List of Ice Hockey Line Nicknames - Current, Short-lived And/or Novelty Lines

Current, Short-lived And/or Novelty Lines

  • "The 7-8-9 Line" (La ligne 7-8-9)—Quebec Nordiques—Robbie Ftorek, Marc Tardif, Real Cloutier, first few seasons after the Nordiques joined the NHL.
  • "The Two Kids & An Old Goat line"—Detroit Red Wings—Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Brett Hull, originally with Boyd Devereaux in place of Zetterberg. Third incarnation appeared in 2012 season with Justin Abdelkader, Darren Helm, and Todd Bertuzzi.
  • "The 700 Pound line"—Boston Bruins—Joe Thornton, Glen Murray, Mike Knuble
  • "The A Line"—New Jersey Devils—Patrik Elias, Jason Arnott, and Petr Sykora
  • "The ABC line"—Chicago Blackhawks—Tyler Arnason, Mark Bell, and Kyle Calder
  • "The American Express Line" —Vancouver Canucks (2011-)—David Booth, Ryan Kesler, and Chris Higgins; a reference to all line mates being American born, also a reference to the earlier West Coast Express line and the charge card of the same name.
  • "The Ash Line"—New York Islanders—Arron Asham, Alexei Yashin, Oleg Kvasha; after the common string "ash" in their last names
  • "The Bay Street Bullies"—Toronto Maple Leafs—Shayne Corson, Darcy Tucker, Gary Roberts
  • "The BBC line"—Carolina Hurricanes (2000s)—Bates Battaglia, Rod Brind'Amour, Erik Cole
  • "The Big Line"—Minnesota Wild (2000s)—Brian Rolston, Pavol Demitra, Marian Gaborik; Line consisting of the Wild's top scorers, though rarely play together, hence the "Big" line.
  • "The BOZ line"—Toronto Maple Leafs—Bill Berg, Mark Osborne, Peter Zezel
  • "The Brothers Line"—Vancouver Canucks (2000s)—Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin, Anson Carter; the Sedins are the only twins picked one right after the other (Daniel went second and Henrik third in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft), and Carter is black and is known as "Soul Brother".
  • "The Bulldog Line"—New York Rangers—Steve Vickers, Walt Tkaczuk, Bill Fairbairn
  • "The Burger Line"—San Jose Sharks—Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley, Patrick Marleau — an online poll conducted by Sharks play-by-play announcer Randy Hahn resulted in the nickname Jumbo Heated Patty, or The Burger Line. (Also known as the HTMLine, from the initials of their last names.) With the addition of defensemen Dan Boyle and Marc-Edouard Vlasic, also of the Sharks, The Hockey News dubbed them "Boiled Jumbo Heated Patty with Pickles."
  • "The CASH line", "The Pizza Line" - Ottawa Senators Line - Jason Spezza, Dany Heatley, Daniel Alfredsson; named CASH line for the initials of the players and the Scotiabank Place arena, named Pizza Line for the fact then if the Senators scored 5 or more goals on home ice, everyone in attendance would win a free slice of pizza. The promotion was eventually changed to six or more goals.
  • "The CBGB Line"- New Jersey Devils (present) Ryan Carter, Steve Bernier, Stephen Gionta- Carter Bernier Gionta's Brother
  • "The Crash line"—New Jersey Devils—Mike Peluso, Bobby Holik, and Randy McKay
  • "CVS Line"—Hartford Whalers—Andrew Cassels, Pat Verbeek, Geoff Sanderson; Named for the first letter of each player's surname.
  • "Czech-mate line"—New York Rangers—Jan Hlavac left wing, Radek Dvorak right wing, and Petr Nedved center.
  • "Czechs-Mex line"—Edmonton Oilers—Raffi Torres, Petr Sykora and Ales Hemsky. (Named because the latter two are Czechs, and Torres is a Canadian of Hispanic descent.)
  • "The Dan Line"—Philadelphia Flyers—Dan Kordic (LW), Daniel Lacroix (C), and Scott Daniels (RW); Also known as "The Fighting Dans", obviously because they all had "Dan" involved with their name. They were a rough checking line for the Flyers in the 1996–97 season.
