List of famous ice hockey linemates

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The three forwards – the centre, right wing and left wing – operate as a unit called a line.

Contents 1 Famous NHL lines with nicknames 2 Famous non-NHL lines with nicknames 3 Current, short-lived and/or novelty lines (though seldom used beyond local fans) 4 Famous forward combinations without acknowledged nicknames 5 References

[edit] Famous NHL lines with nicknames

• "The Bread line" – New York Rangers – Bill Cook, Bun Cook, Frank Boucher; a reference to "Bun" Cook's nickname
• "The Century line" - Pittsburgh Penguins (1970s) - Syl Apps Jr., Lowell MacDonald, and Jean Pronovost; also known as "The Bicentennial Line"; scored 100+ goals and 200+ points for 4 straight seasons
• "The "Dogs of War" line - Boston Bruins (1960s-1970s) - Wayne Cashman, Phil Esposito, and Ken Hodge; also known as The Nitro line"^[1]; and "The Espo Line"
• "The Dynamite line" – Boston Bruins – Cooney Weiland, Dutch Gainor, Dit Clapper
• "The Dynasty line" ^[2] - Montreal Canadiens (1970s) - Guy Lafleur, Jacques Lemaire, and Steve Shutt; also with Peter Mahovlich in place of Lemaire
• "The Flying Frenchmen" – Montreal Canadiens – Didier Pitre, Jack Laviolette, Newsy Lalonde
• "The French Connection" – Buffalo Sabres (1970s) – Gilbert Perreault, Rick Martin and Rene Robert; made up of three French-Canadian players
• "The GAG line" (Goal-A-Game Line) – New York Rangers (1960s-70s) – Jean Ratelle, Vic Hadfield and Rod Gilbert
• "The GEM line" - Atlanta Flames (late 1970s) - Guy Chouinard, Eric Vail and Bob MacMillan
• "The Grind line" – Detroit Red Wings (1990s) – Kirk Maltby, Kris Draper, and Darren McCarty
• "The Kid line" – Toronto Maple Leafs (1930s) – Charlie Conacher, Joe Primeau, and Busher Jackson
• "The Kraut line" – Boston Bruins (1930-40s) – Milt Schmidt, Woody Dumart and Bobby Bauer; all three players were born in Kitchener, Ontario, which was called Berlin before World War II, and whose citizens are mainly of German descent
• "The LCB line" – Philadelphia Flyers (1970s) – Reggie Leach, Bobby Clarke, and Bill Barber; after the initials of the players' surnames
• "The Legion of Doom line" – Philadelphia Flyers (1990s) – Eric Lindros, John LeClair and Mikael Renberg
• "The LILCO line" - (1980s) New York Islanders - Mike Bossy, Clark Gillies and Bryan Trottier; after Long Island Lighting Company; originally with Billy Harris instead of Bossy; also known as "The Trio Grande Line"^[3]
• "The Million Dollar line" - Chicago Blackhawks (1950s-60s) - Bobby Hull, Bill Hay - Murray Balfour
• "The mph line" – Chicago Black Hawks (1960s) – Stan Mikita, Jim Pappin, and Dennis Hull; after the initials of the players' surnames; it also stands for "miles per hour", a unit of speed
• "The Olympic Line" - Winnipeg Jets (1992-1996) - Teemu Selanne, Alexei Zhamnov, Keith Tkachuk. Named after their home countries, Finland(Selanne), Russia(Zhamnov), Tkachuk(United States)
• "The Pony line" – Chicago Black Hawks – Max Bentley, Doug Bentley, Bill Mosienko
• "The Production line" – Detroit Red Wings (1950s) – Sid Abel, Gordie Howe, Ted Lindsay, later with Alex Delvecchio
• "The Punch line" – Montreal Canadiens – Toe Blake, Elmer Lach and Maurice Richard
• "The Russian Five" - Detroit Red Wings (1990s) - Sergei Fedorov, Igor Larionov, Vyacheslav Kozlov, Vladimir Konstantinov, and Viacheslav Fetisov
• "The S Line" – Montreal Maroons – Nels Stewart, Babe Siebert, Hooley Smith; after the common initial "S" of the players' surnames
• "The Scooter line" – Chicago Black Hawks – Doug Mohns, Stan Mikita, Ken Wharram
• "The Sky line" - Pittsburgh Penguins (1990s) - Mario Lemieux, Mark Recchi, and Kevin Stevens
• "The Triple Crown Line" – Los Angeles Kings (1970s-80s) – Dave Taylor, Charlie Simmer and Marcel Dionne; a reference to the Kings' logo, which features a crown
• "The Uke line" – Boston Bruins – Bronco Horvath, Johnny Bucyk, Vic Stasiuk; referring to the players' Ukrainian ancestry

