NHL Line Changes & Fantasy Alerts: Tuesday, Jan 20, 2026
8 games on Jan 20, 2026 produced 14 notable changes: 3 power-play changes (1 up, 2 down) and 11 line moves (10 promotions, 1 demotions). The biggest: Connor Brown moved onto the top power-play unit with Hamilton, Bratt and Hischier, +1:18 of PP time (2 straight games).
Biggest changes
Connor Brown moved onto the top power-play unit with Hamilton, Bratt and Hischier, +1:18 of PP time (2 straight games).
PP1 promotion · NJDPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Mario Ferraro moved up to D1 with Liljegren (2 straight games).
Line promotion · SJSPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Rasmus Dahlin moved up to D1 with Power (2 straight games).
Line promotion · BUFGame reportTeam lines
Ryan Hartman moved up to L1 with Zuccarello and Kaprizov (2 straight games).
Line promotion · MINPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Tyler Toffoli dropped off PP1 (2 straight games).
Off PP1 · SJSGame reportTeam lines
Changes by team
Connor Brown moved onto the top power-play unit with Hamilton, Bratt and Hischier, +1:18 of PP time (2 straight games).
PP1 promotionPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Brenden Dillon moved up to D2 with Hamilton (2 straight games).
Line promotionPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Rasmus Dahlin moved up to D1 with Power (2 straight games).
Line promotionGame reportTeam lines
Ryan Hartman moved up to L1 with Zuccarello and Kaprizov (2 straight games).
Line promotionPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Yakov Trenin moved up to L3 with Tarasenko and Yurov (3 straight games).
Line promotionPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Mario Ferraro moved up to D1 with Liljegren (2 straight games).
Line promotionPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Tyler Toffoli dropped off PP1 (2 straight games).
Off PP1Game reportTeam lines
Ryan Reaves moved up to L2 with Goodrow and Ostapchuk.
Line promotionPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Matt Savoie moved up to L2 with Roslovic and Howard (2 straight games).
Line promotionPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Roman Josi moved up to D1 with Skjei.
Line promotionGame reportTeam lines
Gage Goncalves moved up to L1 with Guentzel and James.
Line promotionPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Max Crozier moved up to D2 with Carlile.
Line promotionPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Jeff Malott dropped to L4 from L3 with Helenius and Ward (3 straight games).
Line demotionGame reportTeam lines
Vladislav Gavrikov dropped off PP1.
Off PP1Game 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.
117 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.