  • "The Deuces Wild Line"—Philadelphia Flyers—Simon Gagne, Peter Forsberg, and Mike Knuble; so named because they wear the uniform numbers 12, 21, and 22 respectively.
  • "The Dice Line"—Calgary Flames—Colin Patterson, Richard Kromm, and Carey Wilson; so named because their uniform numbers were 11, 22, and 33 respectively.
  • "The EGG line"—New Jersey Devils—Patrik Elias, Scott Gomez, and Brian Gionta. (The Devs had great success with this line, winning the Stanley Cup with them in the 2002–03 season.)
  • "The Finnish Sandwich"—Edmonton Oilers—Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, and Esa Tikkanen (Kurri and Tikkanen are Finns)
  • "The FLY line"—New York Rangers—Theo Fleury, Eric Lindros, and Mike York
  • "FTD Line" (They always delivered) —Hartford Whalers—Ron Francis, Sylvain Turgeon, Kevin Dineen
  • The "G Line"-Philadelphia Flyers (2011–12)—Claude Giroux, Jaromir Jagr, Scott Hartnell
  • The "GAS line"—Boston Bruins (2000s)—Bill Guerin, Jason Allison, Sergei Samsonov & New York Rangers (2011)— Marian Gaborik, Artem Anisimov, Derek Stepan
  • The "Greek God line"—Atlanta Thrashers—Eric Boulton, Jim Slater, and Chris Thorburn
  • "The Grumpy Old Men line"—Dallas Stars (2000–01)—Kirk Muller, John MacLean, and Mike Keane. The line was named for the veteran status each player had, and was a play on the film "Grumpy Old Men". Between them, they had 104 years and 5 Stanley Cup wins.
  • The GST Line-Winnipeg Jets (2011-Present)-Tanner Glass, Jim Slater, Chris Thorburn. The line's name comes from the last initial of each member's names (Glass, Slater, Thorburn), and is a pun on Canada's normally maligned Goods and Service Tax. The line's play has been said to be taxing on opponents.
  • The "Capital Punishment" Line—Ottawa Senators (late 1990s) -consisted of Alexei Yashin, Shawn McEachern, and Andreas Dackell, who were one of the NHL's highest scoring lines at that time.
  • "The Helicopter Line"—San Jose Sharks—Joe Pavelski, Kyle Wellwood, Torrey Mitchell. The reference to a helicopter is in opposition to an airplane, as the former has "no wings" and this line has no career left or right wings. Each person has predominately played their career as a center.
  • "The High Speed Line"—Philadelphia Flyers (Early 1980s) —Ray Allison, Ron Flockhart, Brian Propp
  • The "HMO Line"—New York Rangers (2005–06)—Ryan Hollweg, Dominic Moore, Jed Ortmeyer
  • "The Ikea Line" Vancouver Canucks (2000s)—Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin, Markus Naslund. Each person is from Sweden and refers to the IKEA company originating from Sweden
  • "The JAM Line"-Colorado Avalanche (2000s)-Joe Sakic, Alex Tanguay, Milan Hejduk. This line got its name because of the first letter of each players first name.
  • The "Kid Line" / "PPG Line"—Anaheim Ducks (2006–07)—Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Dustin Penner
  • "The Kid Line"-St. Louis Blues (2008–present)-David Perron, T.J. Oshie, Patrik Berglund. The line got its name because Oshie and Berglund were rookies in the 2008-09 season and Perron was only in his second year as an NHL player
  • "Kids and the Hall" Edmonton Oilers line of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jordan Eberle, and Taylor Hall; Named after the television show The Kids in the Hall, referencing the youth of Nugent-Hopkins (19) and Eberle (22), and Taylor Hall's last name. Also known as "Baby Oil".
