Yearly list of the Best Line in the League

[TheStatican]

Not sure if anyone has tried to make a list like this before but it something I recently found myself interested in after doing some research about Bryan Trottier and seeing just how offensively prolific he and Mike Bossy were together. Heck they were almost as prolific as that somewhat well-known pair out in Edmonton. And then around that time you also had the Triple Crown Line in LA, the Hawk's Party Line, the Stastny brothers teaming up in Quebec and just before that The French Connection, Montreal's Dynasty Line and the Bruins Nitro Line. The late 70's to mid 80's truly seemed to be the era of Great Lines.

Trying to compare them all it made me think, just which line was the best in any particular season? Sometimes it's quite obvious, often it's up for extensive debate and other times still there really didn't seem to be any great lines. It's daunting enough going back 50 years and a little too ambitious for me to go all way back to the NHL's first season so I only did up to expansion. Seeing as how I've only been watching hockey for about half the time of the seasons on this list, any input is more than welcome and I'll happily make adjustments and update this list if there is a consensus where it is wrong. "*" indicates an change made for the season based on later discussions.

1967-68
Mohns-Mikita-Wharram? (Black Hawks) or Hadfield-Ratelle-Gilbert? (Rangers)

1968-69*
Mahovlich-Delvecchio-Howe (Wings)
close 2nd; Murphy-Esposito-Hodge (Bruins)

1969-70*
Bucyk-Stanfield-McKenzie (Bruins)

1970-71
Cashman-Esposito-Hodge (Bruins)

1971-72
Hadfield-Ratelle-Gilbert (Rangers)

1972-73
Cashman-Esposito-Hodge (Bruins)
close 2nd; Barber-Clarke-Flett (Flyers)

1973-74
Cashman-Esposito-Hodge (Bruins)

1974-75*
Barber-Clark-Leach (Flyers)
close 2nd; Shutt-Mahovlich-Lafleur (Canadians)
3rd; Martin-Perreault-Robert (Sabers)

1975-76*
Barber-Clark-Leach (Flyers) or Shutt-Mahovlich-Lafleur (Canadians)
3rd; Martin-Perreault-Robert (Sabers)

1976-77
Shutt-Lemaire-Lafleur (Canadians)

1977-78
Shutt-Lemaire-Lafleur (Canadians)
close 2nd; Clark-Trottier-Bossy (Islanders)

1978-79
Clark-Trottier-Bossy (Islanders) or Vail-Chouinard-MacMillan (Flames)

1979-80
Simmer-Dionne-Taylor (Kings)

1980-81
Simmer-Dionne-Taylor (Kings)

1981-82
Tonelli-Trottier-Bossy (Islanders)
close 2nds; Kurri-Gretzky-Anderson (Oilers), A.Stastny-P.Stastny-M.Stastny (Nordiques)

1982-83
Kurri-Gretzky-Anderson/Pouzar (Oilers)
close 2nd; Secord-Savard-Larmer (Black Hawks),
others; A.Stastny-P.Stastny-M.Stastny (Nordiques), Krushelnyski-Pederson-Middleton (Bruins)

1983-84
Kurri-Gretzky-Pouzar (Oilers) or Gilbert-Trottier-Bossy (Islanders)

1984-85
Kurri-Gretzky-Krushelnyski (Oilers)
not so close 2nd; Mullen-Hawerchuk-MacLean (Jets)

1985-86
Kurri-Gretzky-Anderson (Oilers)

1986-87
Kurri-Gretzky-Tikkanen (Oilers)

1987-88
Kurri-Gretzky-Tikkanen (Oilers)

1988-89
Errey-Lemieux-Brown (Penguins) or Patterson-Gilmour-Mullen (Flames)

1989-90
Roberts-Nieuwendyk-Makarov (Flames)
close 2nd; Simpson-Messier-Anderson (Oilers)

1990-91
Granato-Gretzky-Sandström (Kings)
2nd; Stevens-Cullen-Recchi (Penguins)

1991-92
Stevens-Lemieux-Mullen (Penguins) or Graves-Messier-Amonte (Rangers)

1992-93
Stevens-Lemieux-Tocchet (Penguins)

1993-94
Juneau-Oates-Neely? (Bruins) or Clark-Gilmour-Andreychuk? (Leafs)

1994-95
LeClair-Lindros-Renberg (Flyers)

1995-96*
Nedved-Francis-Jagr (Penguins)
close 2nds; Kozlov-Larionov-Fedorov (Wings), LeClair-Lindros-Renberg (Flyers)

1996-97
Francis-Lemieux-Jagr (Penguins)
close 2nds; LeClair-Lindros-Renberg (Flyers), Kariya-Rucchin-Selänne (Ducks)

1997-98*
Barnes-Francis-Jagr (Penguins)

1998-99
LeClair-Lindros-Jones (Flyers)
close 2nd; Kariya-Rucchin-Selänne (Ducks)

1999-00
Kariya-Rucchin-Selänne (Ducks) or Whitney-Kozlov-Bure (Panthers)

2000-01
Tanguay-Sakic-Hejduk (Avs)
2nd; Hrdina-Lemieux-Jagr (Penguins)
others; Lang-Straka-Kovalev (Penguins), Eliáš-Arnott-Sýkora (Devils),

2001-02
Näslund-Morrison-Bertuzzi (Canucks)

2002-03*
Tanguay-Forsberg-Hejduk (Avs)
2nd; Knuble-Thornton-Murray (Bruins)
other; Näslund-Morrison-Bertuzzi (Canucks)

2003-04*
Knuble-Thornton-Murray (Bruins) or Stillman-Richards-Modin (Lighting)
in playoffs changed to; St. Louis-Richards-Modin

2005-06
Jagr-Straka-Nylander (Rangers) or Ekman-Thornton-Cheechoo (Sharks)
close 2nd; Heatley-Spezza-Alfredsson (Senators)

2006-07
Heatley-Spezza-Alfredsson (Senators)
2nd; Vanek-Roy-Afinogenov (Sabers)

2007-08
Heatley-Spezza-Alfredsson (Senators) or Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Holmstrom (Wings)

Spoiler: 2008-09

Top Lines​

Gms

mins​

m/gm

For​

Against​

G+/-​

+-/60​

xG/60​

Fenwick​

RS+PO>​

mins​

G+/-​

+-/60

xG/60​

Parise-Zajac-Langenbrunner​

81​

843​

10:24​

46​

20​

26​

1.85​

0.90​

59.4%​

​

886​

25​

1.69​

0.89​

Ryder-Krejci-Wheeler​

45​

342​

7:36​

28​

6​

22​

3.86​

1.05​

54.0%​

​

384​

23​

3.59​

1.05​

Lucic-Savard-Kessel​

61​

503​

8:15​

31​

13​

18​

2.15​

-0.02​

50.7%​

​

579​

24​

2.49​

0.06​

Sedin-Sedin-Burrows​

34​

314​

9:14​

24​

7​

17​

3.25​

0.76​

57.3%​

​

413​

18​

2.61​

0.75​

Marleau-Thornton-Setoguchi​

74​

621​

8:23​

33​

17​

16​

1.55​

1.06​

55.1%​

​

663​

14​

1.27​

0.99​

Hemsky-Horcoff-Penner

41​

299​

7:18​

21​

5​

16​

Holmstrom-Datsyuk-Hossa​

34​

270​

7:56​

20​

6​

14​

3.11​

0.11​

59.9%​

​

368​

14​

2.28​

0.18​

Clowe-Pavelski-Michalek​

57​

520​

9:07​

25​

12​

13​

1.50​

1.19​

59.3%​

​

586​

11​

1.13​

1.19​

The Parise-Zajac-Langenbrunner line ticks off all the metrics;
-played the most minutes per game, only one other line above 400 total minutes played 10 minutes or more per game
-had the most goals for and outscored the opposition by the largest amount, the next line that had a better per/60 Goal difference (Lucic-Savard-Kessel) played only 503 minutes, that's 40% less and it was only marginally better; 2.15 vs 1.85 while having a far worse goals expected and fenwick numbers. The Bruins line did play well in the playoffs but again only in a small amount of minutes.
-Some of the other high minute lines had a better expected goals differences but only by a small amount.
The Devils line takes the title since they had the best combination of actual and expected results

Though if you don't agree that lines with less than half as many minutes should be taken out of consideration/have their numbers viewed with suspicion, then the Ryder-Krejci-Wheeler line has the numbers to be the best in the league this season.

Parise-Zajac-Langenbrunner (Devils)

Spoiler: 2009-10

Top Lines​

Gms​

mins​

m/gm​

For​

Against​

G+/-​

+-/60​

xG/60​

Fenwick​

RS+PO>​

mins​

G+/-​

+-/60

xG/60​

Burrows-Sedin-Sedin​

59​

644​

10:55​

52​

22​

30​

2.79​

1.00​

55.4%​

​

726​

31​

2.56​

0.98​

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Semin​

50​

288​

5:45​

31​

10​

21​

4.38​

1.10​

55.9%​

​

288​

22​

4.38​

1.10​

Perry-Getzlaf-Ryan​

59​

487​

8:15​

31​

16​

15​

1.85​

0.35​

52.5%​

​

487​

15​

1.85​

0.35​

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Knuble​

54​

527​

9:46​

28​

14​

14​

1.59​

0.52​

60.3%​

​

604​

15​

1.49​

0.55​

Prospal-Dubinsky-Gaborik​

29​

243​

8:23​

17​

4​

13​

3.21​

0.35​

51.9%​

​

243​

13​

3.21​

0.35​

Turns out I over estimated the Ovechkin-Backstrom-Knuble, the Burrows-Sedin-Sedin clesrly performed better. Ovechkin and Backstrom actually did more damag while playing with Semin in less half the minutes that they played with Knuble. The Prospal-Dubinsky-Gaborik was really good too but only played as a unit for half as many games as the Canucks trio did. Same issue as the previous season. Top performing high minute line - Burrows-Sedin-Sedin. Top performing line including lower minutes - Ovechkin-Backstrom-Semin. Overall you gotta go with the line that had way more minutes which still performing at a high line since all lines and players regress towards the mean when given more minutes.

