Yearly list of the Best Line in the League

[seventieslord]

@pnep

On modern game sheets we are able to review exactly which players were on the ice for any goal. How far back do we have this information?

For as long as we do have this information, we should be able to see the even strength plus minus of any line over the course of the season, isolating even strength goals for and against, only when all three of them were on the ice together. Is this something that your stats database can tell us?

 

[JianYang]

I'm not going to pick apart your list because I can see this is alot of work, but just curious how you came up with iginla-conroy-macammond as the 2nd best line in 02?

I know Iggy was having a MVP caliber season, but I never looked at this line in totality being among the very best.

 

[TheStatican]

@pnep

On modern game sheets we are able to review exactly which players were on the ice for any goal. How far back do we have this information?

For as long as we do have this information, we should be able to see the even strength plus minus of any line over the course of the season, isolating even strength goals for and against, only when all three of them were on the ice together. Is this something that your stats database can tell us?

That would certainly be extremely helpful and eliminate the need for manual counting and making estimations.

I'm not going to pick apart your list because I can see this is alot of work, but just curious how you came up with iginla-conroy-macammond as the 2nd best line in 02?

I know Iggy was having a MVP caliber season, but I never looked at this line in totality being among the very best.

For that year, just from looking at the stats in hindsight but I didn't look too deeply. '02 was not a season I followed the rest of the league outside of my team closely, the DPE took much of the joy out of the NHL for me. Perhaps I might be coming off as some authority on hockey lines but that's not my intent, just trying to figure this out. I'll revise the list were it's wrong and I've taken them off from it.

 

[Mike C]

Point taken. I wonder how much The French Connection +/-was hurt by having goalies with a collective .886 save percentage while Parent-Flyers was .918 and Dryden-Canadiens was .906?

Flyer D-men weren't an inspiring lot for a championship team but maybe slightly better overall than the Sabre core. Of course, Montreal had the big 3 in their prime propping up the forwards.

My Best-Carey

Flyers D of that era was underrated. The Watson boys were solid. Dupont was tough and probably the most versatile of them all. Bladon could move the puck. Harris and Van Impe did what they needed to do. I always thought it was a cohesive albeit unspectacular unit

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

2000-01
Hrdina-Lemieux-Jagr (Penguins) or Tanguay-Sakic-Hejduk (Avs)
others; Lang-Straka-Kovalev (Penguins), Eliáš-Arnott-Sýkora (Devils)

i mentioned this in another thread recently but 2001 was a great year for lines.

there were three lines that year that all had numerical career highs:

straka (95) - lang (80) - kovalev (95)
elias (96) - arnott (55)* - sykora (83)
samsonov (75) - allison (95) - guerin (85)

* in 54 games—his only pt/game season—after holding out to start the season

career best seasons for everyone on the A line and GAS line. but for pittsburgh's second line, lang's best year was 79 pts in 2004, kovalev's was 84 pts in 2008.

mario and jagr, who were only together for half a season of course, didn't really have a regular LW. they started and ended with hrdina, but kevin stevens was their guy for a good two months in between.

another significant line from 2001 that was not mentioned was bertuzzi - cassels - naslund. after a couple years leading the canucks in scoring with messier as his center, he was put with bertuzzi and cassels, and jumped to 40 goals (top 10), a pt/game (top 20), and third place in AST voting at LW, and almost certainly would have made the 2nd team if he hadn't gotten hurt and missed the last ten games of the season (as it stood, robitaille beat him by 2 pts). cassels had already centered bertuzzi the year before, leading to bertuzzi's first breakthrough to 25 goals/50 pts.

the undisputed best line of the season, though, was tanguay - sakic - hejduk. they won the regular season and more importantly, they held down so much in the playoffs, especially after forsberg got hurt and colorado had to run with hinote - drury - nieminen as their second line.

 

[CHIMO]

Any love for Patterson-Gilmour-Mullen in 88-89? Or just my Flames homerism shining through?

 

[TheStatican]

Any love for Patterson-Gilmour-Mullen in 88-89? Or just my Flames homerism shining through?

No it's not... That's just me overlooking another great line. Should've had them and not Detroit's as the honorable mention, heck I'm sure there's probably a good case for them being that seasons best.

