, so a one-game move is usually noise. Power-play and line moves must hold for at least two straight games (three after a blowout decided by 4+ goals). Ice-time swings must be at least three minutes, not come from a blowout, and either repeat or reach five minutes.
Where do goalie and injury alerts come from?
Goalie flips come from our starting-goalie snapshots, taken every 15 minutes: a different goalie listed, or a confirmed starter going back to expected. Injury notes come from the public injury report, matched to NHL players and limited to regular-lineup players.
Can I get these alerts by email?
Yes. Create a free account and follow as many players as you like from their player pages; you get one morning email with their changes. If you connect Yahoo, your roster's changes are included too. Every email links back to these free pages and has an unsubscribe link.