Burrows-Sedin-Sedin (Canucks)

Spoiler: 2010-11

Top Lines​

Gms​

mins​

m/gm​

For​

Against​

G+/-​

+-/60​

xG/60​

Fenwick​

RS+PO>​

mins​

G+/-​

+-/60

xG/60​

Burrows-Sedin-Sedin​

71​

751​

10:34​

47​

20​

27​

2.16​

0.73​

56.0%​

​

983​

26​

1.59​

0.71​

Lucic-Krejci-Horton​

61​

659​

10:48​

41​

16​

25​

2.28​

0.56​

53.5%​

​

901​

35​

2.33​

0.53​

Macarthur-Grabovski-Kulemin​

75​

791​

10:33​

43​

23​

20​

1.52​

0.10​

51.9%​

​

791​

20​

1.52​

0.10​

Perry-Getzlaf-Ryan​

66​

786​

11:54​

43​

26​

17​

1.30​

0.38​

51.0%​

​

834​

19​

1.37​

0.45​

Marchand-Bergeron-Recchi​

44​

377​

8:34​

27​

14​

13​

2.07​

0.38​

54.7%​

​

605​

21​

2.08​

0.54​

St Louis-Stamkos-Downie​

46​

409​

8:53​

25​

14​

11​

1.61​

0.82​

54.9%​

​

431​

12​

1.67​

0.79​

There were a lot of good high minute lines 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(in the regular seasons) as the Canucks - the Bruins trio of Lucic, Krejci and Horton. it was neck and neck between the Burrows-Sedin-Sedin and Lucic-Krejci-Horton lines. Barchand-Bergeron-Recchi was close but not quite as good and also had far fewer minutes. The Playoff's though separated the Bruins lines - both of which did fantastic, from the Canucks one which was mediocre and especially so in the finals.

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

Spoiler: 2011-12

Top Lines​

Gms​

mins​

m/gm​

For​

Against​

G+/-​

+-/60​

xG/60​

Fenwick​

RS+PO>​

mins​

G+/-​

+-/60

xG/60​

Bertuzzi-Datsyuk-Franzen​

46​

481​

10:27​

29​

8​

21​

2.62​

0.91​

59.5%​

​

505​

20​

2.38​

0.94​

Whitney-Hanzal-Vrbata​

55​

503​

9:09​

27​

11​

16​

1.91​

0.54​

54.7%​

​

610​

17​

1.67​

0.29​

Marchand-Bergeron-Seguin​

63​

619​

9:50​

38​

22​

16​

1.55​

1.10​

60.9%​

​

650​

16​

1.48​

1.15​

Hartnell-Giroux-Jagr​

64​

584​

9:07​

33​

18​

15​

1.54​

0.44​

55.2%​

​

652​

14​

1.29​

0.50​

Sedin-Sedin-Burrows​

66​

682​

10:20​

32​

17​

15​

1.32​

0.33​

58.0%​

​

682​

15​

1.32​

0.33​

Filppula-Zetterberg-Hudler​

60​

621​

10:21​

44​

30​

14​

1.35​

0.27​

52.9%​

​

681​

11​

0.97​

0.28​

Kunitz-Malkin-Neal​

68​

622​

9:09​

42​

28​

14​

1.35​

0.96​

60.8%​

​

676​

13​

1.15​

0.96​

Marleau-Thornton-Pavelski​

70​

521​

7:26​

30​

17​

13​

1.50​

1.05​

57.8%​

​

553​

12​

1.30​

0.98​

Williams-Kopitar-Brown

42​

410​

9:45​

18​

15​

3​

0.44​

1.08​

60.2%​

656​

11​

1.01​

1.17​

This season had the smallest amount of separation between the top lines so far, Bertuzzi-Datsyuk-Franzen and Whitney-Hanzal-Vrbata were slightly ahead in actual goals with all the others being in a very narrow band close behind, but they both underperformed a little in the playoffs. While the Marchand-Bergeron-Seguin line and followed by Kunitz-Malkin-Neal one had the best combination of expected performance and possession metrics. This ones is almost too close to call though it probably comes down to Marchand-Bergeron-Seguin or Bertuzzi-Datsyuk-Franzen since one has the best expected performance and the other has the best actual performance, while not being too far behind in xGoals. But the Bruins line also played about 150 more minutes, not a huge difference but should still be considered meaningful. The question to be asked is would the Bertuzzi-Datsyuk-Franzen line have maintained that high of a goal differential above their expected performance for another 15 games? If yes then it's them, actually not so fast...

Another line of note that I added to this list later on after going through the playoffs year-by-year was the Kings Williams-Kopitar-Brown. They had a fairly pedestrian regular season by the results heavily underperforming what they should have done based on their shot and possession metrics but it all came together for them in the playoffs which the dominated scoring 12 goals for and only 4 against while bringing home the ultimate prize.

Debatable between;
Marchand-Bergeron-Seguin (Bruins)
Bertuzzi-Datsyuk-Franzen (Wings)
Williams-Kopitar-Brown (Kings)

Spoiler: 2012-13

Top Lines​

Gms​

mins​

m/gm​

For​

Against​

G+/-​

+-/60​

xG/60​

Fenwick​

RS+PO>​

mins​

G+/-​

+-/60​

xG/60​

Marchand-Bergeron-Seguin​

40​

432​

10:47​

26​

4​

22​

3.06​

1.15​

62.6%​

​

505​

22​

2.61​

1.24​

Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis​

34​

352​

10:21​

31​

10​

21​

3.58​

1.18​

56.9%​

​

416​

20​

2.89​

1.04​

Burrows-Sedin-Sedin​

41​

418​

10:11​

25​

10​

15​

2.16​

1.58​

62.7%​

​

454​

16​

2.12​

1.47​

Tlusty-Staal-Semin​

42​

491​

11:41​

32​

18​

14​

1.71​

-0.43​

48.5%​

​

491​

14​

1.71​

-0.43​

Saad-Toews-Hossa​

39​

375​

9:36​

18​

7​

11​

1.76​

1.09​

60.2%​

​

495​

11​

1.33​

1.24​

Brown-Kopitar-Williams​

42​

492​

11:43​

24​

14​

10​

1.22​

0.97​

62.4%​

​

642​

6​

0.56​

0.32​

Lucic-Krejci-Horton​

38​

438​

11:32​

23​

16​

7​

0.96​

0.83​

58.5%​

​

734​

19​

1.55​

0.42​

The ES numbers had Kunitz Crosby and Dupuis ranked #1, 2 and 4 overall. so they seemed like a sure bet to be the best line in the league but it came down to a close call between them and another line and not Chicago's but rather the bruins line of Marchand-Bergeron-Seguin. The Pens outscored the opposition by 21 goals in 34 games while the Bruins outscored them by 22 in 40. The Pens were also slightly better in expected performance but worse possession metrics for what it's worth. In the playoffs both lines scored far less, though the Bruins top lines expected performance did end up better than the Pens line, Crosby and co. still finished with the highest actual goal differential per 60 min. The Hawks line of Saad-Toews-Hossa finished exactly even with the Bruins in xGoals regulars seasons nd playoffs combined. But far below in actual goals per 60. Imo the best line is the one with the best combination of expected and actual goal scoring performance. Because if we went with just best expected performance alone none of the above teams would be considered the best this season - that honor would fall to the Sedin's line and I'm pretty sure no one on here would agree they were the best line in the league for this particular season. For any that complaints that Crosby only played in a limited number of games this season his lines total minutes was not that far off from the others. There are vastly larger differences seen in other years.

Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis (Penguins)
close 2nd; Marchand-Bergeron-Seguin (Bruins)
3rd; Saad-Toews-Hossa (Hawks)

Spoiler: 2013-14

Top Lines​

Gms​

mins​

m/gm​

For​

Against​

G+/-​

+-/60​

xG/60​

Fenwick​

RS+PO>​

mins​

G+/-​

+-/60​

xG/60​

Seguin-Benn-Nichushkin​

63​

540​

8:35​

41​

14​

27​

3.00​

0.60​

53.8%​

​

561​

28​

2.99​

0.58​

Lucic-Krejci-Iginla​

77​

990​

12:51​

49​

24​

25​

1.52​

0.38​

53.3%​

​

1151​

22​

1.15​

0.34​

Marchand-Bergeron-Smith​

61​

627​

10:17​

38​

16​

22​

2.10​

1.33​

61.2%​

​

765​

26​

2.04​

1.25​

Perry-Getzlaf-Penner​

44​

454.5​

10:20​

32​

12​

20​

2.64​

0.72​

52.3%​

​

455​

20​

2.64​

0.72​

Jokinen-Malkin-Neal​

38​

333​

8:45​

27​

8​

19​

3.43​

0.85​

57.4%​

​

412​

24​

3.49​

0.83​

Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis​

38​

380​

10:00​

25​

8​

17​

2.68​

1.39​

59.4%​

​

380​

17​

2.68​

1.39​

Sharp-Toews-Hossa​

57​

569​

9:59​

37​

22​

15​

1.58​

0.99​

58.5%​

​

595​

16​

1.61​

1.03​

Pouliot-Brassard-Zuccarello

40​

313​

8:37​

20​

9​

11​

2.11​

1.21​

56.2%​

543​

17​

1.88​

0.84​

This ones not as clear cut as I thought, there were many high quality lines though very few lines played a high number of minutes. Only 3 were over 600 and then you had the Lucic-Krejci-Iginla which played the highest total ever recorded during a season at nearly a thousand minutes. As for the best the Benn-Seguin-Nichushkin seems like a safe choice as they outscored the opposition at a rate of 3 goals per 60, the 2nd highest rate recorded since 2009 of any line over 500 minutes. But the Jokinen-Malkin-Neal had an even higher rate and higher expected performance plus better possession metrics. When including the playoffs the difference in minutes is not huge 561 to 412. There's also the Marchand-Bergeron-Smith line that had the best expected performance and very good real number while playing notably more minutes, though the gap is not as huge compared to those lines in '09 or '10. Not clear cut either way.

Debatable between;
Benn-Seguin-Nichushkin (Stars)
Jokinen-Malkin-Neal (Penguins)
Marchand-Bergeron-Smith (Bruins)

Spoiler: 2014-15

Top Lines​

Gms​

mins​

m/gm​

For​

Against​

G+/-​

+-/60​

xG/60​

Fenwick​

RS+PO>​

mins​

G+/-​

+-/60​

xG/60​

Palat-Johnson-Kucherov​

63​

671​

10:39​

43​

21​

22​

1.97​

1.02​

57.8%​

​

950​

30​

1.89​

0.94​

Saad-Toews-Hossa​

55​

519​

9:26​

28​

13​

15​

1.74​

1.03​

56.8%​

​

739​

15​

1.22​

0.82​

Parise-Granlund-Pominville​

52​

499​

9:35​

25​

10​

15​

1.81​

0.96​

56.6%​

​

626​

16​

1.53​

0.98​

Neal-Ribeiro-Forsberg​

50​

440​

8:48​

26​

11​

15​

2.05​

0.87​

58.3%​

​

466​

14​

1.80​

0.83​

Schwartz-Lehtera-Tarasenko​

60​

531​

8:51​

32​

18​

14​

1.58​

0.48​

53.3%​

​

548​

14​

1.53​

0.47​

Nash-Brassard-Zuccarello​

53​

554​

10:28​

29​

16​

13​

1.41​

0.24​

52.5%​

​

598​

14​

1.41​

0.30​

Kane-Richards-Versteeg​

26​

245​

9:24​

17​

4​

13​

3.19​

0.44​

56.4%​

​

308​

14​

2.73​

0.12​

King-Carter-Toffoli​

43​

398​

9:15​

22​

10​

12​

1.81​

1.01​

56.9%​

​

398​

12​

1.81​

1.01​

Van Riemsdyk-Bozak-Kessel​

80​

723​

9:02​

25​

40​

-15​

-1.25​

-0.79​

46.7%​

​

723​

-15​

-1.25​

-0.79​

Finally an easy one, The Kid line speaks for itself especially with that playoff performance. Only the eal-Ribeiro-Forsberg put up similar metrics but including the playoffs they only did it in half the time. Kane-Richards-Versteeg were scorching hot but only for a very limited time, less that one-third of the triplets simply way too much of a TOI gap to be considered and there were definite signs it wouldn't last a much lower expected performance and slowed down in the playoffs.

