NHL Line Changes & Fantasy Alerts: Thursday, Dec 21, 2023
12 games on Dec 21, 2023 produced 14 notable changes: 1 power-play change (0 up, 1 down), 8 line moves (7 promotions, 1 demotions), 2 big ice-time swings and 3 big games. The biggest: Beck Malenstyn moved up to L1 with Dowd and Aube-Kubel (2 straight games).
Biggest changes
Beck Malenstyn moved up to L1 with Dowd and Aube-Kubel (2 straight games).
Line promotion · WSHPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Nic Dowd moved up to L1 with Aube-Kubel and Malenstyn (2 straight games).
Line promotion · WSHPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Nicolas Aube-Kubel moved up to L1 with Dowd and Malenstyn (2 straight games).
Line promotion · WSHGame reportTeam lines
Nathan MacKinnon scored 4 goals (4 G, 1 A, 9 SOG).
Hat trick · COLGame report
Adam Fantilli moved up to L1 with Gaudreau and Danforth.
Line promotion · CBJGame reportTeam lines
Changes by team
Beck Malenstyn moved up to L1 with Dowd and Aube-Kubel (2 straight games).
Line promotionPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Nic Dowd moved up to L1 with Aube-Kubel and Malenstyn (2 straight games).
Line promotionPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Nicolas Aube-Kubel moved up to L1 with Dowd and Malenstyn (2 straight games).
Line promotionGame reportTeam lines
Nicolas Aube-Kubel played 18:29 (+6:18 vs his recent average) (3 straight games).
TOI spikeGame reportTeam lines
Nathan MacKinnon scored 4 goals (4 G, 1 A, 9 SOG).
Hat trickGame report
Adam Fantilli moved up to L1 with Gaudreau and Danforth.
Line promotionGame reportTeam lines
Johnny Gaudreau moved up to L1 with Danforth and Fantilli.
Line promotionGame reportTeam lines
Filip Zadina moved up to L1 with Hertl and Eklund.
Line promotionGame reportTeam lines
Jacob MacDonald played 17:34 (+6:59 vs his recent average) (2 straight games).
TOI spikeGame reportTeam lines
Ben Hutton moved up to D1 with McNabb.
Line promotionGame reportTeam lines
Oskar Sundqvist dropped off PP1.
Off PP1Game reportTeam lines
Nikita Kucherov dropped to L2 from L1 with Paul and Point.
Line demotionGame reportTeam lines
Jacob Markstrom stopped all 25 shots for a shutout.
ShutoutGame report
Alex Tuch had 4 points (0 G, 4 A, 1 SOG).
Big nightGame 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.
140 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.