Where have all the great lines gone? - professional hockey

There was a time when nicknames of all the best lines. Today, it's a different story.

The NHL used to have more colorful lines than Dennis Miller. It was fertile ground for some of the greatest nicknames in sports with three-man forward units that used to light lamps and brighten headlines.

Names like the Kraut Line (try getting away with that one now), the Punch Line, the Production Line, the French Connection, the Triple Crown line and, not so long ago, the Legion of Doom.

Now?

It seems three-man combinations don't stay together long enough to know each other's names, never mind get a nickname.

For sure, there are still some three-man units that play the majority of time together.

In Pittsburgh, the Penguins' new trio of comeback king Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr and young Jan Hrdina, who must think he has died and gone to hockey heaven, is burying opponents.

In Ottawa, Magnus Arvedson, Radek Bonk and Marian Hossa form the best two-way line in the league. And in Atlanta, one of the stunning stories of the season is the play of Donald Audette with Andrew Brunette and Ray Ferraro.

In New Jersey, the line of Jason Arnott, Petr Sykora and Patrik Elias led the Devils' drive to a Stanley Cup last spring.

In St. Louis, the Pierre Turgeon-Scott Young-Dallas Drake unit and the Slovak line of Pavol Demitra with Michal Handzus and Lubos Bartecko give the Blues a great 1-2 (or 1-2-3) combination.

And fans in the Big Apple are pleased with the moves made by the Rangers' Czech Mates line of Petr Nedved, Jan Hlavac and Radek Dvorak, but the line--and the team--needs to find more success before the name is likely to stick around.

It used to be that nearly every NHL team had a great line with a great name. They stuck together for years, and the names still roll off the tongue.

It was expansion and skyrocketing salaries in the 1990s that started making it tougher and tougher to keep big stars together on one team, never mind one line, and the number of great trios declined.

It remains to be seen whether the Legion of Doom, the Flyers' combination of Eric Lindros, John LeClair and Mikael Renberg, will go down as the last line that stayed together long enough to gain a colorful--and memorable--name.

In today's NHL, more often than not, coaches lean toward sticking with duos. In Anaheim, Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne have been a longtime pairing. In Ottawa, it's Shawn McEachern and Alexei Yashin. In Phoenix, it's Jeremy Roenick and Keith Tkachuk. A third man is rolled in and out depending on the club's fortunes at the time.

"There are several reasons for that, but the biggest factor is injury," Senators coach Jacques Martin says. "Look at the number of guys on the injured list now. How many guys stay healthy for a full season? That makes a big difference when you're trying to keep guys together."

The Arvedson-Bonk-Hossa line (sorry, no nickname yet) is the perfect example. The trio started the season at a staggering pace and was reflective of the trend in recent years toward a top line that is responsible at both ends of the ice.

In the first 18 games, before Arvedson missed six weeks with a broken foot, they had a combined 23 goals and 34 assists and a combined plus-44 in plus-minus differential. With Arvedson out for 19 games, Bonk's and Hossa's play suffered as Martin was forced to juggle other players on the left side. Arvedson returned two weeks ago, and Bonk responded with his first NHL hat trick and a six-point night and Hossa had a club-record five assists in an 8-3 win over the Lightning.

Two other factors are largely responsible for the death of the so-called big lines. Actually, it's the absence of those two other factors--patience and depth--that work against stable, consistent, three-man combinations.

In today's NHL, where playoff races are tight and big payrolls mean big expectations, patience is in short supply. The mentality of hire a coach, blink, fire a coach is prevalent.

"Expectations around most teams, from the ownership and everybody else, are so high," Martin says. "Coaches just don't have the patience they used to have (if a line isn't producing)."

Bruins coach Mike Keenan is notorious for juggling his lines, looking for a spark that ignites three players. But he says the days of a line that can put up big points and capture the imagination are gone, victims of a 30-team NHL where the offensive talent is spread pretty thin.

If a team puts three top offensive talents together on one line, that doesn't leave much for the other three units. "The depth on teams is just not great enough," Keenan says. "I know that sounds simple, but that's probably the most accurate way of putting it."

Money and contracts are an issue, too. In Edmonton, Bill Guerin was off to a great start this season playing with Doug Weight and Ryan Smyth. But Guerin was going to be an unrestricted free agent, and Oilers G.M. Kevin Lowe found a deal he couldn't refuse, shipping Guerin to the Brains for holdout Anson Carter.

That's not to say teams haven't found a way to keep terrific trios together on occasion.

Lemieux's stunning comeback has revitalized the Penguins and created the most explosive offensive line, since ... well, the last season Lemieux played. That was 1996-97, when he teamed with Jagr and Ron Francis, and they combined for 307 points.

(Another staggering number to consider: If that line were intact today in normal market conditions, it would cost the Penguins close to $30 million, the total payroll for close to half of the teams in the league. In this comeback, Lemieux, the Penguins' owner, is making the league's average salary, about $1.4 million. He would be worth at least $10 million otherwise.)

Lemieux rarely has been part of a big line in his 13-year career. (Remember wingers Rob Brown and Warren Young? That's OK. Not many do.) This time, he has Jagr as an obvious linemate, and Hrdina has been a top-flight complement.

"I think (Hrdina)'s perfect for us," Lemieux says. "Jan's a defensive player, and he's concentrating on the defense, which is giving us the opportunity to play our game.

"Jan's played with Jagr for a couple of years and I thought he was the best guy to play with us."

Lemieux's former/new linemate agrees Hrdina is a good fit. "He didn't have to adjust to two guys--only to Mario," Jagr says. "He knows how I play. It's a tough job for him. It's a lot of work for him. He plays down low. He can forecheck well. He knows how to pass, and that's very important."