[edit] Famous non-NHL lines with nicknames

• "The Army Line" - CSKA Moscow Soviet league (1970s) - Valeri Kharlamov (LW), Boris Mikhailov (RW), Vladimir Petrov (C)
• "The DDT Line" - 2002 Winter Olympics, 2003 World Championships, 2004 World Championships, & 2004 World Cup of Hockey - Kris Draper, Shane Doan, Joe Thornton; after the initials of the players' surnames^[4]
• "The KLM line" – Soviet national ice hockey team (1980s) - Vladimir Krutov, Igor Larionov, Sergei Makarov; after the initials of the players' surnames; also known as "The Green Line"

[edit] Current, short-lived and/or novelty lines (though seldom used beyond local fans)

• "The 2 Kids & A Goat line" - Detroit Red Wings - Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Brett Hull, originally with Boyd Devereaux in place of Zetterberg.
• "The 700 Pound line" - Boston Bruins - Joe Thornton, Glen Murray, Mike Knuble
• "The A line" - New Jersey Devils - Patrik Elias, Jason Arnott, and Petr Sykora
• "The AMP line" – Colorado Avalanche (2000s) – Alex Tanguay, Milan Hejduk, Peter Forsberg; after the initials of the players' given names
• "The Ash Line" - New York Islanders - Aaron Asham, Alexei Yashin, Oleg Kvasha; after the common string "ash" in their last names
• "The Bay Street Bullies" - Toronto Maple Leafs - Darcy Tucker, Shayne Corson, Tie Domi
• "The BBC line" - Carolina Hurricanes (2000s) - Bates Battaglia, Rod Brind'Amour, Erik Cole
• "The Brothers Line" - Vancouver Canucks (2000s) - Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin, Anson Carter; Henrik and Daniel are twins, and Carter is of Bajan descent and is known as "Soul Brother".
• "The Crash line" – New Jersey Devils – Mike Peluso, Bobby Holik, and Randy McKay
• "The Crazy Eights" – Philadelphia Flyers – Eric Lindros, Brent Fedyk, and Mark Recchi; so named because they wore the uniform numbers 88, 18, and 8, respectively.
• "Czech-mate line" - New York Rangers - Jan Hlavac left wing, Radek Dvorak right wing, and Petr Nedved center.
• "The EGG line" - New Jersey Devils - Patrik Elias, Scott Gomez, and Brian Gionta
• "The FLY line" - New York Rangers - Theoren Fleury, Eric Lindros, and Mike York
• The “GAS line” - Boston Bruins (2000s) – Bill Guerin, Jason Allison, Sergei Samsonov
• "The Grumpy Old Men line" - Dallas Stars - Kirk Muller, John MacLean, and Mike Keane
• "The KLS line" - Pittsburgh Penguins - Alexei Kovalev, Robert Lang, Martin Straka
• "The Lord of the Rings Line" - Toronto Maple Leafs (2006) - Alexei Ponikarovsky, Kyle Wellwood, Nik Antropov. (Frodo and the Two Towers)
• "The Lucky Sevens" - New York Islanders - Michael Peca, Shawn Bates, and Mark Parrish; so named because they wore the uniform numbers 27, 17, and 37, respectively.
• "The Mattress line" - Vancouver Canucks - Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, and Jason King; the Sedins are twin brothers, so together the line was two twins and a king.
• "The 'OMG' Line" - Phoenix Coyotes - Oleg Saprykin, Mike Zigomanis, and Georges Laraque
• "The 'Ov' line" - San Jose Sharks - Johan Garpenlov, Igor Larionov, and Sergei Makarov
• "The Pizza line" - Ottawa Senators (2005-) - Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza, Daniel Alfredsson; after promotional giveaway at home games; also "The Cash Line"
• "The Plumbers" - Washington Capitals - Greg Adams, Craig Laughlin, Alan Haworth; named for thier hard working efforts, and, of course, Richard Nixon's White House "plumbers"
• "The RPM Line" - Edmonton Oilers - Marty Reasoner, Fernando Pisani, and Ethan Moreau; after the players' surnames.
• The “Smurf Line” - Montreal Canadiens - Saku Koivu, Valeri Bure and Oleg Petrov; after their relatively small height.
• "The Swedish Connection" - Vancouver Canucks - Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin. Markus Naslund
• "The Swedish Five" – Detriot Red Wings/Team Sweden Olympics 2006 (2000s) – Mikael Samuelsson, Henrik Zetterberg Tomas Holmstrom, Niklas Kronwall, and Nicklas Lidström; the line that scored two out of the three goals for team Sweden in the gold medal game. Also the first NHL line assembled with all Swedish players.
• The “United Nations Line,” - Colorado Avalanche Valery Kamensky, Peter Forsberg, Claude Lemieux; also “Barrage-A-Trois”
• "Vowel line" - Nashville Predators (2001-02) - Martin Erat, Vladimir Orszagh, Denis Arkhipov. Named for the first letter of each players surname.
• "The West Coast Express" - Vancouver Canucks (2000s) - Markus Naslund, Brendan Morrison, and Todd Bertuzzi; reference to local commuter rail service of the same name