On another note, just what the heck were the Leafs thinking keeping Van Riemsdyk-Bozak-Kessel together all season long?? BY FAR THE worst performing heavy minute line in the entire 15-year period.

Palát-Johnson-Kucherov (Lighting)

Spoiler: 2015-16

Top Lines​

Gms​

mins​

m/gm​

For​

Against​

G+/-​

+-/60​

xG/60​

Fenwick​

RS+PO>​

mins​

G+/-​

+-/60​

xG/60​

Kunitz-Crosby-Hornqvist​

50​

409​

8:10​

33​

10​

23​

3.38​

1.19​

61.8%​

​

457​

20​

2.62​

1.23​

Hertl-Pavelski-Thornton​

48​

517​

10:46​

34​

13​

21​

2.44​

0.93​

57.0%​

​

776​

26​

2.01​

0.79​

Huberdeau-Barkov-Jagr​

59​

615​

10:25​

36​

17​

19​

1.85​

0.59​

52.0%​

​

717​

18​

1.51​

0.76​

Jokinen-Trocheck-Smith​

58​

453​

7:49​

26​

10​

16​

2.12​

0.75​

55.8%​

​

492​

16​

1.95​

0.67​

Forsberg-Ribeiro-Smith​

61​

468​

7:40​

33​

18​

15​

1.92​

1.15​

60.5%​

​

504​

17​

2.03​

1.03​

Hagelin-Bonino-Kessel

17​

144​

8:30​

12​

3​

9​

3.74​

1.00​

61.4%​

391​

16​

2.45​

0.97​

Panarin-Anisimov-Kane​

71​

810​

11:25​

40​

33​

7​

0.52​

-0.12​

51.5%​

​

871​

4​

0.28​

-0.16​

I was quite wrong putting the Panarin-Anisimov-Kane trio being tops here. Their game was clearly just to out-score the opposition, which they did but just barely along with a very poor playoff performance. In the regular season there was a clear cut leader; the Kunitz-Crosby-Hornqvist line posted the highest excess goals per 60 minutes of any line with more than 400 minutes of ice time in the 15 year tracking period. The playoffs however complicates things because while this lines expected performance actually improved the had some bad initial puck luck and were broken up into sperate lines early in the teams run. The line which was the seasons second best; Hertl-Pavelski-Thornton(it was between them and Forsberg-Ribeiro-Smith for that #2 RS spot) meanwhile performed a little worse in the playoffs but were together for the entirety of it, logging huge minutes which made the time gap between them and the Pens one much larger than in the regular season alone making this one a close call in the end.

There's also the Pen's HBK line which was that seasons best in the playoffs. They were actually just as dominate in the regulars season but only in very limited minutes.

Kunitz-Crosby-Hornqvist (Penguins)
close 2nd; Hertl-Pavelski-Thornton (Sharks)
3rd; Hagelin-Bonino-Kessel (Penguins)

Spoiler: 2016-17

Top Lines​

Gms​

mins​

m/gm​

For​

Against​

G+/-​

+-/60​

xG/60​

Fenwick​

RS+PO>​

mins​

G+/-​

+-/60​

xG/60​

Zucker-Koivu-Granlund​

60​

679​

11:19​

40​

21​

19​

1.68​

0.75​

51.5%​

​

702​

19​

1.63​

0.76​

Johansson-Kuznetsov-Williams​

51​

505​

9:54​

29​

12​

17​

2.02​

0.50​

54.9%​

​

676​

17​

1.51​

0.41​

Tkachuk-Backlund-Frolik​

71​

741​

10:26​

35​

21​

14​

1.13​

0.66​

57.9%​

​

741​

14​

1.13​

0.66​

Jenner-Dubinsky-Atkinson​

71​

633​

8:55​

29​

16​

13​

1.23​

-0.01​

49.2%​

​

667​

12​

1.08​

-0.01​

Maroon-Mcdavid-Draisaitl​

49​

538​

11:00​

32​

21​

11​

1.23​

0.70​

54.0%​

​

612​

14​

1.37​

0.57​

Arvidsson-Johansen-Forsberg

50​

503​

10:04​

28​

22​

6​

0.72​

0.25​

57.5%​

672​

15​

1.34​

0.46​

Probably the weakest season I have ever seen for top lines, it's like the top line eqvilant of the scoring race of 14-15. Originally had Maroon-McDavid-Draisaitl (Oilers) but the Zucker-Koivu-Granlund had the best expect and actual performance, weak possession metrics aside would have to give it to them.

Zucker-Koivu-Granlund (Wild)

Spoiler: 2017-18

Top Lines​

Gms​

mins​

m/gm​

For​

Against​

G+/-​

+-/60​

xG/60​

Fenwick​

RS+PO>​

mins​

G+/-​

+-/60​

xG/60​

Marchessault-Karlsson-Smith​

61​

703​

11:31​

46​

23​

23​

1.96​

0.62​

54.6%​

​

963​

29​

1.81​

0.55​

Landeskog-Mackinnon-Rantanen​

65​

731​

11:14​

47​

26​

21​

1.72​

0.23​

51.2%​

​

810​

20​

1.48​

0.18​

Matthews-Nylander-Hyman​

59​

646​

10:57​

44​

23​

21​

1.95​

0.21​

49.9%​

​

686​

19​

1.66​

0.24​

Fiala-Turris-Smith​

61​

546​

8:57​

32​

13​

19​

2.09​

1.13​

59.2%​

​

670​

17​

1.52​

1.11​

Iafallo-Kopitar-Brown​

67​

648​

9:40​

34​

16​

18​

1.67​

0.16​

52.6%​

​

680​

18​

1.59​

0.12​

Arvidsson-Johansen-Forsberg​

56​

521​

9:18​

33​

15​

18​

2.07​

0.58​

55.8%​

​

670​

23​

2.06​

0.50​

Benn-Seguin-Radulov​

75​

620​

8:16​

38​

21​

17​

1.64​

0.80​

52.8%​

​

620​

17​

1.64​

0.80​

Giroux-Couturier-Konecny​

48​

493​

10:16​

33​

19​

14​

1.70​

0.84​

56.7%​

​

493​

14​

1.70​

0.84​

Giroux-Couturier-Voracek​

57​

372​

6:32​

24​

10​

14​

2.26​

0.84​

55.0%​

​

372​

14​

2.26​

0.84​

Ritchie-Henrique-Kase​

39​

365​

9:21​

17​

5​

12​

1.97​

0.41​

52.3%​

​

391​

11​

1.69​

0.26​

Bjugstad-Barkov-Dadonov​

34​

358​

10:31​

28​

17​

11​

1.85​

1.03​

57.4%​

​

358​

11​

1.85​

1.03​

Schwartz-Schenn-Tarasenko​

55​

432​

7:52​

26​

15​

11​

1.53​

1.28​

60.5%​

​

432​

11​

1.53​

1.28​

Barbashev-Eichel-Marchessault

20

221

11:02

13

8

5

1.36

-0.25

44.9%

428

15

2.10

0.36

From one of the worst years for strong lines to one of the best, there were few seasons that featured as many strong lines as this one. Originally I had Landeskog-MacKinnon-Rantanen list as the best and while they did indeed score the most here were a couple better lines overall. The Fiala-Turris-Smith had the best metrics, but the Marchessault-Karlsson-Smith line was not too far behind in more minutes and then they added another 260 mins during a strong playoff run to the finals. Nashville's line had good playoff metrics but were actually outscored in them, results in a slight edge for the Knight's line.

Marchessault-Karlsson-Smith (Golden Knights)
Close 2nd; Fiala-Turris-Smith (Predators)

Spoiler: 2018-19

Top Lines​

Gms​

mins​

m/gm​

For​

Against​

G+/-​

+-/60​

xG/60​

Fenwick​

RS+PO>​

mins​

G+/-​

+-/60​

xG/60​

Tatar-Danault-Gallagher​

72​

672​

9:20​

41​

20​

21​

1.88​

1.28​

59.8%​

​

672​

21​

1.88​

1.28​

Benn-Seguin-Radulov​

65​

488​

7:30​

33​

16​

17​

2.09​

0.99​

53.1%​

​

595​

21​

2.12​

0.95​

Gaudreau-Monahan-Lindholm​

77​

828​

10:46​

50​

33​

17​

1.23​

0.39​

52.7%​

​

865​

16​

1.11​

0.29​

Landeskog-Mackinnon-Rantanen​

66​

825​

12:30​

46​

29​

17​

1.24​

0.06​

53.6%​

​

942​

18​

1.15​

0.20​

Tkachuk-Backlund-Frolik​

48​

428​

8:55​

29​

14​

15​

2.10​

0.80​

58.5%​

​

472​

13​

1.65​

0.67​

Hyman-Tavares-Marner​

70​

811​

11:35​

52​

38​

14​

1.04​

0.62​

51.4%​

​

897​

11​

0.74​

0.64​

Panarin-Dubois-Atkinson​

73​

745​

10:12​

50​

37​

13​

1.05​

0.69​

56.0%​

​

745​

13​

1.05​

0.69​

Again I was wrong about the Avs being best, but at least they were up there. The Bruins line I had tied with them was an even worse pick as they were barely above average this season. For once the top two lines were indeed the top two that outscored their opponents. The Habs line was best in the regulars season, unfortunately it was a wasted effort as the team didn't make the playoffs. The Stars did and it's "Stars" performed quite well making this yet another pick 'em.

