User:FutureNJGov/nicknames

The three forwards – the centre, right wing and left wing – operate as a unit called a line. The tradition of naming the threesomes who compose the hockey teams' lines of attack extends back to the 1920s when Bun Cook, Frank Boucher and Bill Cook of the New York Rangers formed the A Line (named after the A Train, which ran under Madison Square Garden).

Famous NHL lines with nicknames

 * "The A line/The Bread line" &mdash; New York Rangers (1920s) &mdash; Frank Boucher, Bill & Bun Cook; a reference to "Bun" Cook's nickname
 * The BOW Line &mdash; Boston Bruins (1963) &mdash; Johnny Bucyk, Murray Oliver, and Tommy Williams
 * "The Clydesdale Line" &mdash; Chicago Blackhawks (1984–1987) &mdash; 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 Dynamite line" &mdash; Boston Bruins (1928–33) Cooney Weiland, Dutch Gainor, Dit Clapper
 * "The Fly line" &mdash; New York Rangers (2002) &mdash; Eric Lindros, Theo Fleury and Mike York; the Rangers top three scorers that season.
 * "The Flying Frenchmen" &mdash; Montreal Canadiens (1917–19) &mdash; Didier Pitre, Jack Laviolette, Newsy Lalonde
 * "The GEM line" &mdash; Atlanta Flames (late 1970s) &mdash; Guy Chouinard, Eric Vail and Bob MacMillan
 * "The GEM line" &mdash; Toronto Maple Leafs (late 1980s) &mdash; Gary Leeman, Ed Olczyk and Mark Osborne
 * "The HEM line" &mdash; Toronto Maple Leafs (1960s) &mdash; Billy Harris, Gerry Ehman, and Frank Mahovlich
 * "The Hound line" &mdash; Toronto Maple Leafs (1980s) &mdash; Wendel Clark, Russ Courtnall, and Gary Leeman – all three had played for the Notre Dame Hounds
 * "The HUM line" &mdash; Detroit Red Wings (1960s) &mdash; Paul Henderson, Norm Ullman, and Bruce MacGregor
 * "The Kid line" &mdash; Toronto Maple Leafs (1929–36) &mdash; Charlie Conacher, Joe Primeau, and Busher Jackson
 * "The LCB line" &mdash; Philadelphia Flyers (1970s) &mdash; Reggie Leach, Bobby Clarke, and Bill Barber; after the initials of the players' surnames
 * "The Mad line" &mdash; Toronto Maple Leafs (2002–04) &mdash; Mats Sundin, Alexander Mogilny and Darcy Tucker
 * "The Mattress line" &mdash; Vancouver Canucks (2003–04) &mdash; Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin and Jason King; after mattress sizes, "Two twins and a king."
 * "The MPH line" &mdash; Chicago Black Hawks (1960s) &mdash; 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" &mdash; Winnipeg Jets (1992–96) &mdash; Teemu Selanne, Alexei Zhamnov, Keith Tkachuk. Named after each member's home country: Selanne is a Finn, Tkachuk is American, and Zhamnov from Russia.
 * "The Option Line" &mdash; Pittsburgh Penguins (1990–91) &mdash; 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 Russian Five" &mdash; Detroit Red Wings (1990s) &mdash; Sergei Fedorov, Igor Larionov, Vyacheslav Kozlov, Vladimir Konstantinov, and Viacheslav Fetisov; also known as the "Red Army"
 * "The S line" &mdash; Montreal Maroons (1920s) &mdash; Nels Stewart, Babe Siebert, Hooley Smith; after the common initial "S" of the players' surnames
 * "The Scooter line" &mdash; Chicago Black Hawks (1960s) &mdash; Doug Mohns, Stan Mikita, Ken Wharram
 * "The Sky line" &mdash; Pittsburgh Penguins (1990s) &mdash; Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, and Kevin Stevens
 * "The Slovak Pack" &mdash; St. Louis Blues 1999–2000 &mdash; Pavol Demitra, Michal Handzus, and Lubos Bartecko
 * "The Speedball Line" &mdash; Montreal Canadiens (1927–34, 1937) &mdash; Howie Morenz, Aurel Joliat, Johnny "Black Cat" Gagnon &mdash; an intelligent play on words that refers to the speed (more Morenz and Joliat) and cleverness (more Gagnon) of its members
 * "The Swedish Five" &mdash; 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 Uke line" &mdash; Boston Bruins (1957–64) &mdash; Bronco Horvath, Johnny Bucyk, Vic Stasiuk; referring to the players' Ukrainian ancestry
 * "The West Coast Express" &mdash; Vancouver Canucks (2000–2006) &mdash; Markus Naslund, Brendan Morrison, and Todd Bertuzzi; reference to local commuter rail service of the same name

