SYNERGY! What two or more player (coach&player) combos IMPROVED both/all their play?

[VanIslander]

I have several examples in mind.

The first three are...

1. All three times Brett Hull led the NHL in goals, his center was HHOF premier passer Adam Oates (86, 72, 70... he never ever had even 58 without Oates). If you were there, this a no-brainer. The Hull&Oates chemistry went waaay beyond Sport Illustrated's inane musical group reference.

2. Igor Larionov had three solid Stanley Cup winning double-digit performances, but his best NHL postseason by far was his re-union with Soviet linemate Sergei Makarov in San Jose on a mere 2nd round playoff run with a pretty woefully prepared expansion Sharks team.

3. The top-5 scoring seasons for Paul Kariya were with Teemu Selanne.

What about you? What synergy have you noticed?

EDIT: Oates had 2 of his top 4 point seasons with Hull, Makarov had his 2 best NHL playoffs with Larionov, Selanne had 3 of his top five point seasons with Kariya.... I am not saying one was the product of the other, just OBVIOUSLY there was SYNERGY!

(Ideally there would be more balanced examples of career peak chemistry together.)

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[JianYang]

Sedin/Sedin come to mind right away.

Just watch them play with each other. The plays they did with each other were almost spiritual. When those guys moved the puck around with each other, they seemed to know exactly where each other were without a doubt, and pull off the cheekiest one touch plays that would remind you of the peak Barcelona teams a few years ago.

That stuff just couldn't be replicated when split apart.

 

[The Panther]

Kurri and Gretzky, obviously, from about 1982 to 1988, were the deadliest duo in NHL history. If two players were ever meant to play together, it was them. Want numbers?

1982-83 to 1987-88 (six NHL seasons):
Gretzky: 457GP -- 1156 points (+418)
Kurri: 454GP -- 687 points (+270)

Gretzky PPG: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1
Kurri GPG: 21, 2, 1, 1, 4, 23

1983 to 1988 playoffs (six seasons):
Gretzky: 103GP -- 216 points (+84)
Kurri: 103GP -- 150 points (+75)

Gretzky PPG: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1

GPG (20+ games played):
1st Kurri - 0.70
2nd Gretzky - 0.65



For another one, what about Yzerman with Jacques Demers? Steve was already great, but when Demers arrived and made him captain he seemed to jump up to the elite level of the very top players in the League.

 

[NyQuil]

Pizza Line was the zenith for all three players involved.

 

[Gambitman]

Orr and Esposito. Phil is a 60 goal 135 point player with Orr and a 80 point player for the NYR. I mean no disrespect to Esposito (I think he is underrated) but his chemistry with Orr is unbelievable.

 

[The Macho King]

I have several examples in mind.

The first three are...

1. All three times Brett Hull led the NHL in goals, his center was HHOF premier passer Adam Oates (86, 72, 70... he never ever had even 58 without Oates). If you were there, this a no-brainer. The Hull&Oates chemistry went waaay beyond Sport Illustrated's inane musical group reference.

2. Igor Larionov had three solid Stanley Cup winning double-digit performances, but his best NHL postseason by far was his re-union with Soviet linemate Sergei Makarov in San Jose on a mere 2nd round playoff run with a pretty woefully prepared expansion Sharks team.

3. The top-5 scoring seasons for Paul Kariya were with Teemu Selanne.

What about you? What synergy have you noticed?

EDIT: Oates had 2 of his top 4 point seasons with Hull, Makarov had his 2 best NHL playoffs with Larionov, Selanne had 3 of his top five point seasons with Kariya.... I am not saying one was the product of the other, just OBVIOUSLY there was SYNERGY!

(Ideally there would be more balanced examples of career peak chemistry together.)

Nothing about Hall & Oates is inane.

 

[The Macho King]

Orr and Esposito. Phil is a 60 goal 135 point player with Orr and a 80 point player for the NYR. I mean no disrespect to Esposito (I think he is underrated) but his chemistry with Orr is unbelievable.

This is underrating Espo's contributions significantly. In '69, Espo scores 126 points (NHL record), while Orr scores 64. He performed well whether Orr was in the lineup or not (winning the Art Ross in the season where Orr missed ~20 games in I think 73 or 74).

When he goes to NYR, he's 34 years old, and the team didn't have Brad Park. Now maybe Espo isn't one to drive an entire offense, but I think if Park is back there instead of Orr, he's still probably a 100 point player as a 34 year old.

Long story short - yes he scored 80 in NY, but he was also at an age where everyone except for Martin St. Louis and Gordie Howe slow down in offensive production. He certainly benefited from Orr (of course), but he was also a great player in his own right.

 

[Big Phil]

This is underrating Espo's contributions significantly. In '69, Espo scores 126 points (NHL record), while Orr scores 64. He performed well whether Orr was in the lineup or not (winning the Art Ross in the season where Orr missed ~20 games in I think 73 or 74).

When he goes to NYR, he's 34 years old, and the team didn't have Brad Park. Now maybe Espo isn't one to drive an entire offense, but I think if Park is back there instead of Orr, he's still probably a 100 point player as a 34 year old.

Long story short - yes he scored 80 in NY, but he was also at an age where everyone except for Martin St. Louis and Gordie Howe slow down in offensive production. He certainly benefited from Orr (of course), but he was also a great player in his own right.

Don't forget 1968. Esposito finishes 2nd in scoring to Mikita while Orr has 31 points in 46 games. Look, no one gets WORSE when Bobby Orr is on your team but sometimes people get this feeling that Esposito was just lucky to be there. People forget that Orr himself benefitted from Esposito. This wasn't a Lemieux/Rob Brown situation that was completely one-sided. Look at the 1973 playoffs when Esposito went down. The Bruins - still with Orr - couldn't score. Or we all know the leadership of the 1972 Canada/Russia series. That was Esposito's team and he led them to victory. No Orr. No Hull. That was his finest moment.

 

[Pominville Knows]

Regarding Espo, i believe the main difference with Orr being out or too fresh was that Espo had more assists than goals. Rather predictable perhaps.

 

[Gambitman]

Maybe I am looking at it the wrong way then, and it truly was a synergy where together they were better then they were individually.

 

[brachyrynchos]

How about Detroit's Russian 5? I know they didn't all have career numbers together but for sure they had great success and chemisty. A final glimpse of the beauty of the Soviet style. I've read conflicting things about how they were put together, some say it was Larionov that approached Bowman about it and some say it was Bowman's idea. Either way it was great. Reminds me a bit of Van Morrison's Astral Weeks where supposedly he told the jazz musicians brought in to simply play what you feel, Bowman was less hands on with them.
I guess from a defensive pairing angle, Leetch and Beukeboom made a great duo, as did Zhitnik and Smehlik in Buffalo.
A bit further back, but the Cap's return in the Carpenter trade (NYR) brought Center Mike Ridley and winger Kelly Miller who played together for a number of years, I guess the same can be said about Andrew Cassels and Geoff Sanderson?

 

[VanIslander]

I read that Larionov asked Bowman if they could be together during a practice, and Bowman quickly realized it was working.