Debatable between;
Tatar-Danault-Gallagher (Canadians)
Benn-Seguin-Radulov (Stars)

Spoiler: 2019-20

Top Lines​

Gms​

mins​

m/gm​

For​

Against​

G+/-​

+-/60​

xG/60​

Fenwick​

RS+PO>​

mins​

G+/-​

+-/60​

xG/60​

Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak​

61​

646​

10:36​

44​

23​

21​

1.95​

0.64​

57.2%​

​

749​

23​

1.84​

0.62​

Nugent-Hopkins-Draisaitl-Yamamoto​

25​

319​

12:44​

28​

8​

20​

3.77​

0.68​

52.3%​

​

319​

20​

3.77​

0.68​

Grimaldi-Bonino-Smith​

52​

401​

7:43​

29​

11​

18​

2.69​

0.87​

57.0%​

​

429​

17​

2.38​

0.80​

Panarin-Strome-Fast​

51​

452​

8:52​

28​

12​

16​

2.12​

0.81​

52.8%​

​

452​

16​

2.12​

0.81​

Pacioretty-Stephenson-Stone​

28​

222​

7:55​

20​

5​

15​

4.06​

2.28​

64.3%​

​

264​

15​

3.41​

2.16​

Pettersson-Miller-Boeser​

49​

420​

8:34​

29​

15​

14​

2.00​

0.65​

58.8%​

​

517​

19​

2.20​

0.42​

Point-Stamkos-Kucherov​

36​

286​

7:56​

26​

12​

14​

2.94​

1.24​

52.6%​

​

286​

14​

2.94​

1.24​

Palat-Point-Kucherov

47​

370​

7:52​

18​

9​

9​

1.46​

0.99​

58.4%​

673​

21​

1.87​

1.39​

Originally I had the Bruins line as tops and the numbers back that up... for the regular season. Turns out when you include playoff minutes there was a better line yet - the Lighting's Palat-Point-Kucherov which had better numbers in about the same time and they helped propel the team to a Stanley cup championship, the ultimate goal how can you go against that.

The scoring domination of Nugent-Hopkins-Draisaitl was impressive as were the Pacioretty-Stephenson-Stone line which had a ridiculous expected xGoals/60 rate. But I would say both are just a little too far back in minutes.

Palat-Point-Kucherov (Lighting)
2nd; Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak (Bruins)

Spoiler: 2020-21

Top Lines​

Gms​

mins​

m/gm​

For​

Against​

G+/-​

+-/60​

xG/60​

Fenwick​

RS+PO>​

mins​

G+/-​

+-/60​

xG/60​

Pacioretty-Stephenson-Stone​

40​

440​

11:01​

38​

17​

21​

2.86​

0.71​

56.2%​

​

558​

25​

2.69​

0.51​

Mackinnon-Landeskog-Rantanen​

42​

510​

12:08​

35​

16​

19​

2.24​

1.36​

64.9%​

​

622​

22​

2.12​

1.04​

Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak​

43​

435​

10:07​

33​

17​

16​

2.21​

1.10​

66.4%​

​

570​

21​

2.21​

1.22​

Tatar-Danault-Gallagher​

29​

254​

8:45​

18​

3​

15​

3.55​

2.13​

64.1%​

​

286​

15​

3.14​

1.56​

Hyman-Matthews-Marner​

35​

292​

8:20​

21​

8​

13​

2.67​

1.87​

55.5%​

​

384​

15​

2.34​

1.94​

Beauvillier-Nelson-Bailey​

41​

356​

8:42​

19​

6​

13​

2.19​

0.98​

50.3%​

​

570​

12​

1.26​

0.36​

Marchessault-Karlsson-Smith​

51​

​ 539​

10:34​

22​

18​

4​

0.45​

0.31​

56.1%​

​

757​

13​

1.03​

0.41​

As close to a 3-way draw as you'll get. Pacioretty-Stephenson-Stone continued on with their strong play from the previous season while Mackinnon-Landeskog-Rantanen and Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak lines reached their highest levels yet. The Fenwick numbers of the top lines were through the moon, the highest ever recorded in all the seasons. Surprisingly no Oilers lines made the list. The combination o Draisaitl-Mcdavid-Yamamoto was incredible but only played in a limited number of minutes together,162 including playoffs. Their other more common lines fell short of the leagues best.

debatable between;
Mackinnon-Landeskog-Rantanen (Avs)
Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak (Bruins)
Pacioretty-Stephenson-Stone (Golden Knights)

Spoiler: 2021-22

Top Lines​

Gms​

mins​

m/gm​

For​

Against​

G+/-​

+-/60​

xG/60​

Fenwick​

RS+PO>​

mins​

G+/-​

+-/60​

xG/60​

Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk​

82​

965​

11:46​

72​

31​

41​

2.55​

1.31​

57.6%​

​

1088​

40​

2.21​

1.14​

Bunting-Matthews-Marner​

51​

555​

10:53​

61​

31​

30​

3.24​

1.78​

61.9%​

​

614​

31​

3.03​

1.75​

Kaprizov-Hartman-Zuccarello​

65​

639​

9:50​

48​

26​

22​

2.07​

0.38​

54.5%​

​

697​

21​

1.81​

0.38​

Fast-Staal-Niederreiter​

56​

534​

9:33​

34​

13​

21​

2.36​

1.24​

59.6%​

​

670​

19​

1.70​

0.82​

Foligno-Eriksson Ek-Greenway​

46​

431​

9:22​

25​

5​

20​

2.79​

1.11​

55.9%​

​

479​

22​

2.76​

1.17​

Robertson-Hintz-Pavelski​

72​

791​

11:00​

51​

35​

16​

1.21​

1.04​

56.2%​

​

834​

19​

1.37​

1.05​

Boldy-Gaudreau-Fiala​

45​

445​

9:54​

34​

18​

16​

2.16​

0.57​

52.0%​

​

492​

16​

1.95​

0.66​

Hall-Haula-Pastrnak​

44​

420​

9:32​

27​

12​

15​

2.14​

0.56​

56.3%​

​

463​

14​

1.82​

0.57​

Marchment-Lundell-Reinhart​

24​

199​

8:17​

22​

7​

15​

4.53​

2.06​

62.1%​

​

217​

14​

3.87​

2.08​

The list ends with two seasons where there were two very clear and easy choices. The Flames line of 21-22 was almost certified the most dominant line of all time - since line combinations stats have been known that is. Which made their poor playoff performance all the more shocking. The Oilers were incredible at even strength in the playoffs but they used two line combinations that were barely used during the regular season. The more common one of Kane-Draisaitl-Mcdavid had less than 100 minutes RS+PO together, with such a low figure it's just not even worth listing. Leaf's top line of Bunting-Matthews-Marner meanwhile would probably have been the best line in the league in most of the other 15 years since line stats were tracked. But as impressive as their metrics were the Flames trio had nearly double the minutes.

Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk (Flames)
2nd; Bunting-Matthews-Marner (Leafs)

Spoiler: 2022-23

Top Lines​

Gms​

mins​

m/gm​

For​

Against​

G+/-​

+-/60​

xG/60​

Fenwick​

RS+PO>​

mins​

G+/-​

+-/60​

xG/60​

Robertson-Pavelski-Hintz​

73​

765​

10:29​

52​

24​

28​

2.20​

1.00​

55.6%​

​

893​

30​

2.02​

1.08​

Krejci-Zacha-Pastrnak​

62​

444​

7:10​

34​

14​

20​

2.70​

-0.27​

48.6%​

​

468​

21​

2.69​

-0.18​

Byfield-Kopitar-Kempe​

43​

476​

11:03​

31​

11​

20​

2.52​

0.61​

54.8%​

​

527​

15​

1.71​

0.38​

Bunting-Matthews-Nylander​

54​

384​

7:06​

30​

10​

20​

3.13​

0.96​

54.3%​

​

384​

20​

3.13​

0.96​

Mccann-Beniers-Eberle​

59​

524​

8:53​

40​

21​

19​

2.17​

0.51​

54.9%​

​

554​

20​

2.16​

0.50​

Hyman-Draisaitl-Mcdavid​

54​

300​

5:34​

28​

14​

14​

2.80​

1.50​

56.7%​

​

323​

18​

3.35​

1.42​

Mangiapane-Backlund-Coleman​

47​

399​

8:29​

21​

8​

13​

1.96​

2.28​

64.5%​

​

399​

13​

1.96​

2.28​

Debrusk-Bergeron-Marchand​

51​

413​

8:06​

23​

11​

12​

1.74​

1.50​

58.1%​

​

425​

11​

1.55​

1.49​

This was the season of ignoring everything that worked in the regular season and doing the complete opposite in the playoffs. No team stuck with their top line combinations for long in the playoff except for Dallas - which is understandable since they had the best line in the league this season. The Leafs trio once again had really good metrics, even better than the Dallas one, but had less than half the minutes so I can't possibly elevate them to top line of the year status. The same applies to the Oilers line,l which only played a limited amount of time together - presumably jsut when the Oilers needed to generate offense in a pinch since playing McDavid and Draisaitl together regularly would have degraded their depth too much. The Barbashev-Eichel-Marchessault was one of the two best line of the playoffs but were rather mediocre during the RS and the other top playoff line of Smith-Karlsson-Amadio just didn't have enough combined RS+PO minutes(272) to be a contender.

Robertson-Pavelski-Hintz (Stars)

All seasons since 2008-09 compiled with line stats taken from moneypuck.com

Click to read more...

 

[Hobnobs]

I hate to say it but in 98 the best line was probably Kamensky - Forsberg - Lemieux. Its either that or Barnes - Francis - Jagr.

04: Easily Stillman - Richards - MSL

 

[Michael Farkas]

I don't want to be a hipster doofus...but honestly Crosby was so far ahead of every other Penguin (and the league) that year, that giving his line (which changed a bit during the year) full credit is too far.

How about Hartnell-Giroux-Voracek in 2013-14. They were kind of nasty and they're like the video game, Platonic ideal line more or less.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

I'd put up the 700lb Line for 2002-03

Thornton: 36-65-101
Murray: 44-48-92
Knuble: 30-29-59

 

[GMR]

Great list. Must have taken some time to come up with.

Were Francis/Lemieux/Jagr ever actually a line?

 

[Michael Farkas]

Great list. Must have taken some time to come up with.

Were Francis/Lemieux/Jagr ever actually a line?

Yeah, at times. But it was pretty disruptive to the rest of the lines, so it wasn't frequently deployed. You'd see Nedved-Lemieux-Jagr, you'd see Naslund-Lemieux-Sandstrom, I remember seeing Kevin Miller up with Lemieux at times...those guys played so much, especially Mario and Jagr, that whenever they wanted to go out, they'd just go...they were the coaches too.

 

[McGarnagle]

The blank spot in 03-04 should be Knuble-Thornton-Murray

Great list. Must have taken some time to come up with.

Were Francis/Lemieux/Jagr ever actually a line?