Famous non-NHL lines with nicknames

 * "The DDT Line" &mdash; Ice hockey at the 2003 World Championships, 2004 World Championships, & 2004 World Cup of Hockey (for Canada) &mdash; Kris Draper, Shane Doan, Joe Thornton; after the initials of the players' surnames
 * "The KLM line" &mdash; Soviet national ice hockey team (1980s) &mdash; Vladimir Krutov, Igor Larionov, Sergei Makarov; after the initials of the players' surnames; also known as "The Green Line" because they wore green jerseys in practice.
 * "Les Trois Denis" &mdash; Montreal Juniors (late 1970s) &mdash; Denis Cyr, Denis Tremblay, Denis Savard; A line that featured three players who all were named Denis, all were born on February 4, 1961, and all grew up in the same neighbourhood in Verdun, Quebec. Was dominant in the QMJHL for a couple of years.
 * "The Hanson Brothers"-; fictional checking line from the 1977 movie Slap Shot based on the real-life Carlson brothers.
 * "The Jönsson League" &mdash; Färjestad BK, Sweden (2000s) &mdash; Jörgen Jönsson, Peter Nordström, Pelle Prestberg and for a while instead of Prestberg, Hannes Hyvönen; Named after a serie of films with the same name.
 * "The Huey, Dewey, and Louie line" &mdash; Team Finland (1994-1995) &mdash; Ville Peltonen (LW), Saku Koivu (C) and Jere Lehtinen (RW; The lineup debuted in 1994 Winter Olympics and made an instant impact on Finnish National Team's play during the tournament. The lineup was later on used during 1995 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships, where Finland won their first ever Gold Medals. The play of the lineup gained international attraction and later on, the trio would go on and have a career in NHL with Koivu for Montreal Canadiens, Lehtinen for Dallas Stars and finally; Peltonen, gaining his spot in the NHL after a lengthy struggle, playing for San Jose Sharks, Nashville Predators and Florida Panthers.
 * The Goof Troupe - Brent Burns, Jeff Carter, Ryan Getzlaf

