NHL Line Changes & Fantasy Alerts: Tuesday, May 18, 2021
4 games on May 18, 2021 produced 12 notable changes: 3 power-play changes (0 up, 3 down), 6 line moves (4 promotions, 2 demotions) and 3 big ice-time swings. The biggest: Ryan Suter moved up to D1 with Spurgeon (2 straight games).
Biggest changes
Ryan Suter moved up to D1 with Spurgeon (2 straight games).
Line promotion · MINGame reportTeam lines
Alec Martinez dropped off PP1 (2 straight games).
Off PP1 · VGKGame reportTeam lines
Alex Tuch dropped off PP1 to the second unit (2 straight games).
Off PP1 · VGKGame reportTeam lines
Ondrej Palat dropped off PP1 to the second unit (2 straight games).
Off PP1 · TBLGame reportTeam lines
Aleksander Barkov played 26:28 (+8:55 vs his recent average) (2 straight games).
TOI spike · FLAGame reportTeam lines
Changes by team
Ryan Suter moved up to D1 with Spurgeon (2 straight games).
Line promotionGame reportTeam lines
Ondrej Palat dropped off PP1 to the second unit (2 straight games).
Off PP1Game reportTeam lines
Brayden Point moved up to L1 with Palat and Kucherov.
Line promotionGame reportTeam lines
Alec Martinez dropped off PP1 (2 straight games).
Off PP1Game reportTeam lines
Alex Tuch dropped off PP1 to the second unit (2 straight games).
Off PP1Game reportTeam lines
Mattias Janmark played only 11:25 (−6:50 vs his recent average).
TOI dropGame reportTeam lines
Aleksander Barkov played 26:28 (+8:55 vs his recent average) (2 straight games).
TOI spikeGame reportTeam lines
Gustav Forsling moved up to D1 with Weegar.
Line promotionPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
MacKenzie Weegar moved up to D1 with Forsling.
Line promotionGame reportTeam lines
John Marino dropped to D3 from D2 with Pettersson (2 straight games).
Line demotionGame reportTeam lines
Marcus Pettersson dropped to D3 from D2 with Marino (2 straight games).
Line demotionGame reportTeam lines
Marcus Pettersson played only 10:17 (−6:56 vs his recent average).
TOI dropGame 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.
46 raw deployment changes were checked for this date; 12 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.