List of famous ice hockey linemates

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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 (1920s) – Bill Cook, Bun Cook, Frank Boucher; a reference to "Bun" Cook's nickname
• "The Century line" - Pittsburgh Penguins (1972-1976) - 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 (1972-1979) – Gilbert Perreault, Rick Martin and Rene Robert; made up of three French-Canadian players
• "The GAG line" (Goal-A-Game Line) – New York Rangers (1964-1974) – 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 HUM line" - Detroit Red Wings (1960s) - Paul Henderson, Norm Ullman, and Bruce MacGregor
• "The Kid line" – Toronto Maple Leafs (1929-1936) – Charlie Conacher, Joe Primeau, and Busher Jackson
• "The Kraut line" – Boston Bruins (1936-1942, 1945-1947) – 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 (1994-1997) – Eric Lindros, John LeClair and Mikael Renberg
• "The LILCO line" - New York Islanders (1977-1987) - 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 Party line" – Chicago Black Hawks (1980s) – Denis Savard, Al Secord, and Steve Larmer
• "The Pony line" – Chicago Black Hawks (1945-1948) – Max Bentley, Doug Bentley, Bill Mosienko^[4]
• "The Production line" – Detroit Red Wings (1947-1952) – Sid Abel, Gordie Howe, Ted Lindsay, later with Alex Delvecchio
• "The Punch line" – Montreal Canadiens (1942-1948) – 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 (1920s) – Nels Stewart, Babe Siebert, Hooley Smith; after the common initial "S" of the players' surnames
• "The Scooter line" – Chicago Black Hawks (1960s) – 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 (1950s) – Bronco Horvath, Johnny Bucyk, Vic Stasiuk; referring to the players' Ukrainian ancestry

[edit] Famous non-NHL lines with nicknames

• "The Army Line" - HC CSKA Moscow Soviet league (1970s) - Valeri Kharlamov (LW), Boris Mikhailov (RW), Vladimir Petrov (C)
• "The Coneheads Line" – USA Hockey, 1980 Winter Olympics, "Miracle On Ice" team - Mark Pavelich, John Harrington, Buzz Schneider; after the famous Saturday Night Live sketch series Coneheads, because they played a strange or 'alien' style. All three players were from the Iron Range in Northeast Minnesota^[5]
• "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^[6]
• "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 - Arron 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. Also used to describe the current Edmonton Oilers line of Petr Sykora left wing, Ales Hemsky right wing, and Petr Nedved center.
• "The Deuces Wild Line" - Philadelphia Flyers - Simon Gagne, Peter Forsberg, and Mike Knuble; so named because they wear the uniform numbers 12, 21, and 22 respectively.
• "The EGG line" - New Jersey Devils - Patrik Elias, Scott Gomez, and Brian Gionta (The Devils had great success with this line, winning the Stanley Cup with them in the 2002-2003 season.)
• "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 High Speed Line" - Philadelphia Flyers (Early 1980s)- Ray Allison, Ron Flockhart, Brian Propp
• "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 their hard working efforts, and, of course, Richard Nixon's White House "plumbers"
• "The Power of the Pens" line - Pittsburgh Penguins - Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Ron Francis
• "The RPM Line" - Edmonton Oilers - Marty Reasoner, Fernando Pisani, and Ethan Moreau; after the players' surnames.
• "The Sesame Street Line" - Philadelphia Flyers (1970s) - Dave Schultz (Grouch), Orest Kindrachuk (Oscar or Ernie), Don Saleski (Big Bird)
• The “Smurf Line” - Montreal Canadiens - Saku Koivu, Valeri Bure and Oleg Petrov; after their relatively small height.
• "The Skyline" - Toronto Maple Leafs- Joe Nieuwendyk, Nik Antropov, and Alexei Ponikarovsky (Named because of each of the players above average 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 "Team Usa Line" - St. Louis Blues - Keith Tkachuk, Doug Weight, and Bill Guerin
• 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
• "CVS Line" - Hartford Whalers - Geoff Sanderson, Andrew Cassels, Pat Verbeek
• "FTD LINE - Hartford Whalers(they always delivered)Ron Francis, Sylvain Turgeon, Kevin Dineen"
• The "Kid Line"- Anaheim Ducks - Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Dustin Penner

[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
• New York Rangers - Adam Graves, Mark Messier, Alexei Kovalev
• 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. ^ Dave Golokhov, "Top 10: All-Time NHL Lines" online at: http://ca.askmen.com/sports/fitness_top_ten_60/86_fitness_list.html
5. ^ Allen, Kevin. USA Hockey: A Celebration Of A Great Tradition. USAhockey.com. Retrieved on February 14, 2007.
6. ^ Libero, Rich (September 14, 2004). World Cup of Hockey 2004, Canada's DDT line poisons Finns. NHL.com. Retrieved on June 8, 2006.