NHL Line Changes & Fantasy Alerts: Wednesday, Feb 4, 2026
10 games on Feb 4, 2026 produced 10 notable changes: 3 power-play changes (1 up, 2 down), 4 line moves (2 promotions, 2 demotions), 1 big ice-time swing and 2 big games. The biggest: Viktor Arvidsson moved onto the top power-play unit with Pastrnak, McAvoy and Geekie, +5:56 of PP time (2 straight games).
Biggest changes
Viktor Arvidsson moved onto the top power-play unit with Pastrnak, McAvoy and Geekie, +5:56 of PP time (2 straight games).
PP1 promotion · BOSPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Steven Stamkos moved up to L1 with O'Reilly and Evangelista (2 straight games).
Line promotion · NSHGame reportTeam lines
Sam Malinski dropped to D3 from D1 with Girard (2 straight games).
Line demotion · COLGame reportTeam lines
Matt Boldy scored a hat trick (3 G, 1 A, 6 SOG).
Hat trick · MINGame report
Brad Marchand dropped off PP1 to the second unit.
Off PP1 · FLAGame reportTeam lines
Changes by team
Viktor Arvidsson moved onto the top power-play unit with Pastrnak, McAvoy and Geekie, +5:56 of PP time (2 straight games).
PP1 promotionPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Steven Stamkos moved up to L1 with O'Reilly and Evangelista (2 straight games).
Line promotionGame reportTeam lines
Sam Malinski dropped to D3 from D1 with Girard (2 straight games).
Line demotionGame reportTeam lines
Matt Boldy scored a hat trick (3 G, 1 A, 6 SOG).
Hat trickGame report
Yakov Trenin moved up to L3 with Tarasenko and Yurov (2 straight games).
Line promotionPickup alertGame reportTeam lines
Brad Marchand dropped off PP1 to the second unit.
Off PP1Game reportTeam lines
Jonathan Lekkerimäki dropped off PP1 to the second unit.
Off PP1Game reportTeam lines
Filip Hronek dropped to D2 from D1 with Pettersson.
Line demotionGame reportTeam lines
Filip Hronek played only 17:06 (−8:07 vs his recent average) (2 straight games).
TOI dropGame reportTeam lines
Jet Greaves stopped all 21 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.
121 raw deployment changes were checked for this date; 8 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.