  • "The KLS line"—Pittsburgh Penguins—Alexei Kovalev, Robert Lang, Martin Straka
  • "The LAPD Line"—Los Angeles Kings (2001–2002)— Jason Allison, Zigmund Palffy, Adam Deadmarsh
  • "The LSD Line"-Cincinnati Stingers (WHA) (1977–78)--Rich Leduc, Dennis Sobchuk, Rick Dudley. This line got its name from the first letter of each player's last name, and was clearly a play on the name of a popular recreational drug of the time
  • The Little White Russian line—Atlanta Thrashers (2008–2010)—Bryan Little, Todd White, and Slava Kozlov
  • "The Life Line"-Winnipeg Jets (1982) Brian Mullen, Paul MacLean and Dale Hawerchuk; also Vancouver Canucks - Geoff Courtnall, Cliff Ronning and Trevor Linden
  • "The Lord of the Rings Line"—Toronto Maple Leafs (2006)—Alexei Ponikarovsky, Kyle Wellwood, Nik Antropov. (Frodo and the Two Towers)
  • "The Lucky 7's Line"—New York Islanders (2001–2003)—Shawn Bates, Michael Peca, and Mark Parrish; highly productive line. Name coined by Islanders broadcaster John Weideman because each of the linemate's uniform numbers ended in a 7 (Bates 17, Peca 27, Parrish 37).
  • "Mac & the U.S.S.R."—Toronto Maple Leafs (2010–Present)—Clarke MacArthur, Mikhail Grabovski, and Nikolai Kulemin. Mac is in MacArthur and U.S.S.R. as Grabovski and Kulemin are of Russian ancestry. Play on The Beatles song Back in the U.S.S.R..
  • "The Maginot Line"—Buffalo Sabres (2004)—J.P. Dumont, Danny Briere, Jochen Hecht; Two French Canadians and a German from the border city of Buffalo.
  • The "Masterton line"—Anaheim Ducks (2010—present)—Jason Blake, Saku Koivu, Teemu Selänne; each has been awarded the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy
  • "The Mattress line"—Vancouver Canucks—Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, and Jason King; the Sedins are twin brothers, so together the line was two twins and a king.
  • "The Minnesota Line"—Philadelphia Flyers—Shjon Podein (LW), Joel Otto (C), Trent Klatt (RW); the three players are all from Minnesota and were known for their tenacious defensive play as the Flyers made the Stanley Cup Finals in 1997
  • "The Merlot Line"—Boston Bruins—Shawn Thornton (LW), Gregory Campbell (C), Daniel Paille (RW); Boston's 4th line, who wear a merlot-colored practice jersey and prefer not to be referred to as a "4th" line.
  • "Monty Babcock's Flying Circus"—Detroit Red Wings (2006–present)—Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Tomas Holmstrom; named arose from a line naming contest on a popular hockey website.
  • "The MVP line"—Tampa Bay Lightning (2006)—Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier, Vaclav Prospal; stands for Marty, Vinny, and Prospal, also Martin St. Louis won the Hart memorial trophy as league MVP in 2004 and Vincent Lecavalier was nominated for the Lester B. Pearson award in 2007.
  • "The 'OMG' Line"—Phoenix Coyotes—Oleg Saprykin, Mike Zigomanis, and Georges Laraque
  • ”The ‘OMG’ Line”—Calgary Flames—Olli Jokinen, David Moss, and Curtis Glencross; named for their names: The Olli, Moss and Glencross line
  • "The 'Ov' line"—San Jose Sharks—Johan Garpenlov, Igor Larionov, and Sergei Makarov
  • "The PB&J (Peanut-Butter and Jelly) Line—Montreal Canadiens, Alexander Perezhogin, Radek Bonk, and Mike Johnson. All three players left the team in 2007 to Free Agency but they were a decent shutdown trio.
  • "The Ph.D. Line"—Montreal Canadiens (2010–2011)—Jeff Halpern (Princeton), Mathieu Darche (McGill), and Benoit Pouliot (school of hard knocks).
  • "The Plumbers"—Washington Capitals—Greg Adams, Craig Laughlin, Alan Haworth; named for their hard working efforts, and, of course, Richard Nixon's White House "plumbers"
  • "The Golden Triangle" line—Pittsburgh Penguins—Mario Lemieux (LW), Jaromir Jagr (RW), Ron Francis (C)
  • "RAV line"—Buffalo Sabres (2005–2009)—Thomas Vanek (LW), Derek Roy (C), Maxim Afinogenov (RW). Named for the initials of their surnames.