 

[TheStatican]

Turns out the NHL does keep track of even strength and short handed goals against on ice for/against but only up to 2009-10;

NHL Stats

The official source for NHL Stats including skaters, goalies, teams stats and more.

www.nhl.com

I started redoing all the seasons one by one from 09-10 by going through all the top players and teams for each season as I figured this would give a much more accurate synopsis rather than simply using ES point totals and plus minus figures which I first used to complied the list. Then to try making things even more accurate I started adding up the totals in only games where all three players had actually played in. I had gotten through 4 years of data as seen in the spoilers below but turns out all this was a waste of time;

Spoiler: 2009-10

The top two lines of the Capitals and Canucks were indeed by all measures neck and neck the best two in the league and well ahead of the pack. They had the top 5 players and 7 of the top 9 overall in even strength plus minus so it was obvious from that alone that they would be up there. The average of all three players 5 on 5 ES +/- for both teams is almost the same at 33.7 to 34.0 this includes numbers only from the games that all three played together; 61 for the Capitals, 63 for the Canucks. The Capitals do prorate a little higher in 82 games; 45.3 to 44.3 but this is more or less an insignificant difference.

Another thing the numbers show is how much of a difference having Daniel playing made to the Canucks and their top line - in the games he didn't play Henrik and Burrows had an even number of ES goals scored for and against and Henrik's offensive numbers took a big hit;

	Gm	G	A	Pt	PPG	+/-
With	63	19	74	93	1.48	36
Without	19	10	9	19	1.00	-1

As for the Sharks top line while there were still very good relative to others in the league, they were clearly far behind the top two above. Not only that but they performed horribly in the playoffs while the Caps and Nuck's lines more or less performed equally well in the playoffs as they did in the regular season, they've been removed altogether from consideration for this year.

I've also listed all players total even strength ice time but did not use that for any measure other than perhaps providing some clarification - If the ES TOI is significantly different between the three players than would likely indicate that they were playing a greater portion of ES ice time NOT together as a line compared to linemates whos ES TOI's are closer. Likewise same applies if the total number of goals on ice for or against is dramatically different between linemates, The lines "final score" is in bold under the points with linemates at even strength. This just the average of all three players even strength plus minus prorated to 82 games.

Capitals	Gm	ES TOI	ES GF	ES GA	ES +/-	Pts with others at ES	Playoffs
Ovechkin	61	16:41	78	33	45	43 Back, 21 Knuble, 13 Semin	12/8 +4
Backstrom	61	15:44	70	38	32	43 Ovi, 17 Knuble, 14 Semin	13/6 +7
Knuble	61	13:49	50	26	24	21 Ovi, 17 Back, 0 Semin	8/8 =0
Avg	^	15:27	198	97	33.7	45.3 w/playoffs 45.0	+11 in 7gm
Semin	61	14:46	65	35	30	14 Back, 13 Ovi, 0 Knuble	3/2 +1

Canucks	Gm	ES TOI	ES GF	ES GA	ES +/-	Pts with others at ES	Playoffs
Burrows	63	14:24	65	37	28	36 Henrik, 32 Daniel	13/9 +4
H.Sedin	63	15:54	83	46	37	52 with brother, 36 Burrows	12/9 +3
D.Sedin	63	15:26	81	44	37	52 with brother, 32 Burrows	13/9 +4
Avg	^	15:15	229	127	34.0	44.3 w/playoffs 41.4	+11 in 12gm

Sharks	Gm	ES TOI	ES GF	ES GA	ES +/-	Pts with others at ES	Playoffs
Marleau	82	15:22	71	50	21	24 Thornton, 19 Heatley	10/14 -4
Heatley	82	16:00	73	53	20	33 Thornton, 19 Marleau	11/17 -6
Thornton	79	15:23	69	51	18	33 Heatley, 24 Marleau	11/19 -8
Avg	81	15:35	213	154	19.7	19.9 in 82	-18 in 15gm

But the accuracy of the Capital's numbers are hindered by the fact that Semin clearly played a fair amount of time on a line with Ovechkin and Backstrom as well as seen by the number of ES points they scored together with him most of which did not come in the games Knuble missed. Plus the fact that Knuble's ES goals for(50) was way less than Ovechkin's(78) and Backstrom's(70). Considering this I think it's fair to consider both lines equally as good.

