List of Ice Hockey Line Nicknames - Famous NHL Lines With Nicknames

Famous NHL Lines With Nicknames

• "The A Line"—New Jersey Devils (1999–2002)—Jason Arnott, Patrik Elias, and Petr Sykora; led the Devils to the Stanley Cup in 2000 and to the finals in 2001
• "The A Line/The Bread Line"—New York Rangers (1920s)—Frank Boucher, Bill Cook, and Bun Cook; a reference to "Bun" Cook's nickname
• "The AMP Line"—Colorado Avalanche (2000—2004)—Alex Tanguay, Milan Hejduk, and Peter Forsberg. An acronym for Alex Milan Peter that led the Avalanche to a President's Trophy and Stanley Cup in 2001.
• "The Banana Line"—New York Islanders (1978–1980s)—John Tonelli, Wayne Merrick, Bob Nystrom. Named because of the yellow bibs or jerseys the players wore during practice.
• "The Battery Line"—New York Rangers (2010–2012)—Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, Ryan Callahan. Named for the players initials, which recall the names of battery sizes: D-AA-C
• "The Brat Line"—Toronto Maple Leafs (late 1970s)—Tiger Williams, Jack Valiquette, and Pat Boutette
• The BOW Line—Boston Bruins (1963)—Johnny Bucyk, Murray Oliver, and Tommy Williams
• The CASH Line - Ottawa Senators (mid-to-late 2000s) Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza, Dany Heatley. The name was an acronym of Captain Alfredsson Spezza Heatley. Also known as the 'Capital Punishment Line' for their high scoring and the team being in the capital of Canada. It was also known as 'The Pizza Line' because a local pizza franchise would give away a free slice of pizza to a ticketstub holder from the home game if the Senators scored five goals or more, and so this trio thereby provided many slices for Ottawans. All three were named to the 2009 NHL All-Star game, a feat last achieved in 1980s with the "Triple Crown" line.
• "The Century Line"—Pittsburgh Penguins (1972–76)—Syl Apps Jr., Lowell MacDonald, and Jean Pronovost; also known as "The Bicentennial Line"; scored 100+ goals and 200+ points for 4 straight seasons
• "The Clydesdale Line"—Chicago Blackhawks (1984–1987)—Curt Fraser, Troy Murray, and Ed Olczyk; each player weighed in at or around 200 pounds. NHL players weighing in excess of 200 pounds was rare in those days.
• "The Crash Line"—New Jersey Devils (mid-1990s)—Bobby Holik, Randy McKay, and Mike Peluso: average weight of linemates was 215 pounds
• "The Crazy Eights Line"; Philadelphia Flyers (1990s) Eric Lindros, Mark Recchi, and Brent Fedyk – wore jersey numbers 88, 8 and 18, respectively
• "The Dynamite Line"—Boston Bruins (1928–33) Cooney Weiland, Dutch Gainor, and Dit Clapper
• "The Dynasty Line"—Montreal Canadiens (1970s)—Guy Lafleur, Jacques Lemaire, and Steve Shutt; also with Peter Mahovlich in place of Lemaire; bonus fact: Shutt once called the Lafleur/Mahovlich/Shutt Line the "Donut Line" (because it had no centre)
• "The ESP Line" New Jersey Devils (2011-12)-Patrik Elias, Petr Sykora, and Zach Parise; named for each of the players' last names, but also a play on ESP, or extrasensory perception.
• "The Espo Line" Boston Bruins (1967–75)—Wayne Cashman, Phil Esposito, and Ken Hodge; also known as "The Nitro Line"; and "The Dogs of War Line"
• "The Firing Line" Pittsburgh Penguins (2011–Present)—Evgeni Malkin, James Neal and Chris Kunitz the Penguins top three scorers all on one line that season scoring approx 40% of the teams goals. also known as the "Strelki" which is Russian for shooters.
• "The Fly Line"—New York Rangers (2002)—Eric Lindros, Theo Fleury, and Mike York; the Rangers top three scorers that season.