  • The Redemption Line—Philadelphia Flyers (2010–2011)—Danny Briere, Scott Hartnell, Ville Leino; formed during the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs and became the most potent line in the playoffs, Briere leading the league in points and Leino tying an NHL playoff rookie record for points; so named due to Briere having missed most of the 2008–09 season and having a subpar 2009–10 season, Hartnell's disappointing 2009–10 regular season, and Leino having largely been a healthy scratch since being acquired from Detroit up until late in the first round of the playoffs. Broken up after the 2010–11 season when Leino signed with the Buffalo Sabres as a free agent.
  • "The RPM Line"—Edmonton Oilers—Marty Reasoner (C), Fernando Pisani (RW), and Ethan Moreau (LW); after the players' surnames.
  • The SARS line – 2004 Eastern Conference All-Star Team – Mats Sundin (C), Daniel Alfredsson (RW), Gary Roberts (LW) ; after the players' surnames (SAR) and because of the SARS outbreak in Ontario in 2004
  • "The Sesame Street Line"—Philadelphia Flyers (1970s)—Dave Schultz (Grouch), Orest Kindrachuk (Oscar or Ernie), Don Saleski (Big Bird)
  • "The Shamrock Line"—New York Rangers (2006–07)— Brendan Shanahan (LW), Matt Cullen (C), and Ryan Callahan (RW); in reference to the strong Irish heritage held in each player, Sean Avery was used as center instead of Matt Cullen when the Rangers acquired him from the Los Angeles Kings.
  • The "Smurf Line"—Montreal Canadiens—Saku Koivu (C), Valeri Bure (LW) and Oleg Petrov (RW); after their relatively small height.
  • "The 'SOB' Line" Washington Capitals—Alexander Semin, Alex Ovechkin, and Nicklas Backstrom.
  • "The Skyline"—Toronto Maple Leafs—Joe Nieuwendyk (C), Nik Antropov (RW), and Alexei Ponikarovsky (LW) (Named because of each of the players is above average height; Nieuwendyk is 6-feet-2-inches, Ponikarovsky is 6' 4" and Antropov is 6' 6")
  • "The Slovakian Trio"—Minnesota Wild (2000s)—Branko Radivojevic, Pavol Demitra, Marian Gaborik; all come from Slovakian descent. Used early in the 2006–2007 regular and post-season. Also: The "Super Slovaks"; "The Trencin Trio"
  • The "S-MAC-K Line"—Anaheim Ducks—(2007)—Teemu Selanne, Andy McDonald and Chris Kunitz.
  • "The Sunrise Express"—Florida Panthers—(2008-)—Stephen Weiss, Nathan Horton, and David Booth; after the Panthers' home in Sunrise, Florida. Also referred to as "the Sunshine Express."
  • "The Swedish Connection"—Vancouver Canucks—Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, Markus Naslund; also "The Swedish Triple"; "IKEA line"; "Torpedo Line"
  • "The Special K Line" - Mighty Ducks of Anaheim - (1995) - Paul Kariya, Todd Krygier and Chad Kilger
  • "The Speed Team"—Columbus Blue Jackets—Manny Malhotra (C), Jason Chimera (LW), Dan Fritsche (RW).
  • "The Swedish Five"—Detroit Red Wings/Team Sweden Olympics 2006 (2000s)—Mikael Samuelsson (RW), Henrik Zetterberg (C), Tomas Holmstrom (LW), Niklas Kronwall (RD), and Nicklas Lidstrom (LD); all got points for team Sweden in the gold medal game. Also the first NHL line assembled with all Swedish players. Name is reminiscent of Russian Five.
  • The "Team USA Line"—St. Louis Blues—Keith Tkachuk (LW), Doug Weight (C), and Bill Guerin (RW); also "American Pie" line
  • "Two and a Half Men"—Montreal Canadiens—Max Pacioretty (LW), David Desharnais (C), and Erik Cole (RW). Named so because of the difference in size. While Cole and Pacioretty are 6' 2" (1.88 m), Desharnais stands just 5' 7" (1.70 m) tall.
  • The Two-Headed Monster—Pittsburgh Penguins—Sidney Crosby (C) paired with Evgeni Malkin (RW). Term coined by FSN Pittsburgh broadcasters Paul Steigerwald and Bob Errey.