Ovechkin-Bäckström-Knuble (Capitals) AND Burrows-Sedin-Sedin (Canucks)

Spoiler: 2010-11

For this season I originally had the Canucks and Ducks as having the top two lines. The numbers bared that out for the Canucks but not quite so for the Ducks, who like the Sharks trio of the previous season were still very good but not quite at the same level, though the difference was a little less. But there was also another line that I overlooked which was equally as good as the Canucks - the Bruins trio of Lucic, Krejci and Horton.

There's also more information available to further compare the two lines thanks to their extended playoff runs and eventual meeting in the finals. The Canucks line was under performing in the first three rounds being an "even" (Burrows a +4, the Sedin's minus -2 a piece) In the finals they went -4, -4 and -3. The Bruins line meanwhile was +10, +9, +5 in the three rounds before the finals. On the face of it the Bruins line was clearly better, however the fact that the plus minus was sustainably different for certain players on both teams indicates that the lines were not always playing together at Even Strength in the playoffs. The finals match up between the two lines was inconclusive as it was interrupted by Horton's concussion at the start of game 3. At that point the Canucks were up two games to none and their top line was a +1 while the Bruins line was even. Rich Peverley then step in to fill Horton's spot in the RW position. The Bruins would go on to dominate the rest of the way but it was mostly thanks to the strength of the Marchand - Bergeron - Recchi line which faced off against the Nuck's top line and not Krejci's reformed line. Ultimately though because of that weak performance in the playoffs it's hard to consider Vancouver's line as being the best(or equal to) for this season.

Canucks	Gm	ES TOI	ES GF	ES GA	ES +/-	Pts with others at ES	Playoffs
Burrows	72	13:45	58	36	22	Exactly 30 with either brother	19/19 =0
H.Sedin	82	15:31	78	49	29	45 with brother, 30 Burrows	16/22 -6
D.Sedin	82	14:50	74	42	32	45 with brother, 30 Burrows	17/22 -5
Avg	78.7	14:44	210	127	27.7	28.8 in 82	-11 in 25gm

Bruins	Gm	ES TOI	ES GF	ES GA	ES +/-	Pts with others at ES	Playoffs
Lucic	80	13:51	65	35	30	31 Krejci, 29 Horton	22/11 +11
Krejci	75	14:56	59	33	26	31 Lucic, 26 Horton	23/15 +8
Horton	79	14:02	68	39	29	29 Lucic, 26 Horton	19/8 +11
Avg	78	14:16	192	107	28.3	29.8 in 82	+30 in 25gm

Ducks	Gm	ES TOI	ES GF	ES GA	ES +/-	Pts with others at ES	Playoffs
Ryan	82	16:38	83	62	21	38 Perry, 31 Getzlaf	4/2 +2
Getzlaf	67	17:48	71	52	19	37 Perry, 31 Ryan	5/5 =0
Perry	82	17:10	78	69	9	38 Ryan, 37 Getzlaf	7/8 -1
Avg	77	17:10	232	183	16.3	15.6 in 82	+1 in 6gm

Lucic-Krejci-Horton (Bruins)
2nd; Burrows-Sedin-Sedin (Canucks)

Spoiler: 2011-12

Another change to the list was in order for this season. While Malkin was clearly the best player in the league the best line according to the ES numbers was again a Bruins line, this time Marchand-Bergeron-Seguin. The second best is arguable, two other lines appeared to have slightly better numbers then the Pens line, the Coyotes and Wings lines. However a there are strong indications that both of those lines weren't always together as was the case for the Pens line. The most ES points Malkin had with anyone else was 6 with Crosby who only played 22 games that season. The two rarely played together and that season was the highest scoring rate the two of them combined ever had. Those 6 ES points clearly happened in a small number of minutes. Ray Whitney meanwhile had a substantial number of ES points with players other than his two most common line mates and his ES on ice totals were much higher than Hanzal's even accounting for the difference in games played. Meaning while most of the ES plus/minus probably does come from playing on a line with Hanzal and Vrbata, a decent chuck of it doesn't. Same issue with Datsyuk and Franzen on the Wings. Playoff performances drop all lines, but the Pens least.