While I get the compulsion to top-load your talent on one line, why would you ever waste Ron Francis's talents as a winger? Seems incredibly short-sighted.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

The blank spot in 03-04 should be Knuble-Thornton-Murray


While I get the compulsion to top-load your talent on one line, why would you ever waste Ron Francis's talents as a winger? Seems incredibly short-sighted.

From what I recall, Lemieux was LW for a good part of 1997. Jagr was his full-time RW and they collaborated on 52 goals together, Francis was only slightly behind with 48 goals. (At ES only, Lemieux collaborated on 39 goals with Jagr vs 28 goals with Francis).

 

[McGarnagle]

From what I recall, Lemieux was LW for a good part of 1997. Jagr was his full-time RW and they collaborated on 52 goals together, Francis was only slightly behind with 48 goals. (At ES only, Lemieux collaborated on 39 goals with Jagr vs 28 goals with Francis).

That makes sense. That was around when Mario's back was starting to go, so I can see him wanting to not have to put the strain of faceoffs and backchecking on himself and focus on offense, since they had a consummate two-way center in Francis to support him.

 

[frisco]

1974-75
Barber-Clark-Leach (Flyers)
close 2nd; Shutt-Mahovlich-Lafleur (Canadians)

1997-98
?

The French Connection in 74-75 were 7-9-10 in scoring compared to 4-5-49 for the Montreal three and 6-23-36 for the LCB in Philly. So, I think they have the edge there.

Maybe Barnes/Straka-Francis-Jagr in 1997-98?

My Best-Carey

 

[TheStatican]

Great list. Must have taken some time to come up with.

Were Francis/Lemieux/Jagr ever actually a line?

Thanks and yes a little lol.

Just in '97 as mentioned by others. Like the season prior, Mario started the year off with his preferred winger Sandstrom but then Tomas got injured(story of his NHL life) 3 games into the season leaving Mario to play with the spare parts and even after Tomas came back he was clearly not the same. The Nedved-Francis-Jagr line was still together and performing reasonably well but not nearly as good as the season prior but more importantly the team itself was in a complete funk being well out of a playoff spot and tied for the second worst record in the league at the time. Clearly the team needed a change and forming the Lemieux-Francis-Jagr super line was the spark. They played their first game as a line together on November 30th and the team took off with a 19-2-3 record, best in the league from then until just after the all-star game and the trio massacred the league. with Francis being the defensive rock to allow Mario and Jagr to do their thing.

Funny enough, at the all-star game Jagr apparently faked a groin injury in order to miss it and spend time with his model girlfriend at the time, only for karma to bite him in the butt the following game when he actually did injure his groin.

Jagr admits to faking injury so he could go to Bahamas instead of to the all star game back in 97

It seems like Jagr just gets cooler and cooler the more we learn about him. Jagr now admits that he faked a groin injury back in 1997 so he could go to Bahamas with some random hot chick he picked up, instead of to the all star game: Tohle Jágr tajil 23 let: Jde o podvod a Kubelkovou! Pak ho...

forums.hfboards.com

(At ES only, Lemieux collaborated on 39 goals with Jagr vs 28 goals with Francis).

Speaks for itself indeed, especially considering Lemieux and Jagr were only together for exactly half a season as a line due to the late formation of it and Jagr's injury.

In Lemieux's scoring logs he registered 41 goals(combined +/- of 69) with one or both of Jagr and Francis assisting at even strength in just 41 games. Interestingly enough the Legion of Doom line also registered 41 even strength goals, but in 49 games(combined +/- of 88). So it's actually pretty close between the two lines as they seemingly were a bit better at goal prevention considering their combined plus minus was a little bit better per game. Kariya-Rucchin-Selänne were slighly behind in both measures, having 50 goals at even strength together(combined +/- of 103) based on Kariya's scoring logs with one or both of Selänne and Rucchin assisting, in 62 games all 3 played together.

Team	Games Together	ES Goals​	Combined +/-
Pens line	41​	41 (1.00/gm)	+69 (1.68/gm)
Flyers line	49​	41 (0.84/gm)	+88 (1.80/gm)
Ducks line	62​	50 (0.81/gm)	+103 (1.66/gm)

It's time consuming going through the logs like this so I certainly didn't do it in every case and rarely did I look at plus minus mostly just ES goals but for select years where it was close I did.

Here's an example of how I compared some of the top lines in the 80's;

Spoiler: 80's Forward Lines

All points together

​	Bossy w/Trots+​	Gretz w/Kurri+​	Dionne w/Taylor&Simmer​	Lafleur w/Shutt+​
76-77​				70|33 (Lemaire)​
77-78​	64|51 (Clark)​	​	​	50|59 (Lemaire)​
78-79​	77|47 (Clark)​	​	69|33​	49|36 (Mondou)​
79-80​	55|27 (Clark)​	​	62|66​	46|45 (Larouche)​
80-81​	68|35 (Clark)​	47|42 (Callighen)​	64|64​
81-82​	94|34 (Tonelli)​	57|47 (Anderson)​	67|26​
82-83​	69|29 (Tonelli)​	90|34 (Anderson)​	40|31​
83-84​	72|34 (Gilbert)​	91|25 (Pouzar)​	38|61​
84-85​	42|45 (Sutter)​	109|56 (MikeK)​	67|62 (B.MacLellan)​
85-86​	65|25 (Tonelli)​	107|47 (Anderson)​	​
86-87​	​	81|56 (Tikkanen)​	​
87-88​	​	58|45 (Tikkanen)​	​

At Even Strength only;

​	Bossy w/Trots+​	Gretz w/Kurri+​	Dionne w/Taylor&Simmer​	Lafleur w/Shutt+​
76-77​				59|27 (Lemaire)​
77-78​	43|42 (Clark)​	​	​	​ 40|47 (Lemaire)​
78-79​	47|32 (Clark)​	​	47|18​	38|22 (Mondou)​
79-80​	41|18 (Clark)​	​	52|49​	36|32 (Larouche)​
80-81​	45|24 (Clark)​	34​	42|42​	​
81-82​	67|23 (Tonelli)​	41|32 (Anderson)​	40|40​	​
82-83​	46|20 (Tonelli)​	66|17 (Anderson)​	24|24​	​
83-84​	55|25 (Gilbert)​	57|22 (Pouzar)​	28|42​	​
84-85​	33|32 (Sutter)​	78|40 (Mike K)​	41|35 (B.MacLellan)​	​
85-86​	45|19 (Tonelli)​	71|24 (Anderson)​	​	​
86-87​	​	61|47 (Tikkanen)​	​	​
87-88​	​	40|35 (Tikkanen)​	​	​

Of course a line can score a ton but if they still get out scored while on the ice what good is that? So if two lines scored about the same but one had a better combined plus minus I listed them ahead, and the other as the '2nd best'. Unfortunately the defensive ability of a line is not as easily documented as offense and while plus minus is helpful we all know it's still flawed especially since it's not as if all their even strength ice time would be played together. I also considered NHL 1st and 2nd team placements though that became more difficult as the league grew and it became less common for teams to have multiple players make the post year all-star teams.

I hate to say it but in 98 the best line was probably Kamensky - Forsberg - Lemieux. Its either that or Barnes - Francis - Jagr.

04: Easily Stillman - Richards - MSL

Appreciate the input. I took a break from watching hockey closely in the late 90's early 00's because of the dead puck era, aside from catching Lemieux's return in '01 it wasn't until after the strike that I got back into it hence the blank spots and questions marks.

Just from looking at the game logs though it didn't seem like Stillman - Richards - MSL played much together at even strength. Stillman and Richards seemed to be together with Modin, while MSL was with Lecavalier and Fedotenko. Both still two of the best lines in the league either way. But then I saw the playoffs and I saw what your saying, they bumped Stillman off Richards line and put St. Louis there. This was mainly looking at it from a regular season perspective but clearly they were indeed the best line in the playoffs, I'll make note of that.

The blank spot in 03-04 should be Knuble-Thornton-Murray

Right on. After taking a look at the numbers it seems like it's ridiculously close between them and Stillman-Richards-Modin. Either or both of Knuble and Murry were involved in 38 goals at Even strength with Thornton. While either or of both Stillman and Modin were also involved in exactly 38 goals at Even strength with Richards. The Bruins line faired pretty poorly in the playoffs while Tampa's line was broken up, probably fair to call it a draw.

 

[Michael Farkas]

I must admit that I forgot about 1997. I only think about the '96 season because of the scoring finishes aspect. In '97, those three did play together for quite a while.

Of course, that's what the OP says too and I just wandered off the trail completely. Please carry on without me...I stink.

 

[silkyjohnson50]

At the very least I think you have to give an honorable mention to Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Holmstrom in 07-08.

While Holmstrom is clearly the weakest player individually, he fit the role well and the numbers and success of the line speaks for itself.

That line finished 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in Corsi, dominating possession. Individually their seasons remain the 3rd, 5th, and 7th highest Corsi seasons since it’s been tracked.

The Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Holmstrom line also finished with a significantly higher GF% than the Pizza line, had 2 of the 3 Selke finalists including the winner, had 2 players finish top 6 in scoring, had 2 players finish top 10 in Hart voting, won the Cup, and had the Conn Smythe winner to boot. It’s hard to not include them.

 

[TheStatican]

I don't want to be a hipster doofus...but honestly Crosby was so far ahead of every other Penguin (and the league) that year, that giving his line (which changed a bit during the year) full credit is too far.

How about Hartnell-Giroux-Voracek in 2013-14. They were kind of nasty and they're like the video game, Platonic ideal line more or less.

That's a tough one. Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis were only together for half a season until just before boxing day when Pascal tore up his ACL. Up to that point they were surely seen as the best, Kunitz and Dupuis having combined on 25 even strength goals either together or separately with Crosby, (plus one together without him) in those 39 games.

On the face of it Hartnell-Giroux-Voracek seemed to be far behind offensively having combined on 29 even strength goals, only 4 more than the Pens trio but with them all being available for at least 78 games. But when looking through the scoring logs it's quite obvious they only played together for a much smaller period of time. Hartnell doesn't even show up on the score sheet at even strength with the other two until Nov 12 and then only for a couple of games before not showing up regularly again until late January. From that point on the Flyers played 28 games. It's possible if not likely that they played even less games as a line than Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis did. Hartnell doesn't show up regularly on the scoring sheet until Jan 28. Hartnell and/or Voracek then combined for 14 ES with Giroux and 4 more together without.