• "The Flying Frenchmen"—Montreal Canadiens (1917–19)—Didier Pitre, Jack Laviolette, and Newsy Lalonde
• "The French Connection"—Buffalo Sabres (1972–1979)—Gilbert Perreault, Rick Martin, and Rene Robert; made up of three French-Canadian players
• "The GAG Line" (Goal-a-Game Line) —New York Rangers (1964–75)—Jean Ratelle, Vic Hadfield, and Rod Gilbert; later dubbed the "TAG (Two-a-Game) Line"
• "The GEM Line"—Atlanta Flames (late 1970s) —Guy Chouinard, Eric Vail, and Bob MacMillan
• "The GEM Line"—Toronto Maple Leafs (late 1980s) —Gary Leeman, Ed Olczyk, and Mark Osborne
• "The Grind Line"—Detroit Red Wings (1990s)—Kirk Maltby, Kris Draper, and Darren McCarty; also with Joey Kocur in place of McCarty
• "The HEM Line"—Toronto Maple Leafs (1960s)—Billy Harris, Gerry Ehman, and Frank Mahovlich
• "The Hound Line"—Toronto Maple Leafs (1980s)—Wendel Clark, Russ Courtnall, and Gary Leeman – all three had played for the Notre Dame Hounds
• "The HTML Line"—San Jose Sharks (2010)—Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, and Dany Heatley; a reference to the players' surnames, as well as the tech industry in the Bay Area.
• "Hull & Oates"—St. Louis Blues (1990s)—Brett Hull and Adam Oates. A play on the musical duo Hall & Oates.
• "The HUM Line"—Detroit Red Wings (1960s)—Paul Henderson, Norm Ullman, and Bruce MacGregor
• "The KHL Line"—Boston Bruins (2010–present)—Milan Lucic, David Krejci, and Nathan Horton
• "The Kid line"—Toronto Maple Leafs (1929–36)—Charlie Conacher, Joe Primeau, and Busher Jackson
• "The Kraut Line"—Boston Bruins (1936–42, 1945–47) —Milt Schmidt, Woody Dumart and Bobby Bauer; all three players were born in Kitchener, Ontario, which was called Berlin before World War I, and whose citizens are mainly of German descent
• "The LCB Line"—Philadelphia Flyers (1970s)—Reggie Leach, Bobby Clarke, and Bill Barber; after the initials of the players' surnames
• "The Legion of Doom"—Philadelphia Flyers (1994–97)—Eric Lindros, John LeClair and Mikael Renberg
• "The Long Island Lightning Company"—New York Islanders (1975-77)—Billy Harris, Clark Gillies and Bryan Trottier; after Long Island Lighting Company, the local utility company (because they caused the goal light to go on so often)
• "The MAD Line"—Toronto Maple Leafs (2002–04)—Mats Sundin, Alexander Mogilny, and Darcy Tucker
• "The Mafia Line"—New York Rangers (late 1970s) —Don Maloney, Phil Esposito, and Don Murdoch. Nicknamed for a "Godfather" (Esposito) with two "Don's".
• "The Mattress Line"—Vancouver Canucks (2003–04)—Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, and Jason King; after mattress sizes: "Two twins and a king."
• "The Million Dollar Line"—Chicago Blackhawks (1950s–60s)—Bobby Hull, Murray Balfour, Bill Hay. also known as "The Million Dollar Babies"
• "The MPH Line"—Chicago Black Hawks (1960s)—Pit Martin, Jim Pappin, and Dennis Hull; after the initials of the players' surnames; it also stands for "miles per hour", a unit of speed
• "The Olympic Line"—Winnipeg Jets (1992–96)—Teemu Selanne, Alexei Zhamnov, and Keith Tkachuk. Named because each member was an olympian: Selanne Finn, Tkachuk American, and Zhamnov from Russia.
• "The Option Line"—Pittsburgh Penguins (1990–91)—John Cullen, Mark Recchi, and Kevin Stevens; the line came together when all three players were in the option year of their respective contracts
• "The Pappy Line"—Chicago Black Hawks (1958–1959)—Ed Litzenberger, Tod Sloan, Ted Lindsay From the ages of the players especially Sloan & lindsay. The top scoring line of '58–'59.