  • The "United Nations Line"—Colorado Avalanche—Valeri Kamensky (Russian), Peter Forsberg (Swedish), Claude Lemieux (Canadian); also "Barrage-A-Trois"
  • "Vowel line"—Nashville Predators (2001–02)—Martin Erat (LW), Vladimir Orszagh (RW), Denis Arkhipov (C). Named for the first letter of each player's surname.
  • "VHS Line"—Phoenix Coyotes (2007)—Radim Vrbata (RW), Martin Hanzal (C), Fredrik Sjostrom (LW). Named for the first letter of each player's surname.
  • "The White Line"—Minnesota Wild (2006–07)—Brian Rolston (LW), Todd White (C), Pierre-Marc Bouchard (RW)
  • The "ZZ Pops" line New Jersey Devils (2007–present) – Zach Parise (LW), Travis Zajac (C), and Jamie Langenbrunner (RW) (Named because of the two young "Z"'s and Langenbrunner, being the seasoned veteran, is the "Pop". This is a play on the rock group ZZ Top
  • "The Blackhawk Down Line" Philadelphia Flyers – Jeremy Roenick, Tony Amonte, Alexei Zhamnov (all three are former Chicago Blackhawks)
  • The "HBO Line"—New York Rangers—Ryan Hollweg (LW), Blair Betts (C), and Colton Orr (RW). Named for the three players surnames, and is a play on HBO.
  • The "Steel City Line"—Pittsburgh Penguins—Ryan Malone (LW), Evgeni Malkin (C), and Petr Sykora (RW). Named because of the "Steel City" connection between Malkin and Sýkora, two former Metallurg Magnitogorsk (of the Russian Super League) teammates, and Pittsburgh native Malone.
  • The "RPM Line"—Colorado Avalanche (2007–2009)—Ryan Smyth (LW), Paul Stastny (C), Milan Hejduk (RW).
  • The "Peach Fuzz Line"—Boston Bruins (2008–2009)—Milan Lucic (LW), David Krejci (C), Phil Kessel (RW). So-called due to the young age of all three players (Lucic, 20; Kessel, 21; Krejci, 22).
  • The "Center City Line"—Philadelphia Flyers (2008–09)—Scott Hartnell (LW), Jeff Carter (C), Joffrey Lupul (RW). Named because all of the members live in Center City (Philadelphia)- also called "Wig Line" or "Hair Line" – referring to Scott Hartnell's hair & the resulting wig giveaway at a recent home game.
  • The "RPM Line" —Vancouver Canucks (2009)—Ryan Kesler (LW), Mats Sundin (C), Pavol Demitra (RW).
  • The 'SWAT' Line (SWT)—Toronto Maple Leafs (2000s)—Mats Sundin, Kyle Wellwood and Darcy Tucker. Named for their first initials.
  • "Two Blondes and a Brunette" (2B&B)—Minnesota Wild (2008–present)—Mikko Koivu (C), Antti Miettinen (RW), Andrew Brunette (LW). Named for Koivu and Miettinen's hair color and Brunette's last name.
  • The "SOS Line" - Los Angeles Kings (2011)-Brad Richardson, Kyle Clifford, Wayne Simmonds. During LA's 2011 playyoff run against the Sharks, "SOS" standing for "Save Our Season".
  • "The RPG Line" -Anaheim Ducks-(2009–present) Bobby Ryan, Corey Perry, and Ryan Getzlaf.
  • "The Munchkin Line" -Montreal Canadiens (2009)-Mike Cammalleri, Scott Gomez, Brian Gionta. Named for the small height of the trio (not one of them topping 5'10).
  • "The JET Line" - Carolina Hurricanes (2010–2011) - Rookie Jeff Skinner, Erik Cole, and Tuomo Ruutu. Named by Hurricanes TV play-by-play announcer John Forslund and the Caniacs after their first initials and their speed on the ice.

Read more about this topic:  List Of Ice Hockey Line Nicknames

Famous quotes containing the words novelty and/or lines:

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    Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)

    I struck the board, and cried, “No more.
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    What? Shall I ever sigh and pine?
    My lines and life are free; free as the road,
    Loose as the wind, as large as store.
    Shall I be still in suit?
    George Herbert (1593–1633)