[edit] Famous forward combinations without acknowledged nicknames

• Dallas Stars (1990s) - Brett Hull, Mike Modano, and Jere Lehtinen
• Detroit Red Wings (1930s)- Herbie Lewis, Marty Barry and Larry Aurie
• Edmonton Oilers - Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, and Glenn Anderson
• Mighty Ducks of Anaheim - Paul Kariya, Steve Rucchin, and Teemu Selänne
• Montreal Canadiens - Jean Beliveau, Dickie Moore, Bernie Geoffrion
• New York Rangers - Steve Vickers, Walt Tkaczuk, Bill Fairbairn
• Pittsburgh Penguins - Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, and Kevin Stevens
• Pittsburgh Penguins - Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, and Ron Francis (sometimes called the Great Line)
• Toronto Maple Leafs - Lanny McDonald, Darryl Sittler, and Errol Thompson
• Winnipeg Jets (WHA) - Bobby Hull, Anders Hedberg, Ulf Nilsson (sometimes called "the Hot Line")
• Springfield Indians (AHL) - Joe Day, Yvon Corriveau, Dale Henry (sometimes known as the Piranhas)
• Quebec Aces (QSHL) - Herb Carnegie, Ossie Carnegie, Manny McIntyre - the Black Aces.
• Tampa Bay Lightning - Marty St.Louis, Brad Richards, Freddie Modin

[edit] References

1. ^ Pat Houda, "The Best North American Lines of the 1970s" online at: http://www.chidlovski.com/personal/1974/liners/na70s.htm
2. ^ Pat Houda, "The Best North American Lines of the 1970s" online at: http://www.chidlovski.com/personal/1974/liners/na70s.htm
3. ^ Pat Houda, "The Best North American Lines of the 1970s" online at: http://www.chidlovski.com/personal/1974/liners/na70s.htm
4. ^ Libero, Rich (September 14, 2004). World Cup of Hockey 2004, Canada's DDT line poisons Finns. NHL.com. Retrieved on June 8, 2006.