NHL Line Changes & Fantasy Alerts: Tuesday, Feb 16, 2021
5 games on Feb 16, 2021 produced 13 notable changes: 2 power-play changes (1 up, 1 down), 7 line moves (6 promotions, 1 demotions), 2 big ice-time swings and 2 big games. The biggest: Kris Letang moved onto the top power-play unit with Malkin, Crosby and Rust, +1:19 of PP time (2 straight games).
Biggest changes
Kris Letang moved onto the top power-play unit with Malkin, Crosby and Rust, +1:19 of PP time (2 straight games).
PP1 promotion · PITPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Colin Miller moved up to D1 with Dahlin (2 straight games).
Line promotion · BUFPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Rasmus Dahlin moved up to D1 with Miller (2 straight games).
Line promotion · BUFGame reportTeam lines
Andre Burakovsky moved up to L1 with MacKinnon and Rantanen.
Line promotion · COLPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Ty Smith moved up to D1 with Severson.
Line promotion · NJDGame reportTeam lines
Changes by team
Kris Letang moved onto the top power-play unit with Malkin, Crosby and Rust, +1:19 of PP time (2 straight games).
PP1 promotionPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Colin Miller moved up to D1 with Dahlin (2 straight games).
Line promotionPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Rasmus Dahlin moved up to D1 with Miller (2 straight games).
Line promotionGame reportTeam lines
Andre Burakovsky moved up to L1 with MacKinnon and Rantanen.
Line promotionPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Ryan Graves played 24:48 (+6:11 vs his recent average) (2 straight games).
TOI spikePickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Ty Smith moved up to D1 with Severson.
Line promotionGame reportTeam lines
Jacob Trouba played only 13:11 (−9:44 vs his recent average) (2 straight games).
TOI dropGame reportTeam lines
Jacob Trouba dropped to D3 from D1 with Smith.
Line demotionGame reportTeam lines
Anthony Bitetto moved up to D2 with Hajek.
Line promotionGame reportTeam lines
Libor Hajek moved up to D2 with Bitetto.
Line promotionGame reportTeam lines
Alex Pietrangelo dropped off PP1.
Off PP1Game reportTeam lines
Jonathan Quick stopped all 28 shots for a shutout.
ShutoutPickup alertGame report
Ilya Sorokin stopped all 20 shots for a shutout.
ShutoutGame 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.
66 raw deployment changes were checked for this date; 11 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.