• "The Party Line"—Chicago Black Hawks (1980s)—Denis Savard, Al Secord, and Steve Larmer
• "The Pony Line"—Chicago Black Hawks (1945–48)—Max Bentley, Doug Bentley, Bill Mosienko
• "The Production Line"—Detroit Red Wings (1947–52)—Sid Abel, Gordie Howe, Ted Lindsay, later with Alex Delvecchio; because they were such productive scorers, also a pun that references the booming automotive industry in the Detroit area.
• "The Production Line II"—Detroit Red Wings (1960s)—Alex Delvecchio, Gordie Howe, Frank Mahovlich
• "The Punch Line"—Montreal Canadiens (1943–48)—Hector "Toe" Blake, Elmer Lach and Maurice "Rocket" Richard
• "The Russian Five"—Detroit Red Wings (1990s)—Sergei Fedorov, Igor Larionov, Vyacheslav Kozlov, Vladimir Konstantinov, and Viacheslav Fetisov; also known as the "Red Army"
• "The S Line"—Montreal Maroons (1920s)—Nels Stewart, Babe Siebert, Hooley Smith; after the common initial "S" of the players' surnames
• "The Scooter Line"—Chicago Black Hawks (1960s)—Doug Mohns, Stan Mikita, Kenny Wharram
• "The Sky Line"—Pittsburgh Penguins (1990s)—Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, and Kevin Stevens
• "The Slovak Pack"—St. Louis Blues 1999–2000—Pavol Demitra, Michal Handzus, and Lubos Bartecko
• "The Speedball Line"—Montreal Canadiens (1927–34, 1937) —Howie Morenz, Aurel Joliat, Johnny "Black Cat" Gagnon—an intelligent play on words that refers to the speed (more Morenz and Joliat) and cleverness (more Gagnon) of its members
• "The Stastny Brothers'" —Quebec Nordiques (1980s) - Peter Stastny, Anton Stastny and Marian Stastny
• "The Swedish Five" —Detroit Red Wings (2000s)- Nicklas Lidstrom, Niklas Kronwall, Henrik Zetterberg, Mikael Samuelsson, and Tomas Holmstrom. All five represented the Red Wings at 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, with Kronwall, Lidstrom, and Zetterberg scoring all of Team Sweden's goals against Finland in the gold medal game. Also, in the final game, Lidstrom, Zetterberg, Kronwall, and Samuelsson all accounted for five points between themselves.
• "The Trio Grande"—New York Islanders (1977–1980s)—Clark Gillies, Bryan Trottier, and Mike Bossy - in five seasons as full-time linemates from 1977-82, combined for 668 goals and 1498 points
• "The Triple Crown Line"—Los Angeles Kings (1970s–80s)—Dave Taylor, Charlie Simmer and Marcel Dionne; a reference to the Kings' logo, which features a crown; this was the first line in NHL history where each player scored 100 points or more in the same season (1980–81).
• "The Two and a Half Men Line"—Montreal Canadiens (2011-present)—Erik Cole, Max Pacioretty, David Desharnais. The Canadiens' top three point leaders during the 2011-2012 season scoring approximately 40.6% of the teams goals (named after the popular TV show of the same name in reference to Desharnais' comparatively short stature).
• "The Uke Line"—Boston Bruins (1957–61)—Bronco Horvath, Johnny Bucyk, Vic Stasiuk; referring to the players' Ukrainian ancestry
• "The West Coast Express"—Vancouver Canucks (2000–2006)—Markus Naslund, Brendan Morrison, and Todd Bertuzzi; reference to local commuter rail service of the same name
• "ZZ Pops" New Jersey Devils line of Zach Parise, Travis Zajac and Jamie Langenbrunner; so named for the first initial of Parise's first name, first initial of Zajac's last name, and the fact that Langenbrunner was considerably older than the other two.