So that's 18 in 29 games for the Flyers trio(plus possibly a handful of games in November) verses 26 in 39 for the Pens. Both scored at about the same rates together but the Pens trio was surprisingly actually together for longer. In total Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis was +35 with 79 total ES pts in 39gm. While Hartnell-Giroux-Voracek were +29 with 54 total ES pts in 29gm plus some unknown totals for those games in November. The Pens trio were a little better offensively, while the Flyers appear to be defensively and possibly outscored the other side a little more based on the plus minus numbers for what that's worth, but then again they appeared to play even less together as a line.

I thought Penner-Getzlaf-Perry might have been a better option but after going through their numbers it's not really the case. If I did the math right, Penner was missing games left and right that season making it difficult to add up, they had 27 ES goals in 44 games together which would be slightly worse than either of the above pairs. But there's a 4th trio to consider... In the end I went with Benn-Seguin-Nichushkin. That trio may not have played the entire season together either but it they were probably together for more games than any of the other 3. Plus Benn and Seguin alone combined for 46 ES goals playing the entire year together verses 44 for Getzlaf-Perry 35 for Crosby-Kuntiz 35 and 26 for Giroux-Voráček. I also found this post which seems to corroborate how good they were though I'm not sure what source he used;

Best forward line of all time

every set of socks is different o_O I saw that picture hundreds of times and never realised that.

forums.hfboards.com

I must admit that I forgot about 1997. I only think about the '96 season because of the scoring finishes aspect. In '97, those three did play together for quite a while.

Of course, that's what the OP says too and I just wandered off the trail completely. Please carry on without me...I stink.

Nah it's all good, personally would rather have more input and questioning about things than less.

 

[TheStatican]

I'd put up the 700lb Line for 2002-03

Thornton: 36-65-101
Murray: 44-48-92
Knuble: 30-29-59

Good call.

Bertuzzi and Morrison combined for 45 ES goals together with Näslund in 82 games, plus 5 more on their own for 50 in total.

But Knuble and Murray combined for 51 ES goals with Thornton in 77 games, plus 3 more on their for 54 in total, while having a slightly better plus minus. So your right they should be right up there, just a little ahead of Vancouver's top line that season.

But, Tanguay and Hejduk also combined for 51 ES goals with Forsberg in 75 games, plus 11 more on their own for 62 in total. Those 11 were only including games Forsberg played in and not 2 other ES goals that were assisted by Sakic though it is possible a handful of those other goals unassisted by anyone may have also been while double shifting on a line with Sakic. Still while you could argue which line was better offensively, what sets the the Avs line apart is that ridiculous plus minus. They were clearly out scoring the opposition the most hence why they still get top billing for 02-03.

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

Sharp/Saad - Toews - Hossa for 2012-13

Dominant 2-way line, won the Presidents trophy and the Cup (although at times in the playoffs Toews would play with Kane).

Also feels wrong to give it to Crosby’s line when Crosby (the clear best player of the line) missed a quarter of the regular season.

 

[Mike C]

Not sure if anyone has ever tried to compile this before but it something I recently found myself interested in after doing some research in a recent topic about Bryan Trottier and seeing just how offensively prolific he and Mike Bossy were together(as a line/at even strength). Heck they were almost as prolific as that somewhat well-known pair out in Edmonton. And then you had the the Triple Crown Line in LA, the Hawk's Party Line, the Stastny brothers teaming up in Quebec and a little before that The French Connection, Montreal's Dynasty Line and ofc the Bruins Nitro Line. The late 70's to mid 80's truly seem to be the era of the Great Lines. Trying to compare them all it made me think; just which line was the best(forward line) in any particular season? Sometimes it's quite obvious, often it's up for extensive debate and other times still there really didn't seem to be any great lines at all. It's daunting enough to back 50 or so year and a little too ambitious for me to go all way back to the NHL's first season so I only did up to expansion. Seeing as how I've only been watching hockey for about half the time of the seasons on this list, any input is more than welcome and I'll happily correct and update this list if there is a consensus where it is wrong. In any case here's what I got so far;

1967-68
Mohns-Mikita-Wharram? (Black Hawks) or Hadfield-Ratelle-Gilbert? (Rangers)

1968-69
Murphy-Esposito-Hodge (Bruins)

1969-70
?

1970-71
Cashman-Esposito-Hodge (Bruins)

1971-72
Hadfield-Ratelle-Gilbert (Rangers)

1972-73
Cashman-Esposito-Hodge (Bruins)
close 2nd; Barber-Clarke-Flett (Flyers)

1973-74
Cashman-Esposito-Hodge (Bruins)

1974-75
Barber-Clark-Leach (Flyers)
close 2nd; Shutt-Mahovlich-Lafleur (Canadians)

1975-76
Barber-Clark-Leach (Flyers) or Shutt-Mahovlich-Lafleur (Canadians)

1976-77
Shutt-Lemaire-Lafleur (Canadians)

1977-78
Shutt-Lemaire-Lafleur (Canadians)
close 2nd; Clark-Trottier-Bossy (Islanders)

1978-79
Clark-Trottier-Bossy (Islanders) or Vail-Chouinard-MacMillan (Flames)

1979-80
Simmer-Dionne-Taylor (Kings)

1980-81
Simmer-Dionne-Taylor (Kings)

1981-82
Tonelli-Trottier-Bossy (Islanders)
close 2nds; Kurri-Gretzky-Anderson (Oilers), A.Stastny-P.Stastny-M.Stastny (Nordiques)

1982-83
Kurri-Gretzky-Anderson/Pouzar (Oilers)
close 2nd; Secord-Savard-Larmer (Black Hawks),
others; A.Stastny-P.Stastny-M.Stastny (Nordiques), Krushelnyski-Pederson-Middleton (Bruins)

1983-84
Kurri-Gretzky-Pouzar (Oilers) or Gilbert-Trottier-Bossy (Islanders)

1984-85
Kurri-Gretzky-Krushelnyski (Oilers)
not so close 2nd; Mullen-Hawerchuk-MacLean (Jets)

1985-86
Kurri-Gretzky-Anderson (Oilers)

1986-87
Kurri-Gretzky-Tikkanen (Oilers)

1987-88
Kurri-Gretzky-Tikkanen (Oilers)

1988-89
Errey-Lemieux-Brown (Penguins)
close 2nd; Gallant-Yzerman-MacLean (Wings)

1989-90
Roberts-Nieuwendyk-Makarov (Flames)
close 2nd; Simpson-Messier-Anderson (Oilers)

1990-91
Granato-Gretzky-Sandström (Kings)
2nd; Stevens-Cullen-Recchi (Penguins)

1991-92
Stevens-Lemieux-Mullen (Penguins) or Graves-Messier-Amonte (Rangers)

1992-93
Stevens-Lemieux-Tocchet (Penguins)

1993-94
Juneau-Oates-Neely? (Bruins) or Clark-Gilmour-Andreychuk? (Leafs)

1994-95
LeClair-Lindros-Renberg (Flyers)

1995-96
Nedved-Francis-Jagr (Penguins)
close 2nd; LeClair-Lindros-Renberg (Flyers)

1996-97
Francis-Lemieux-Jagr (Penguins)
close 2nd; LeClair-Lindros-Renberg (Flyers) and Kariya-Rucchin-Selänne (Ducks)

1997-98
?

1998-99
LeClair-Lindros-Jones (Flyers)
close 2nd; Kariya-Rucchin-Selänne (Ducks)

1999-00
Kariya-Rucchin-Selänne (Ducks) or Whitney-Kozlov-Bure (Panthers)

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

2001-02
Näslund-Morrison-Bertuzzi (Canucks)
close 2nd; Iginla-Conroy-McAmmond (Flames)

2002-03 updated
Tanguay-Forsberg-Hejduk (Avs)
2nd; Knuble-Thornton-Murray (Bruins)
other; Näslund-Morrison-Bertuzzi (Canucks)

2003-04 updated
Knuble-Thornton-Murray (Bruins) or Stillman-Richards-Modin (Lighting)
in playoffs changed to; St. Louis-Richards-Modin

2005-06
Ekman-Thornton-Cheechoo (Sharks)
close 2nd; Heatley-Spezza-Alfredsson (Senators)

2006-07
Heatley-Spezza-Alfredsson (Senators)

2007-08
Heatley-Spezza-Alfredsson (Senators)

2008-09
Parise-Langenbrunner-Zajac (Devils)

2009-10
Ovechkin-Bäckström-Knuble (Capitals) or Burrows-Sedin-Sedin (Canucks)
others; Marleau-Thornton-Heatley (Sharks)

2010-11
Ryan-Getzlaf-Perry (Ducks) or Burrows-Sedin-Sedin (Canucks)

2011-12
Kunitz-Malkin-Neal (Penguins)

2012-13
Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis (Penguins)

2013-14 updated
Benn-Seguin-Nichushkin (Stars)
close 2nd; Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis (Penguins), Hartnell-Giroux-Voracek (Flyers)

2014-15
Palát-Johnson-Kucherov? (Lighting)

2015-16
Panarin-Anisimov-Kane? (BlackHawks)

2016-17
Maroon-McDavid-Draisaitl (Oilers)

2017-18
Landeskog-MacKinnon-Rantanen (Avs)

2018-19
Landeskog-MacKinnon-Rantanen (Avs) or Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak (Bruins)

2019-20
Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak (Bruins)

2020-21
Draisaitl-McDavid-Puljujärvi (Oilers)

2021-22
Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk (Flames)

2022-23
Robertson-Pavelski-Hintz (Stars)

*updated

67-68--Howe Delvecchio and Mahovlich?

69-70 Stanfield, Bucyk McKenzie

 

[TheStatican]

The French Connection in 74-75 were 7-9-10 in scoring compared to 4-5-49 for the Montreal three and 6-23-36 for the LCB in Philly. So, I think they have the edge there.

Absolutely that line did a lot of damage offensively that year and their scoring finishes could definitely lead one to believe they were the top line of the league. But there's two things which I think conclusively prove they were not. One they did more of their damage on the powerplay then the other lines and two, they were quite poor defensively.

Scoring in game situations;

	Games	Points	PP (SH) Pts	ES Pts	+/-​
Flyers trio	239​	265​	77 (12 SH)	176	+177
Habs trio	227​	301​	90 (5 SH)​	206	+134
Sabers trio	210​	291​	116​	175	+13​

Montreal's top line actually scored the most at even strength overall and on a per-game basis. But I would probably be inclined to agree that the French connection was the best offensive line in the league that year as they combined on slightly more goals at even strength together than the other two;

-Robert and Martin teamed up with Perreault for 48 ES goals and added 14 more on the scoresheet together without him for a total of 62.
-Mahovlich and Shutt teamed up with Lafleur on 43 ES goals and added 18 more together without him for a total of 61.
- Leach and Barber teamed up with Clarke for 53 ES and added 4 more together without him for a total of 57.