Some thought went into making up that line. In other cases, it's tougher to explain why a line clicks so well. That precise question was put to Bonk.

He thought about it for a minute. He looked down between his skates. His brow furrowed.

"I don't know," he says. "It just does."

Sometimes you just can't put a finger--or a name--on it.

By the decade

A decade-by-decade rundown of some of the best lines in the history of the NHL:

1930s Toronto's Kid Line: Joe Primeau-Charlie Conacher-Harvey "Busher" Jackson. First line to master the forward pass in the offensive zone.

1940s Boston's Kraut Line: Bobby Bauer-Milt Schmidt-Woody Dumart. All three were born in Kitchener, Ontario, which was called Berlin before World War II.

Chicago's Pony Line: Bill Mosienko-Max Bentley-Doug Bentley, Named for its speed.

Montreal's Punch Line: Toe Blake-Elmer Lach-Maurice "Rocket" Richard. Finished 1-2-3 in scoring in 1944-45.

1950s Detroit's Production Line: Gordie Howe-Sid Abel-Ted Lindsay. Finished 1-2-3 in scoring in 1949-50.

Boston's Uke Line: Johnny Bucyk-Bronco Horvath-Vic Stasiuk. Named for the players' Ukranian heritage, even though Horvath was Hungarian.

1960s Chicago's Scooter Line: Ken Wharram-Doug Mohns-Stan Mikita. Each member had five straight seasons of 20 goals or more.

1970s New York's Goal-A-Game (GAG) Line: Rod Gilbert-Jean Ratelle-Vic Hadfield. Produced 139 goals and 173 assists for 312 points in 1971-72.

Buffalo's French Connection: Richard Martin-Gilbert Perreault-Rene Robert. Led the Sabres to the Stanley Cup finals in 1975.

Montreal's Guy Lafleur-Jacques Lemaire-Steve Shutt. They won 18 Stanley Cups among them.

Boston's Ken Hodge-Phil Esposito-Wayne Cashman. A prelude to the Flyers' powerful Legion of Doom. Chicago's MPH Line:

Mikita-Jim Pappin-Dennis Hull. A quick line to complement the Golden Jet.

1980s L.A.'s Triple Crown Line: Dave Taylor-Marcel Dionne-Charlie Simmer. Each member had more than 100 points in 1980-81.

The Islanders' Mike Bossy-Bryan Trottier-Clark Gillies. Set the standard for the complete line.

The Oilers' Jarl Kurri-Wayne Gretzky-Dave Semenko. Two scalpels and a sledgehammer.

1990s The Legion of Doom: the Flyers' John LeClair-Eric Undros-Mikael Renberg. No line has ever been tougher around the net.

--Paul Grant and Chris Stevenson

A crowning achievement

When he got the call to join the Kings 22 years ago, Charlie Simmer had two things on his mind. And neither was the possibility of becoming a member of one of the most prolific lines in NHL history.

Simmer was playing in 1978-79 for Springfield (Mass.) of the American Hockey League, the Kings' top farm club, when he was called up for games in Detroit and Boston.

"I guess the first thing I thought of was it would be a short drive from Boston to Springfield when they sent me back down at the end of that trip," says Simmer, now the TV analyst for the Coyotes.

The second thing on his mind, as he got ready to play the Red Wings at the Olympia, was where he would sit on the bench, an age-old question for players not expecting a lot of ice time.

He put the question to Kings coach Bob Berry.

"I'm going to put you with Marcel and Dave," said Berry, struck by one of those momentary lapses of reason that turn out to be a stroke of genius.

True to his word, Berry put Simmer with Marcel Dionne and Dave Taylor that night. Dionne produced four goals as the Kings beat the Wings, 7-3, on January 13,1979. The Kings then went to Boston and beat the Bruins.

Simmer had an assist on Dionne's last goal, but he expected the inevitable call from Berry after the Boston game.

Sure enough, it came.

"We're going to send you back to Springfield," Berry said.

"Yeah, I know that," Simmer said.

"I want you to go back and get some clothes," Berry said.

The Triple Crown line was born. Simmer finished the season with 48 points in 38 games.

The line made history in 1980-81 when it became the first with all three members cracking 100 points. Dionne led the way that season with 58 goals and 77 assists for 135 points, followed by Taylor (47-65-112) and Simmer (56-49-105).

"We were put together almost by accident," Simmer says. "It was one of the stranger things. What it came down to was they had run out of options. I was the last left winger on a two-way contract.

"The thing that made us so successful was our unselfishness. There were no selfish plays. It was a matter of three very different styles and personalities coming together.

"Marcel was the kingpin, the superstar. He could do everything. Dave and I had great chemistry. He was a great skater who could work the corners, and I went hard to the net."

Sometimes playing on a great line is easier than it looks.

"I had one rule," Simmer says. "I only touched the puck in the offensive zone." --C.S.

Drawing the lines

They may be few, but they're mighty. Today's NHL has a limited number of lines that have stayed together for most of the season, but they are their team's No. 1 three-man unit.

Thrashers: Donald Audette-Ray Ferraro-Andrew Brunette.

Devils: Petr Sykora-Jason Arnott-Patrik Elias.

Senators: Magnus Arvedson-Radek Bonk-Marian Hossa.

Penguins: Jaromir Jagr-Mario Lemieux-Jan Hrdina.

Blues: Scott Young-Pierre Turgeon-Dallas Drake.

Chris Stevenson is a correspondent for THE SPORTING NEWS online and covers hockey for SLAM! Sports.

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