Bruins	Gm	ES TOI	ES GF	ES GA	ES +/-	Pt's with others at ES	Playoffs
Marchand	76	14:04	63	34	29	26 Bergeron, 22 Seguin	2/3 -1
Bergeron	81	14:15	67	33	34	26 Marchand, 25 Seguin	3/3 =0
Seguin	81	14:27	77	42	35	25 Bergeron, 22 Marchand	4/0 +4
Avg	79.3	14:16	207	109	32.7	33.8 in 82	+3 in 7gm

Penquins	Gm	ES TOI	ES GF	ES GA	ES +/-	Pts with others at ES	Playoffs
Kuntiz	82	14:39	76	50	26	28 Malkin, 19 Kunitz	4/4 =0
Malkin	75	16:37	84	58	26	39 Neal, 28 Kunitz, 6 Crosby	5/4 +1
Neal	80	15:11	73	59	14	39 Malkin, 19 Kunitz	2/4 -2
Avg	79	15:27	233	167	22.0	22.8 w/playoffs=21.0	-1 in 6gm

Coyotes	Gm	ES TOI	ES GF	ES GA	ES +/-	Pt's with others at ES	Playoffs
Hanzal	64	13:58	41	28	13	16 Vrbata, 15 Whitney	6/4 +2
Whitney	82	14:51	68	36	32	27 Vebata, 15 Hanzal, 11 Doan, 7 Langkow	6/6 =0
Vrbata	77	14:09	56	29	27	27 Whitney, 15 Hanzel	5/8 -3
Average	74.3	14:21	165	93	24.0	26.5 w/playoffs=23.7	-1 in 16gm

Wings	Gm	ES TOI	ES GF	ES GA	ES +/-	Pts with others at ES	Playoffs
Bertuzzi	71	13:51	53	26	27	19 Datsyuk, 13 Franzen	1/6 -5
Datsyuk	70	15:16	56	33	23	21 Franzen, 19 Bertuzzi, 7 Zetterberg	2/2 =0
Franzen	77	14:44	60	35	25	21 Datsyuk, 13 Bertuzzi, 12 Valtteri	1/2 -1
Average	72.7	14:37	169	94	25.0	28.2 w/playoffs=24.3	-4 in 5gm

Marchand-Bergeron-Seguin (Bruins)
2nd; Kunitz-Malkin-Neal (Penguins)

Spoiler: 2012-13

Not much to be said here, the ES numbers confirm Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis to have been the best line in the league this season and they were each ranked #1, 2 and 4 overall. They were so good in fact that only one line has had a better prorated ES plus minus in the available years - the '22 Flames 1st line. They did underperform in the playoffs but even including that they were still ahead of the others. Chicago's line was very good by all means too and in most seasons would rank first but there was also another line which was just as good if not slightly better; 11-12's top line of Marchand-Bergeron-Seguin.

For any that complain that Crosby only played in "36 games" really 35 since his Jaw was taken out in the first shift of game 36 - Saad-Toews-Hossa only played in 39 games together an Hossa played in less than one period of the game he was injuried in. A game where his line mates would score multiple goals at ES without him they were taken out of Toews and Saad' count with him - they were playing with Kane(this game). The Bruins line was together for only a few more as well - 41 in total. Here's how the lines compare using just the games all 3 linemates played in together.

Penguins	Gm	ES TOI	ES GF	ES GA	ES +/-	Pts with others at ES	Playoffs
Kunitz	35	14:37	43	16	27	26 Crosby, 15 Dupuis	10/9 +1
Crosby	35	16:29	48	22	26	26 Kunitz, 18 Dupuis	10/12 -2
Dupuis	35	15:07	37	16	21	18 Crosby, 15 Kunitz	12/12 =0
Avg	^	15:24	128	54	24.7	57.8 in 82	-1 in 15gm

Hawks	Gm	ES TOI	ES GF	ES GA	ES +/-	Pts with others at ES	Playoffs
Saad	38	14:04	25	13	12	19 Toews, 6 Hossa	see below
Toews	38	15:14	36	14	22	19 Saad, 14 Hossa	see below
Hossa	38	14:14	29	11	18	14 Toews, 6 Saad	see below
Avg	^	14:31	90	38	17.3	37.4 in 82

Bruins	Gm	ES TOI	ES GF	ES GA	ES +/-	Pts with others at ES	Playoffs
Marchand	41	13:57	33	13	20	23 Bergeron, 16 Seguin	14/8 +6
Bergeron	41	14:55	36	13	23	23 Marchand, 15 Seguin	13/9 +4
Seguin	41	14:49	38	15	23	23 Marchand, 15 Bergeron	8/9 -1
Avg	^	14:36			22.0	44.0 in 82	+9 in 22gm

The Saad-Toews-Hossa line was broken up almost as soon as the playoffs started. So I don't see how anyone can possibly say it was the same line or even that Sharp-Toews-Hossa was a line considering Toews and Sharp had zero points together at even strength in the playoffs.