But look at that plus minus. I know it's seen as largely a meaningless stat on its own for individual players because it has as much or more to do with the other players on the ice as it has on that any one particular player. But look at who the other players on the ice were; Perreault wasn't playing with scrubs he was playing with Robert and Martin. The stat has significantly more meaning when the players on the ice are largely the same as it was often the case for the top lines back in the 70's and 80's, especially the French connection who rarely got onto the ice without each other. It's one thing if a single player has a bad plus minus, but when all three do it's clearly indicative of a trend.


At Even strength while on the ice;

Flyers	Goals for​	Goals against		Power play For/Against
Leach	75​	22​	+53​	38/2​
Clarke	98​	19​	+79​	52/33​
Barber	77​	32​	+45​	43/24​
Average	83 in 80gm	24​	+59​	133/59​

Habs	Goals for​	Goals against		Power play For/Against
Lafleur	108​	55​	+53	59/10​
Mahovlich	101​	60​	+41	62/25​
Shutt	89​	49​	+40	17/0​
Average	99 in 76gm​	55​	+45	138/35​

Sabers	Goals for​	Goals against		Power play For/Against
Robert	81​	74​	+7	65/3​
Perreault	79​	78​	+1	60/0​
Martin	82​	77​	+5	60/0​
Average	81 in 70gm	76​	+4	185/3​

The French connection scored a lot to be sure but unfortunately it's also clear they got scored a ton just as well. Not only that the Sabers trio logged huge minutes on the powerplay, they also didn't play on the penalty kill. The Habs and especially the Flyers trio played heavy minutes short handed minutes which would have reduce their overall play time at even strength and therefore hurt their overall scoring, it's impressive they scored as much as they did at even strength considering that. And when either of those lines were out on the ice they handily outscored the opposition, but the French connection? They allowed almost as many goals as they scored.

Offensively impressively? Absoultely. Best line in the league? Just don't see a case for it.

Maybe Barnes/Straka-Francis-Jagr in 1997-98?

My Best-Carey

I hate to say it but in 98 the best line was probably Kamensky - Forsberg - Lemieux. Its either that or Barnes - Francis - Jagr.

Yes & Yes, I agree here.

I would be loathed to put Claude's name on a 'best of' list but I will if I have too... luckily I don't have to. After looking up the numbers Kamensky & C.Lemieux teamed up on 31 ES goals with Forsberg, and another 8 together without him though one of those was with Sakic meaning a couple of the others could be too. Still if no others are that's 38 ES goals at best, while being minus players all combined.

Barnes and Francis meanwhile teamed up with Jagr on 51 ES goals(45 for Francis & 21 for Barnes individually), 4 more together without Jagr and were +44 all together. Hands down the Pens trio was clearly better.

 

[TheStatican]

At the very least I think you have to give an honorable mention to Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Holmstrom in 07-08.

While Holmstrom is clearly the weakest player individually, he fit the role well and the numbers and success of the line speaks for itself.

That line finished 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in Corsi, dominating possession. Individually their seasons remain the 3rd, 5th, and 7th highest Corsi seasons since it’s been tracked.

The Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Holmstrom line also finished with a significantly higher GF% than the Pizza line, had 2 of the 3 Selke finalists including the winner, had 2 players finish top 6 in scoring, had 2 players finish top 10 in Hart voting, won the Cup, and had the Conn Smythe winner to boot. It’s hard to not include them.

Don't disagree with anything your saying just happened to overlooked them a little as they weren't as prolific as the Pizza line offensively, but that's not the only metric that counts of course. The Ottawa trio combined on for 60 ES goals that year while still being defensively reliable.

Checking on the Detroit trio now I see they combined for 36 ES goals together but your correct in that the advanced metrics all favor Detroit. They they added another 13 in the playoffs while the Sens trio were shut down. Honorable mention is would be least, I've updated the list to have that season be an either/or.

67-68--Howe Delvecchio and Mahovlich?

Probably would have been but Mahovlich only played 13 games for Detroit that season, did you mean 68-69?

Just took a look at the numbers I'm guessing you definitely meant '69, that line was insane that year! Delvecchio and Mahovlich combined with Howe on 70 goals at even strength and they added another 10 together without him, a ridiculous 80* 77 in total in 72 games(edit* 3 of the goals Howe & Mahovlich combined on came in the 4 games Delvecchio missed). Delvecchio & Howe also scored 4 more unassisted at ES.

Murphy-Esposito-Hodge and Murphy meanwhile combined with Esposito on 61 goals at even strength and 5 more without him for 66 64 in total in 67 games(edit* 2 of the goals scored came in games one of the trio was out for). Altogether they also added another 7 in the playoffs for 72. Esposito & Hodge also scored 6 more unassisted at ES. Plus minus of both trio's for what its worth was exactly the same +131. All in all quite close but would have to give the slight edge to Detroit's line.

Just noticed after a re-check 8 of the goals Esposito & Hodge combined for came with Cashman, and another with Ed W, meaning NOT on a line with Murphy(This is getting a little too tedious to keep track of...). Doesn't seem like any of the Detroit's trio's goals came with different wingers so they're the clear winners.

69-70 Stanfield, Bucyk McKenzie

Another good one, added it to the list.

 

[Sentinel]

In 1995-96 the best line in hockey was Kozlov-Larionov-Fedorov

 

[frisco]

But look at that plus minus. I know it's seen as largely a meaningless stat on its own for individual players because it has as much or more to do with the other players on the ice as it has on that any one particular player.

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

 

[Mike C]

Don't disagree with anything your saying just happened to overlooked them a little as they weren't as prolific as the Pizza line offensively, but that's not the only metric that counts of course. The Ottawa trio combined on for 60 ES goals that year while still being defensively reliable.

Checking on the Detroit trio now I see they combined for 36 ES goals together but your correct in that the advanced metrics all favor Detroit. They they added another 13 in the playoffs while the Sens trio were shut down. Honorable mention is would be least, I've updated the list to have that season be an either/or.


Probably would have been but Mahovlich only played 13 games for Detroit that season, did you mean 68-69?

Just took a look at the numbers I'm guessing you definitely meant '69, that line was insane that year! Delvecchio and Mahovlich combined with Howe on 70 goals at even strength and they added another 12 together without him, a ridiculous 82 in total.

Murphy-Esposito-Hodge and Murphy meanwhile combined with Esposito on 61 goals at even strength and 5 more without him for 66 in total. Altogether they also added another 7 in the playoffs for 73. Close but still short, Detroit's line goes up top in yet another year.


Another good one, added it to the list.

Sorry about the year mixup----my phone (or is it my brain??) glitches out sometimes

GREAT Thread!!

 

[njdevils1982]

Not sure if anyone has ever tried to compile this before but it something I recently found myself interested in after doing some research in a recent topic about Bryan Trottier and seeing just how offensively prolific he and Mike Bossy were together(as a line/at even strength). Heck they were almost as prolific as that somewhat well-known pair out in Edmonton. And then you had the the Triple Crown Line in LA, the Hawk's Party Line, the Stastny brothers teaming up in Quebec and a little before that The French Connection, Montreal's Dynasty Line and ofc the Bruins Nitro Line. The late 70's to mid 80's truly seem to be the era of the Great Lines. Trying to compare them all it made me think; just which line was the best(forward line) in any particular season? Sometimes it's quite obvious, often it's up for extensive debate and other times still there really didn't seem to be any great lines at all. It's daunting enough to back 50 or so year and a little too ambitious for me to go all way back to the NHL's first season so I only did up to expansion. Seeing as how I've only been watching hockey for about half the time of the seasons on this list, any input is more than welcome and I'll happily correct and update this list if there is a consensus where it is wrong. In any case here's what I got so far;

1967-68
Mohns-Mikita-Wharram? (Black Hawks) or Hadfield-Ratelle-Gilbert? (Rangers)

1968-69*
Mahovlich-Delvecchio-Howe (Wings)
Close 2nd; Murphy-Esposito-Hodge (Bruins)

1969-70*
Bucyk-Stanfield-McKenzie (Bruins)

1970-71
Cashman-Esposito-Hodge (Bruins)

1971-72
Hadfield-Ratelle-Gilbert (Rangers)

1972-73
Cashman-Esposito-Hodge (Bruins)
close 2nd; Barber-Clarke-Flett (Flyers)

1973-74
Cashman-Esposito-Hodge (Bruins)

1974-75
Barber-Clark-Leach (Flyers)
close 2nd; Shutt-Mahovlich-Lafleur (Canadians)

1975-76
Barber-Clark-Leach (Flyers) or Shutt-Mahovlich-Lafleur (Canadians)

1976-77
Shutt-Lemaire-Lafleur (Canadians)

1977-78
Shutt-Lemaire-Lafleur (Canadians)
close 2nd; Clark-Trottier-Bossy (Islanders)

1978-79
Clark-Trottier-Bossy (Islanders) or Vail-Chouinard-MacMillan (Flames)

1979-80
Simmer-Dionne-Taylor (Kings)

1980-81
Simmer-Dionne-Taylor (Kings)

1981-82
Tonelli-Trottier-Bossy (Islanders)
close 2nds; Kurri-Gretzky-Anderson (Oilers), A.Stastny-P.Stastny-M.Stastny (Nordiques)

1982-83
Kurri-Gretzky-Anderson/Pouzar (Oilers)
close 2nd; Secord-Savard-Larmer (Black Hawks),
others; A.Stastny-P.Stastny-M.Stastny (Nordiques), Krushelnyski-Pederson-Middleton (Bruins)

1983-84
Kurri-Gretzky-Pouzar (Oilers) or Gilbert-Trottier-Bossy (Islanders)

1984-85
Kurri-Gretzky-Krushelnyski (Oilers)
not so close 2nd; Mullen-Hawerchuk-MacLean (Jets)

1985-86
Kurri-Gretzky-Anderson (Oilers)

1986-87
Kurri-Gretzky-Tikkanen (Oilers)

1987-88
Kurri-Gretzky-Tikkanen (Oilers)

1988-89
Errey-Lemieux-Brown (Penguins)
close 2nd; Gallant-Yzerman-MacLean (Wings)

1989-90
Roberts-Nieuwendyk-Makarov (Flames)
close 2nd; Simpson-Messier-Anderson (Oilers)

1990-91
Granato-Gretzky-Sandström (Kings)
2nd; Stevens-Cullen-Recchi (Penguins)

1991-92
Stevens-Lemieux-Mullen (Penguins) or Graves-Messier-Amonte (Rangers)

1992-93
Stevens-Lemieux-Tocchet (Penguins)

1993-94
Juneau-Oates-Neely? (Bruins) or Clark-Gilmour-Andreychuk? (Leafs)

1994-95
LeClair-Lindros-Renberg (Flyers)

