Saturday, April 08, 2006

Whose Line Is It Anyway?

One of the great things about the National Hockey League is the rich history of the game. Line combinations used to stay together more often "back in the day" but there are still some today and in the last few years which have become famous or infamous. I have compiled a list of some of the more noteworthy line combinations and their often catchy names. Please don't hesitate to send me some more. At the end there is also a list of some outstanding tandems.

The BOW Line
Johnny Bucyk-Murray Oliver-Tommy Williams
Circa 1963 Boston Bruins
*Thanks to a loyal reader.

The Bread Line
Alex Shibicky-Mac Colville-Neil Colville
1936 New York Rangers

The Kid Line
Busher Jackson-Joe Primeau-Charlie Conacher
1930s Maple Leafs

The Kraut Line
Woody Dumart-Milt Schmidt-Bobby Bauer
1930-40s Boston Bruins
**The "Kraut" name was dropped for a bit during WW II as political correctness ran amok.

The Production Line
Ted Lindsay-Sid Abel-Gordie Howe
1940-50s Red Wings

The Million Dollar Line
Bobby Hull-Bill Hay-Murray Balfour
1950-60s Blackhawks

The GAG Line (Goal A Game)
Rod Gilbert-Jean Ratelle-Vic Hadfield
1960-70s Rangers

The Espo Line / Nitro Line
Wayne Cashman-Phil Esposito-Ken Hodge
1960-70s Bruins

The Dynasty Line
Steve Shutt-Jacques Lemaire-Guy Lafleur
1970s Canadians

The French Connection
Rick Martin-Gilbert Perreault-Rene Robert
1970s Sabres

The LCB Line
Bill Barber-Bobby Clarke-Reggie Leach
1970s Flyers

The Trio Grande Line
Clark Gilles-Bryan Trottier-Mike Bossy
1970-80s Islanders

The Triple Crown Line
Charlie Simmer-Marcel Dionne-Dave Taylor
1970-80s Kings

The ?? Line
Al Secord-Denis Savard-Steve Larmer
1980s Blackhawks

The Kid Line
Adam Graves-Joe Murphy-Martin Gelinas
1990 Edmonton Oilers

The Crazy Eights
Marc Recchi(#8)-Eric Lindros(#88)-Brent Fedyk(#38)
Mid Nineties Philadelphia Flyers

The Crash Line
Randy McKay-Bobby Holik-Mike Peluso
New Jersey Devils 1994

The Legion of Doom Line
John LeClair-Eric Lindros-Michael Renberg
Philly Flyers mid to late 90s

The Czech Line
Jan Hlavac-Petr Nedved-Radek Dvorak
Circa 2000 New York Rangers

The 'A' Line
Patrick Elias-Jason Arnott-Petr Sykora
New Jersey Devils Early 2000s

The HMO Line
Ryan Hollweg-Dominick Moore-Jed Ortmyer
New York Rangers 2005-2006

Not a line but still worth mentioning a group that Scotty Bowman would send out. "The Russian Unit of Five" in the mid-90s.
Slava Kozlov-Igor Larionov-Sergei Fedorov
Slava Fetisov-Vlad Konstantinov

Also,
"The Super-Five of the USSR" which included the "KLM Line" (Vladimir Krutov, Igor Larionov, and Sergei Makarov), and legendary defensemen Viacheslav Fetisov and Alexei Kasatonov.

Non-NHL
The Unified Team in the 1992 Olympics
Alex Mogilny-Sergei Fedorov-Pavel Bure

Famous Duos
Darryl Sittler Lanny MacDonald
1970s Maple Leafs

Wayne Gretzky Jari Kurri
1980s Oilers

Mark Messier Glen Anderson
1980s Oilers

Peter Stastny-Michel Goulet
1980s Nordiques

Mario Lemieux Jaromir Jagr
1990s Penguins

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Best of luck with the blog.