	Pts with other players at ES
Toews	4 Kane, 0 Sharp, 0 Saad, 3 Hossa
Hossa	1 Kane, 3 Toews, 2 Saad, 2 Sharp
Sharp	7 Kane, 0 Toews, 1 Saad, 2 Hossa
Saad	2 Hossa, 0 with everyone else above

Each team including playoffs games all 3 played in;

	Gm	ES GF	ES GA	ES +/-
Kunitz	49	53	25	28
Crosby	49	58	34	24
Dupuis	49	49	28	21
Avg	49	160	87	24.3 = 40.7 in 82gm

	Gm	ES GF	ES GA	ES +/-
Saad & Sharp	61	39	25	14
Toews	61	55	24	31
Hossa	61	44	18	26
Avg	61	138	67	23.7 = 31.8 in 82gm

	Gm	ES GF	ES GA	ES +/-
Marchand	63	47	21	26
Bergeron	63	49	22	27
Seguin	63	46	24	22
Avg	63	142	67	25.0 = 32.5 in 82gm

Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis (Penguins)
2nd; Saad-Toews-Hossa (Hawks) and Marchand-Bergeron-Seguin (Bruins)


That's because I just recently discovered that there is a web site that had the exact data I needed - moneypuck.com. Talk about a huge waste of time... But nonetheless I'm glad the data exists as even counting only the games all three players played in still wouldn't provide a completely accurate picture since there's no way of knowing how many of those ES goals for and against happened with which linemates. Now any and all guesswork is eliminated, it's just too bad the NHL never thought to track this stuff sooner.

One thing I question though is the valuation of the ratio of goals scored for vs against as being the more important figure. I don't see how that would be more important than the number of goals by which you out score your opposition by, that over values defensive lines. Being on the ice for 30 goals goals for and 15 goals against a ratio of 2 to 1 or 66.7% for, is not somehow intrinsically better than being on the ice for 45 goals for and 30 goals against which is only a ratio of 1.5 to 1 or 60% for. You've both outscored the opposition by exactly 15 goals either way.

Here's a look at all the available data put into one chart;

Spoiler: info for 2008-09

08-09​

​

​

Goals scored​

​

​

​

xGoals​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Playoffs​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Line​