Current, short-lived and/or novelty lines

 * "The Bay Street Bullies" &mdash; Toronto Maple Leafs &mdash; Tie Domi, Darcy Tucker, Gary Roberts
 * "The BOZ line" &mdash; Toronto Maple Leafs &mdash; Bill Berg, Mark Osborne, Peter Zezel
 * "Czech-mate line" &mdash; New York Rangers &mdash; Jan Hlavac left wing, Radek Dvorak right wing, and Petr Nedved center.
 * "The Dan Line" &mdash; Philadelphia Flyers &mdash; Dan Kordic (LW), Daniel Lacroix (C), and Scott Daniels (RW); 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" &mdash; Philadelphia Flyers &mdash; Simon Gagné, Peter Forsberg, and Mike Knuble; so named because they wear the uniform numbers 12, 21, and 22 respectively.
 * "The Dice Line" &mdash; Calgary Flames &mdash; Colin Patterson, Richard Kromm, and Carey Wilson; so named because their uniform numbers were 11, 22, and 33 respectively.
 * "The Finnish Sandwich" &mdash; Edmonton Oilers &mdash; Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, and Esa Tikkanen (Kurri and Tikkanen are Finns)
 * "The FLY line" &mdash; New York Rangers &mdash; Theoren Fleury, Eric Lindros, and Mike York
 * "FTD Line" (They always delivered) &mdash; Hartford Whalers &mdash; Ron Francis, Sylvain Turgeon, Kevin Dineen
 * The "GAS line" &mdash; Boston Bruins (2000s) &mdash; Bill Guerin, Jason Allison, Sergei Samsonov
 * The "Greek God line" &mdash; Atlanta Thrashers &mdash; Eric Boulton, Jim Slater, and Chris Thorburn
 * "The Grumpy Old Men line" &mdash; Dallas Stars &mdash; 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 Stanely Cup rings.
 * "The High Speed Line" &mdash; Philadelphia Flyers (Early 1980s) &mdash; Ray Allison, Ron Flockhart, Brian Propp
 * The "HMO Line" &mdash; New York Rangers (2005–06) &mdash; Ryan Hollweg, Dominic Moore, Jed Ortmeyer
 * "The Ikea Line" Vancouver Canucks (2000s) &mdash; Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin, Markus Naslund. Each person is from Sweden and refers to the IKEA company originating from Sweden
 * The "Kid Line" / "PPG Line" &mdash; Anaheim Ducks (2006–07) &mdash; Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Dustin Penner
 * "The KLS line" &mdash; Pittsburgh Penguins &mdash; Alexei Kovalev, Robert Lang, Martin Straka
 * "The LAPD Line" &mdash; Los Angeles Kings (2001–2002)&mdash; Jason Allison, Ziggy Palffy, Adam Deadmarsh
 * The Little White Russian line &mdash; Atlanta Thrashers (2008–present) &mdash; Bryan Little, Todd White, and Slava Kozlov
 * "The Lord of the Rings Line" &mdash; Toronto Maple Leafs (2006) &mdash; Alexei Ponikarovsky, Kyle Wellwood, Nik Antropov. (Frodo and the Two Towers)
 * "The Lucky 7's Line" &mdash; New York Islanders (2001–2003) &mdash; Shawn Bates, Michael Peca, and Mark Parrish; highly productive line. Name coined by Islanders broadcaster Steve Mears because each of the linemate's uniform numbers ended in a 7 (Bates 17, Peca 27, Parrish 37).
 * "The Maginot Line" &mdash; Buffalo Sabres (2004) &mdash; Jean-Pierre Dumont, Danny Briere, Jochen Hecht; Two French Canadians and a German from the border city of Buffalo.
 * "The Mattress line" &mdash; Vancouver Canucks &mdash; Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, and Jason King; the Sedins are twin brothers, so together the line was two twins and a king.
 * "Monty Babcock's Flying Circus" &mdash; Detroit Red Wings (2006–present) &mdash; Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Tomas Holmstrom; named arose from a line naming contest on a popular hockey website.
 * "The 'NOS' Line" Washington Capitals &mdash; Niklas Backstrom, Alex Ovechkin, and Alexander Semin Named after a common name for Nitrous Oxide
 * "The 'OMG' Line" &mdash; Phoenix Coyotes &mdash; Oleg Saprykin, Mike Zigomanis, and Georges Laraque
 * "The 'Ov' line" &mdash; San Jose Sharks &mdash; Johan Garpenlöv, Igor Larionov, and Sergei Makarov
 * "The PB&J (Peanut-Butter and Jelly) Line &mdash; 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 Plumbers" &mdash; Washington Capitals &mdash; Greg Adams, Craig Laughlin, Alan Haworth; named for their hard working efforts, and, of course, Richard Nixon's White House "plumbers"
 * "The Power of the Pens" line &mdash; Pittsburgh Penguins &mdash; Mario Lemieux (C), Jaromir Jagr (RW), Ron Francis (LW)
 * "Price Club Line", Michigan Wolverines (2003–04) T.J. Hensick, Milan Gajic and Brandon Kaleniecki (because they score in bulk)
 * "RAV line" &mdash; Buffalo Sabres (2005–present) &mdash; Thomas Vanek (LW), Derek Roy (C), Maxim Afinogenov (RW). Named for the initials of their surnames.
 * "The RPM Line" &mdash; Edmonton Oilers &mdash; Marty Reasoner (C), Fernando Pisani (RW), and Ethan Moreau (LW); after the players' surnames.
 * "The Shamrock Line" &mdash; New York Rangers (2006–07)&mdash; 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” &mdash; Montreal Canadiens &mdash; Saku Koivu (C), Valeri Bure (LW) and Oleg Petrov (RW); after their relatively small height.
 * "The Skyline" &mdash; Toronto Maple Leafs &mdash; Joe Nieuwendyk (C), Nikolai 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-foot-4 and Antropov is 6-6)
 * "The Slovakian Trio" &mdash; Minnesota Wild (2000s) &mdash; Branko Radivojevic, Pavol Demitra, Marian Gáborík; 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" &mdash; Anaheim Ducks &mdash; (2007) &mdash; Teemu Selänne, Andy McDonald and Chris Kunitz.
 * "The Swedish Connection" &mdash; Vancouver Canucks &mdash; Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, Markus Naslund; also "The Swedish Triple"; “IKEA line”; "Torpedo Line"
 * "The Speed Team" &mdash; Columbus Blue Jackets &mdash; Manny Malhotra (C), Jason Chimera (LW), Dan Fritsche (RW).
 * "The Swedish Five" &mdash; Detroit Red Wings/Team Sweden Olympics 2006 (2000s) &mdash; Mikael Samuelsson (RW), Henrik Zetterberg (C), Tomas Holmström (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" &mdash; St. Louis Blues &mdash; Keith Tkachuk (LW), Doug Weight (C), and Bill Guerin (RW); also "American Pie" line
 * The Two-Headed Monster &mdash; Pittsburgh Penguins &mdash; Sidney Crosby (C) paired with Evgeni Malkin (RW). Term coined by FSN Pittsburgh broadcasters Paul Steigerwald and Bob Errey.
 * The “United Nations Line” &mdash; Colorado Avalanche &mdash; Valery Kamensky (Russian), Peter Forsberg (Swedish), Claude Lemieux (Canadian); also “Barrage-A-Trois”
 * "Vowel line" &mdash; Nashville Predators (2001-02) &mdash; Martin Erat (LW), Vladimir Orszagh (RW), Denis Arkhipov (C). Named for the first letter of each player's surname.
 * "The White Line" &mdash; Minnesota Wild (2006-07) &mdash; Brian Rolston (LW), Todd White (C), Pierre-Marc Bouchard (RW)
 * The "ZZ Pops" line New Jersey Devils (2007-present) – Zack 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 http://devils.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=498857
 * "The Blackhawk Down Line" Philadelphia Flyers – Jeremy Roenick, Tony Amonte, Alexei Zhamnov (all three are former Chicago Blackhawks)
 * The "HBO Line" &mdash; New York Rangers &mdash; Ryan Hollweg (LW), Blair Betts (C), and Colton Orr (RW). Named for the three players surnames, and is a play on HBO. http://www.newsday.com/blogs/sports/blue-notes-1.811976?month=0&year=2008
 * The "Steel City Line" &mdash; Pittsburgh Penguins &mdash; Ryan Malone (LW), Evgeni Malkin (C), and Petr Sykora (RW). Named because of the "Steel City" connection between Malkin and Sykora, two former Metallurg Magnitogorsk (of the Russian Super League) teammates, and Pittsburgh native Malone. Also called the "Syko-Ma-Ma" Line. http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/emptynetters/archive/2009/09/18/the-departed-petr-sykora-9-18-09.aspx
 * The "RPM Line" &mdash; Colorado Avalanche (2007-present) &mdash; Ryan Smyth (LW), Paul Stastny (C), Milan Hejduk (RW).
 * The "Peach Fuzz Line" &mdash; Boston Bruins (2008-present) &mdash; 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" &mdash; Philadelphia Flyers (2008-present) &mdash; 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" &mdash; Vancouver Canucks (2009-present) &mdash; Ryan Kesler (LW), Mats Sundin (C), Pavol Demitra (RW).
 * The 'SWAT' Line (SWT) &mdash; Toronto Maple Leafs (2000's) &mdash; Mats Sundin, Kyle Wellwood and Darcy Tucker. Named for their first initials.
 * "Two Blondes and a Brunette" &mdash; Minnesota Wild (2008-present) &mdash; Mikko Koivu (C), Antti Miettinen (RW), Andrew Brunette (LW). Named for Koivu and Miettinen's hair color and Brunette's last name.

