NHL Line Changes & Fantasy Alerts: Thursday, Jan 1, 2026
8 games on Jan 1, 2026 produced 15 notable changes: 7 power-play changes (2 up, 5 down), 5 line moves (5 promotions, 0 demotions) and 3 big games. The biggest: Darren Raddysh moved up to D1 with Moser (2 straight games).
Biggest changes
Darren Raddysh moved up to D1 with Moser (2 straight games).
Line promotion · TBLGame reportTeam lines
J.J. Moser moved up to D1 with Raddysh (2 straight games).
Line promotion · TBLPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Noah Dobson moved onto the top power-play unit with Gallagher, Texier and Bolduc.
PP1 promotion · MTLGame reportTeam lines
Zachary Bolduc moved onto the top power-play unit with Gallagher, Texier and Dobson.
PP1 promotion · MTLPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Brandt Clarke moved up to D2 with Edmundson (2 straight games).
Line promotion · LAKGame reportTeam lines
Changes by team
Darren Raddysh moved up to D1 with Moser (2 straight games).
Line promotionGame reportTeam lines
J.J. Moser moved up to D1 with Raddysh (2 straight games).
Line promotionPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Nikita Kucherov moved up to L1 with Point and Goncalves.
Line promotionGame reportTeam lines
Noah Dobson moved onto the top power-play unit with Gallagher, Texier and Bolduc.
PP1 promotionGame reportTeam lines
Zachary Bolduc moved onto the top power-play unit with Gallagher, Texier and Dobson.
PP1 promotionPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Cole Caufield dropped off PP1 to the second unit.
Off PP1Game reportTeam lines
Ivan Demidov dropped off PP1 to the second unit.
Off PP1Game reportTeam lines
Juraj Slafkovský dropped off PP1 to the second unit.
Off PP1Game reportTeam lines
Lane Hutson dropped off PP1 to the second unit.
Off PP1Game reportTeam lines
Nick Suzuki dropped off PP1 to the second unit.
Off PP1Game reportTeam lines
Brandt Clarke moved up to D2 with Edmundson (2 straight games).
Line promotionGame reportTeam lines
Auston Matthews scored a hat trick (3 G, 1 A, 5 SOG).
Hat trickGame report
Dylan Guenther scored a hat trick (3 G, 1 A, 3 SOG).
Hat trickGame report
Cole Perfetti moved up to L2 with Toews and Iafallo (2 straight games).
Line promotionPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Sebastian Aho had 5 points (2 G, 3 A, 3 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.
100 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.