NHL Line Changes & Fantasy Alerts: Thursday, Jan 28, 2021
13 games on Jan 28, 2021 produced 16 notable changes: 5 power-play changes (2 up, 3 down), 7 line moves (2 promotions, 5 demotions), 2 big ice-time swings and 2 big games. The biggest: Boone Jenner dropped to L4 from L1 with Atkinson and Roslovic (2 straight games).
Biggest changes
Boone Jenner dropped to L4 from L1 with Atkinson and Roslovic (2 straight games).
Line demotion · CBJGame reportTeam lines
Kris Letang dropped to D2 from D1 with Joseph (2 straight games).
Line demotion · PITGame reportTeam lines
Miles Wood dropped to L4 from L1 with Gusev and Sharangovich (2 straight games).
Line demotion · NJDGame reportTeam lines
Jordan Oesterle moved onto the top power-play unit with Kessel, Pitlick and Dvorak, +3:34 of PP time.
PP1 promotion · ARIGame reportTeam lines
Tony DeAngelo moved onto the top power-play unit with Zibanejad, Buchnevich and Panarin, +3:30 of PP time.
PP1 promotion · NYRPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Changes by team
Boone Jenner dropped to L4 from L1 with Atkinson and Roslovic (2 straight games).
Line demotionGame reportTeam lines
Miles Wood dropped to L4 from L1 with Gusev and Sharangovich (2 straight games).
Line demotionGame reportTeam lines
Andreas Johnsson moved up to L1 with Bratt and Hughes.
Line promotionGame reportTeam lines
Yegor Sharangovich played only 8:26 (−7:37 vs his recent average) (2 straight games).
TOI dropGame reportTeam lines
Yegor Sharangovich dropped to L4 from L2 with Gusev and Wood.
Line demotionGame reportTeam lines
Kris Letang dropped to D2 from D1 with Joseph (2 straight games).
Line demotionGame reportTeam lines
Kris Letang played only 23:03 (−5:59 vs his recent average).
TOI dropGame reportTeam lines
Jordan Oesterle moved onto the top power-play unit with Kessel, Pitlick and Dvorak, +3:34 of PP time.
PP1 promotionGame reportTeam lines
Tony DeAngelo moved onto the top power-play unit with Zibanejad, Buchnevich and Panarin, +3:30 of PP time.
PP1 promotionPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Chris Kreider dropped off PP1 to the second unit.
Off PP1Game reportTeam lines
Anders Bjork moved up to L1 with Wagner and Kuraly.
Line promotionGame reportTeam lines
Rickard Rakell dropped off PP1 to the second unit.
Off PP1Game reportTeam lines
Evander Kane dropped off PP1 to the second unit.
Off PP1Game reportTeam lines
Morgan Rielly dropped to D2 from D1 with Brodie.
Line demotionGame reportTeam lines
Petr Mrazek stopped all 32 shots for a shutout.
ShutoutPickup alertGame report
Philipp Grubauer stopped all 21 shots for a shutout.
ShutoutPickup 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.
187 raw deployment changes were checked for this date; 14 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.