TOI mins​

Gm​

For​

Against​

+/-​

equal m​

For​

Against​

xG +/-​

equal m​

Corsi​

Fenw​

​

Mins​

GF​

GA​

+/-​

xGF​

xGA​

xG +/-​

Parise-Zajac-Langenbrunner​

843.1​

81​

46​

20​

26​

26.0​

35.6​

22.9​

12.7​

12.7​

57.8​

59.4​

​

43.2​

2​

3​

-1​

2.2​

1.7​

0.5​

Ryder-Krejci-Wheeler​

342.0​

45​

28​

6​

22​

54.2​

16.9​

10.9​

6.0​

14.8​

53.7​

54.0​

​

41.9​

2​

1​

1​

1.6​

0.9​

0.7​

Lucic-Savard-Kessel​

502.6​

61​

31​

13​

18​

30.2​

22.0​

22.2​

-0.2​

-0.3​

53.5​

50.7​

​

76.6​

7​

1​

6​

3.2​

2.4​

0.8​

Sedin-Sedin-Burrows​

314.3​

34​

24​

7​

17​

45.6​

15.1​

11.1​

4.0​

10.7​

60.6​

57.3​

​

99.1​

3​

2​

1​

3.6​

2.4​

1.2​

Marleau-Thornton-Setoguchi​

620.6​

74​

33​

17​

16​

21.7​

32.0​

21.0​

11.0​

14.9​

56.1​

55.1​

​

42​

2​

4​

-2​

1.8​

1.9​

-0.1​

Hemsky-Horcoff-Penner​

299.2​

41​

21​

5​

16​

45.1​

14.8​

8.0​

6.8​

19.2​

62.3​

62.3​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Semin​

295​

53​

21​

6​

15​

42.9​

16.8​

10.9​

5.9​

16.9​

57.6​

57.7​

​

46.4​

3​

2​

1​

2​

1.4​

0.6​

Holmstrom-Datsyuk-Hossa​

270.1​

34​

20​

6​

14​

43.7​

10.3​

9.8​

0.5​

1.6​

62.4​

59.9​

​

98.2​

3​

3​

0​

3.9​

3.3​

0.6​

Clowe-Pavelski-Michalek​

520.2​

57​

25​

12​

13​

21.1​

26.0​

15.7​

10.3​

16.7​

57.8​

59.3​

​

65.4​

2​

4​

-2​

4.1​

2.8​

1.3​

Franzen-Zetterberg-Cleary​

48.8​

18​

1​

2​

-1​

-17.3​

2.6​

2.1​

0.5​

8.6​

55.6​

54.9​

​

170​

12​

1​

11​

6.8​

5.6​

1.2​

Immediately a there's a problem that become evident... the issue with smaller sample sizes. Oh and there's also way too much data in that chart to make sense out of - I'm updating the seasons since 08-09 with this new information in my OP, but using a more condensed format.

As we know Hockey is a streaky sport on both the individual and team levels. Just because a line performed exceedingly well in a 30 to 40 game period doesn't mean they will continue to perform equally as well over a larger set of games. In fact it's far more likely that they will regress to the norm if they've far exceeded it. For instance if you project the numbers out for the Ryder-Krejci-Wheeler line to the same total as the Devils line they ould be projected to outscore the opposition by a mind boggling 54.2 goals... This would be the highest sum EVER RECORDED! (in the years the stat was tracked) and more than double the amount the Parise-Zajac-Langenbrunner had. Was the Ryder-Krejci-Wheeler line somehow twice as good as the Devils top line which is commonly regarded as the best line in the league that season? No I don't think so.

There's clear evidence that this line had a couple other factors helping them out beyond it's own ability - their expected goals for was only a modest amount better than the Devels line(17%), no where close to twice as good and their Corsi/Fenwick numbers were worse. This tells us that they benefited from both exceedingly good puck luck and good goaltending behind them far above the norm. Can a line that played in less than half as many minutes as another line really be considered better than that line? I do not see how they possibly can be when you consider the high likelihood of regression to the norm. There's also the Franzen-Zetterberg-Cleary line. This line barely played any minutes during the regular season and they were bad in that limited time. Then they suddenly become the best line in the league during the playoffs. But as we see by their expected goals for/against they far exceeded expectations, again smaller the sample size puck luck, great defense and goaltending. 190 minutes sounds like a lot of minutes and it is for a playoff run but that's only about a quarter of the ice time a top line could have during the season. A good line that plays a lot of minutes per game also has other benefits, the team will be able to employ worse lines less often and so preference should be given not just to lines that played in a lot of minutes over the season but in more minutes per game as well.

Playoffs are both under and over rated. When people think of the best lines in a season chances are they're thinking of regular season performances when how a line performs in the playoff should obviously have much more value. The problem is playoff sample sizes are so small, anywhere from a third to one-20th of the size of regular season that it's prone to much greater variances from the norm. Coaches also have little patience for a line that's underperforming in the playoffs and rather than let them work through any struggles they'll(understandably) make personel adjustments. Rather than showing the playoffs separately I've combined the two in the final column. Lastly Corsi and Fenwick are useful but they both work on a similar concept with a slight difference. I don't think it's all that more informative to present both so I'm just sticking to one, fenwick here.

 

[Troubadour]

In 05/06, I wouldn't put the Sharks top line up there just because two of the guys somehow managed to steal two-three trophies from Jagr last minute. Beside the Pizza line, there was the Jagr-Straka-Nylander line which, in terms of chemistry, skill, beauty of play, far outclassed whatever Sharks had to offer, and also, there was the Knuble-Forsberg-Gagne line that was making waves until Forsberg got injured.

