NHL Line Changes & Fantasy Alerts: Tuesday, Feb 4, 2020
13 games on Feb 4, 2020 produced 12 notable changes: 1 power-play change (0 up, 1 down), 6 line moves (5 promotions, 1 demotions) and 5 big games. The biggest: Frank Vatrano moved up to L1 with Hoffman and Toninato (2 straight games).
Biggest changes
Frank Vatrano moved up to L1 with Hoffman and Toninato (2 straight games).
Line promotion · FLAPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Mike Hoffman moved up to L1 with Toninato and Vatrano (2 straight games).
Line promotion · FLAGame reportTeam lines
Mattias Ekholm dropped off PP1 to the second unit (2 straight games).
Off PP1 · NSHGame reportTeam lines
Erik Karlsson moved up to D1 with Vlasic.
Line promotion · SJSGame reportTeam lines
Marc-Edouard Vlasic moved up to D1 with Karlsson.
Line promotion · SJSGame reportTeam lines
Changes by team
Frank Vatrano moved up to L1 with Hoffman and Toninato (2 straight games).
Line promotionPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Mike Hoffman moved up to L1 with Toninato and Vatrano (2 straight games).
Line promotionGame reportTeam lines
Mattias Ekholm dropped off PP1 to the second unit (2 straight games).
Off PP1Game reportTeam lines
Erik Karlsson moved up to D1 with Vlasic.
Line promotionGame reportTeam lines
Marc-Edouard Vlasic moved up to D1 with Karlsson.
Line promotionGame reportTeam lines
Mark Giordano dropped to D3 from D1 with Andersson.
Line demotionGame reportTeam lines
Alex Ovechkin scored a hat trick (3 G, 0 A, 5 SOG).
Hat trickGame report
Elvis Merzlikins stopped all 32 shots for a shutout.
ShutoutPickup alertGame report
Boone Jenner moved up to L2 with Nyquist and Atkinson.
Line promotionPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Antti Raanta stopped all 30 shots for a shutout.
ShutoutGame report
Tuukka Rask stopped all 25 shots for a shutout.
ShutoutGame report
Andre Burakovsky had 4 points (1 G, 3 A, 1 SOG).
Big nightPickup alertGame report
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.
163 raw deployment changes were checked for this date; 7 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.