1995-96
Nedved-Francis-Jagr (Penguins)
close 2nd; LeClair-Lindros-Renberg (Flyers)

1996-97
Francis-Lemieux-Jagr (Penguins)
close 2nd; LeClair-Lindros-Renberg (Flyers) and Kariya-Rucchin-Selänne (Ducks)

1997-98*
Barnes-Francis-Jagr (Penguins)

1998-99
LeClair-Lindros-Jones (Flyers)
close 2nd; Kariya-Rucchin-Selänne (Ducks)

1999-00
Kariya-Rucchin-Selänne (Ducks) or Whitney-Kozlov-Bure (Panthers)

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

2001-02
Näslund-Morrison-Bertuzzi (Canucks)
close 2nd; Iginla-Conroy-McAmmond (Flames)

2002-03*
Tanguay-Forsberg-Hejduk (Avs)
2nd; Knuble-Thornton-Murray (Bruins)
other; Näslund-Morrison-Bertuzzi (Canucks)

2003-04*
Knuble-Thornton-Murray (Bruins) or Stillman-Richards-Modin (Lighting)
in playoffs changed to; St. Louis-Richards-Modin

2005-06
Ekman-Thornton-Cheechoo (Sharks)
close 2nd; Heatley-Spezza-Alfredsson (Senators)

2006-07
Heatley-Spezza-Alfredsson (Senators)

2007-08*
Heatley-Spezza-Alfredsson (Senators) or Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Holmstrom (Wings)

2008-09
Parise-Langenbrunner-Zajac (Devils)

2009-10
Ovechkin-Bäckström-Knuble (Capitals) or Burrows-Sedin-Sedin (Canucks)
others; Marleau-Thornton-Heatley (Sharks)

2010-11
Ryan-Getzlaf-Perry (Ducks) or Burrows-Sedin-Sedin (Canucks)

2011-12
Kunitz-Malkin-Neal (Penguins)

2012-13
Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis (Penguins)

2013-14*
Benn-Seguin-Nichushkin (Stars)
close 2nd; Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis (Penguins), Hartnell-Giroux-Voracek (Flyers)

2014-15
Palát-Johnson-Kucherov? (Lighting)

2015-16
Panarin-Anisimov-Kane? (BlackHawks)

2016-17
Maroon-McDavid-Draisaitl (Oilers)

2017-18
Landeskog-MacKinnon-Rantanen (Avs)

2018-19
Landeskog-MacKinnon-Rantanen (Avs) or Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak (Bruins)

2019-20
Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak (Bruins)

2020-21
Draisaitl-McDavid-Puljujärvi (Oilers)

2021-22
Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk (Flames)

2022-23
Robertson-Pavelski-Hintz (Stars)

*updated

small point on 08-09

the zz pops line had zajac at C and langenbrunner on RW

 

[TheStatican]

Sharp/Saad - Toews - Hossa for 2012-13

Dominant 2-way line, won the Presidents trophy and the Cup (although at times in the playoffs Toews would play with Kane).

Also feels wrong to give it to Crosby’s line when Crosby (the clear best player of the line) missed a quarter of the regular season.

Sure, there can be an argument made for that whether or not a line that only plays together for a limited amount of the season can be considered the best or not. But personally unless we're talking about small sample sizes of less than half as much as a competing line I don't think it does. Often times linemates are juggled especially early in a season like when a team is struggling and the coaches start improvising to make adjustments. But once they find the right combination the players suddenly click, should that somehow eliminate them from consideration, just because they weren't together for the whole season? I don't see how it does. It was the opposite scenario for the Pens in '13 where they were together for most of the season before and injury broke the line apart, but materially that's no different. Also by your own account Toews and Hossa played significant time with both Sharp and Saad. If your going to make an argument about a line needing to play a certain amount of time together to be considered then how can you possibly present an alternative line as being better if that line itself wasn't consistently icing the same three players. I do see that in the regular season Saad-Toews-Hossa were pretty much together for the whole year. But in the playoffs Saad got switched out with Sharp and as your said Toew's often also played with Kane as well. Therefor what they did in the playoffs not longer really strengthens the argument for the specific combination of Saad-Toews-Hossa anymore.

In the regular season those Saad and Hossa combined to score 27 ES goals with Toews. Kunitz and Pascal meanwhile combined to score 29 ES goals with Crosby. So in spite of them playing together for three quarters of the season they still combined for more goals at even strength than Chicago's line did in the entire season. Considering that I don't see how it would matter at all that they only played in 3-quarters of a season when they still outscored every other line out there. The Pens trio had a little more time on the powerplay which help their overall totals but I'm not comparing their powerplay scoring here just even strength. It's not as if they were defensively terrible either, they were quite good and clearly dominated on both sides of the ice;

At Even strength while on the ice;

Pens	Goals for	Goals against		ES TOI
Kunitz	52	22	+30	14:03
Crosby	50	24	+26	16:02
Pascal	55	24	+31	14:46
Average	52 in 44gm	23 in 44gm	+29 in 44gm	1960.4 total

Hawks	Goals for	Goals against		ES TOI
Saad	37	20	+17	14:00
Toews	53	25	+28	15:14
Hossa	33	13	+20	14:04
Average	41 in 48gm	19 in 48gm	+22 in 48gm	2078.4 total

Without a doubt Chicago was the best team overall that year and Toews deserved his personal accolades but it seems clear that the Pens line outscored the opposition a little more. Still I can see they were a very good line near the top and worth noting.

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

All good points. That is the elephant in the room, it's tough to isolate a forward line without considering the effects of the defense and goaltending behind them. At least now we have some advanced stats that can help but for most of the league's history that wasn't the case.

Your right in that the Flyers and Habs lines did have advantages in defense and goaltending that can help explain the huge gap in +/-, it wasn't just the 3 up front that did that alone. But the one thing that still strikes me as odd and makes me question how much blame lies in the D and goaltending is how much worse the French Connections +/- was in comparison to their other forward lines. They had a plus minus of about 5 and then you had the Ramsay-Luce-Gare line which was about plus 50 and Dudley-McNab with Spencer or Lorentz around plus 20. Those other lines were no doubt exploiting the matchup advantage with other teams sending out their best offensive lines against the French connection, but going from plus 5 to a plus 50 advantage is a massive difference. In any case I'll at least give them their due as an honorable mention based on their offensive prowess alone and in consideration of the above mentioned possible factors.

 

[TheStatican]

In 1995-96 the best line in hockey was Kozlov-Larionov-Fedorov

Have to disagree.

-Kozlov and Larionov teamed up with Fedorov for 33 ES goals though 2 of those were in the last game of the season where Larionov sat out so really 31. Kozlov and Larionov added 11 more together without Fedorov on the scoresheet, though I will presume playing with them, for a total of 42. The three also had 5 unassisted ES goals. So between 42-47 ES goals altogether.

-Nedved and Francis teamed up with Jagr for 75 ES goals, though 5 of those were with Lemieux being the 3rd man and 8 others came in games Francis or Nedvad sat out so really 62. They added 4 more on the scoresheet together without Jagr for a total of 67. Jagr and Nedved also had 7 unassisted ES goals. So between 67-74 ES goals altogether. That's a difference of close to 30 goals offensively. Clearly the Pens line was far superior offensively but this also means the Wings line was far better defensively, perhaps even more so when you consider their plus minuses right?

Here's that info;

Pens	Goals for	Goals against		PP of 109	SH pt for
Nedved	98​	61​	+37	31​	3​
Francis	97​	72​	+25	92​	2​
Jagr	115​	84​	+31	90​	3​
Average	103​	72​	+31

Hawks	Goals for	Goals against		PP of 97	SH pt for
Kozlov	73​	40​	+33	38​	0​
Larionov	71​	34​	+37	29​	3​
Fedorov	87​	38​	+49	51​	5​
Average	77​	37​	+40

On the face of it the Detroit unit appears to be a little more dominant; An overall average of plus 40 vs 31. Not so fast though, I added the number of powerplay goals each player was out on the ice for, for a reason. The problem is there is a flaw in these on ice goals for numbers that I haven't really been paying much attention to since it usually amounts to a negligible total but in the Penguins case for 1995-96 it definitely doesn't. That flaw is that players get deducted a minus when they are on the ice for a short handed goal scored against them which doesn't serve any purpose in comparing even strength numbers. The numbers are taken from hockey reference but while you can subtract powerplay goals on the ice for from their total on ice goal count they don't list the short handed on ice goals for or against. This explains why Jagr & Francis were on the ice for more goals against than Nedved and likewise why Kozlov had more goals against than Fedorov and Larionov. Though also some of Jags and Feds totals are probably higher on account of double shifting as well being high TOI players in their peaks.

Anyways, Jagr and Francis were on the ice for nearly 85% of the Pens powerplay goals scored that season. With the Penguins allowing 12 short handed goals against, a small price to pay when you score 109 powerplay goals, the chances high that Jagr and Francis were on the ice for nearly all of those SH goals against. They got back a couple short handed themselves but not many, 3 for Jagr 2 for Francis, meaning their even strength plus minus is actually higher by close to 10. This doesn't effect Nedved much since he had far less powerplay time and got back 3 shorthanded so its likely a wash for him and the same applies to Fedorov and Larionov. Only Kozlov's +/- on the Wings side might have been hurt a little but far less since he had less powerplay time and the Wings also allowed fewer SH goals against (9). His +/- might be better by 3 or 4. Essentially the advantage the Wings trio has in plus minus pretty much evaporates, they might still be ahead by a negligible amount of 2 or 3.


Which brings us to the considerations that @frisco brought up in his response above - the influence of goaltending and defense. Something which I admittedly haven't been given too much consideration towards and which could effect some of the rankings particularly in the seasons where two lines are very close.

Kozlov-Larionov-Fedorov were playing with Konstantinov and Fetisov behind them and with prime Osgood as their starter in net. Nedved-Francis-Jagr meanwhile were playing with Zubov, ok that's good so far.. and the other defenseman was one of the Chris brothers. Well they're not literally brothers, but you know them right? Chris Joseph? Chris Tamer? I highly doubt those names would ring anyone's bell considering they're bottom pairing defensemen - The Pens strength that season was in their top two lines, they had little depth beyond that especially defensively. On defense that's a WORLD of difference, you can't act like that's irrelevant and doesn't have a big impact. Add to that the Pens had an older Barrasso or Wregget in net and while their numbers were decent Osgood's, with Vernon as his back up, were notably better.

If this was a question of who the best 5-man unit in the league was for a particular season, I would probably go with the Wings in '96. But as I said in the OP this is about the best forward line in the league and the Pens trio were pretty much as dominant against the opposition at even strength with one quality defensemen, not two. But the Wings trio was certainly impressive on in their own right to be sure so I'll make note of them.