In 96/97, the original Legion of Doom was no longer a thing. Renberg struggled with health and form and in January, Zubrus started taking his place on the line. That's why the Flyers traded Renberg in summer 97.

 

[klefbombs shoulder]

Maybe not a big enough sample size, but in 2019-20 the RNH-Drai-Yamo line was very dominant. In 320 minutes at 5v5 28-8 goals (78%). PDO of 110% so obviously a bit of a heater but they controlled the game.

 

[TheStatican]

the undisputed best line of the season, though, was tanguay - sakic - hejduk. they won the regular season and more importantly, they held down so much in the playoffs, especially after forsberg got hurt and colorado had to run with hinote - drury - nieminen as their second line.

Yeah that makes sense especially after seeing the trend with smaller sample sizes, many of which project to be the best if you extrapolate their half season performances to a full season when really there's definitely no guarantee of them sustaining that level of elevated performance the whole way through. Though if any combo could maintain a standard exceeding the norm it would be Lemieux and Jagr, but can't make exceptions. Plus as you noted the Avs line's came really came through in the playoffs, I've put them up top there.

 

[Iron Mike Sharpe]

In March 1983, the line of Darcy Rota-Gradin-Stan Smyl was on fire. The trio racked up 88 points in 16 games and ended up 2-4 on the month's leader board, with Gretzky at 36 PTS, Smyl 31, Rota 30, Gradin 27, and Marcel Dionne rounding off the top 5 with 25. Rota had 15 G (tied with Gretzky and Bossy) and Smyl had 21 A (tied with Gretzky). The Canucks scored 76 goals that month, 25% of their season GF total, and went 9-4-3.

Smyl set the team points record at 88 and was the first Canuck to crack the NHL Top 20, and Rota set the team goals record with 42 and ended up 19th in the league for goals, and Gradin hit #19 overall for assists.

Interestingly, while Gradin and Smyl had been regular linemates at that point since the 78-79 season, Rota only joined the duo as their regular left winger for the last month of the season, and would remain there thru the next season. Halfway through the year, Gradin-Smyl's traditional partner Curt Fraser was dealt to the Hawks for Tony Tanti, and Rota's partner in crime on three teams Ivan Boldirev was shipped off to Detroit for Mark Kirton. Roger Neilson had been doing a lot of line juggling right before this trio clicked and went on a tear down the stretch.

Always cool to see Smyl, who was my favorite player, rank as a historical outlier in putting up one of the highest scoring months ever.

 

[TheStatican]

In 05/06, I wouldn't put the Sharks top line up there just because two of the guys somehow managed to steal two-three trophies from Jagr last minute. Beside the Pizza line, there was the Jagr-Straka-Nylander line which, in terms of chemistry, skill, beauty of play, far outclassed whatever Sharks had to offer, and also, there was the Knuble-Forsberg-Gagne line that was making waves until Forsberg got injured.

That's a though one, just looking at if from an offense perspective alone;

-For Jumbo Joe and co. at even strength he combined with Cheechoo on 34 goals and 25 with Ekman. Altogether he was involved in 40 ES goal with one or both of them, 6 of those had Cheechoo or Ekman assisting with a different forward though, so that leaves 34 for sure.

-Jagr meanwhile combined with Nylander on 40 goals and 28 with Straka and altogether he was involved in 53 ES goal with one or both of them, so one paper it looks like the Ranger line had more goals together... But 18 of those were either Jagr+Nylander with and another forward other than Straka, or Straka+Jagr and another forward rather than Nylander assisting. Which leaves 35 for sure.

35 vs 34, still advantage Rangers by one except the Rangers trio could have had 82 games to do that while Thornton was only on the Sharks for 58 games. The Rangers trio did had more ES points though from the time Thornton was traded to the Sharks, and in less games 123 vs 122. Ultimately since we have no idea which line played more minutes together or which was better defensively I'll call it a draw and add the Ranger trio up in there for that season.

In 96/97, the original Legion of Doom was no longer a thing. Renberg struggled with health and form and in January, Zubrus started taking his place on the line. That's why the Flyers traded Renberg in summer 97.

Not sure that's entirely accurate, he may have lost his position by the end of the season but for most of the year it looks like he held down that top line RW spot. According to the game logs Renberg assisted or scored in 28 goals with Lindros at ES that season (including playoffs) while Zubrus only assisted on 6.