Famous forward combinations without acknowledged nicknames

 * Dallas Stars (1990s) &mdash; Brett Hull, Mike Modano and Jere Lehtinen
 * Detroit Red Wings (1930s) &mdash; Herbie Lewis, Marty Barry and Larry Aurie
 * Los Angeles Kings &mdash; Wayne Gretzky, Tomas Sandström and Tony Granato
 * Mighty Ducks of Anaheim &mdash; Paul Kariya, Steve Rucchin and Teemu Selänne
 * Montreal Canadiens &mdash; Jean Béliveau, Dickie Moore and Bernie Geoffrion
 * New York Rangers &mdash; Adam Graves, Mark Messier and Alexei Kovalev
 * Pittsburgh Penguins &mdash; Mario Lemieux, Jaromír Jágr and Ron Francis (sometimes called the Great Line)
 * Toronto Maple Leafs &mdash; Lanny McDonald, Darryl Sittler and Errol Thompson
 * Winnipeg Jets (WHA) &mdash; Bobby Hull, Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson (sometimes called "the Hot Line")
 * Springfield Indians (AHL) &mdash; Joe Day, Yvon Corriveau and Dale Henry (sometimes known as the Piranhas)
 * Quebec Aces (QSHL) &mdash; Herb Carnegie, Ossie Carnegie and Manny McIntyre &mdash; the Black Aces.
 * Tampa Bay Lightning &mdash; Martin St. Louis, Brad Richards and Fredrik Modin
 * Team Finland (1998, 2004, 2006) Jere Lehtinen, Saku Koivu and Teemu Selänne
 * HPK (Finland, 2002-03) &mdash; Antti Miettinen (LW), Tommi Santala (C) and Eero Somervuori (RW)
 * HPK (Finland), 2000's) &mdash; Jukka Hentunen, Niko Kapanen and Timo Pärssinen (sometimes called "The Teletubby-line")