Ranking the NHL's Top 5 Lines for the 2023-24 Season
Piecing together a good line in the NHL is more than just sticking three talented players together and sending them onto the ice.
Those players need to develop a chemistry with one another, they need to have skills that complement those of the others and they need to produce results together.
When a team is fortunate enough to find a group that clicks in all of those areas, it can be a significant development and give their head coach the confidence that they can count on that trio to give them consistent production.
With that in mind, let's take a look at some of the best lines going in the NHL for the 2023-24 season.
But first, a few qualifying things:
- We are only looking at five-on-five play. Not power-play time. That is a separate animal.
- When it comes to the top-five rankings, we are looking for lines that have a track record beyond just the first month of this season, simply to remove any small-sample-size noise that might be happening.
- We are still going to include some new lines this season as honorable mentions that have gotten off to great starts.
So away we go.
Small-Sample-Size Honorable Mentions
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Alex DeBrincat, Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond (Detroit Red Wings)
Larkin and Raymond are cornerstone building blocks for the Red Wings and spent a considerable amount of time together a year ago. The only problem was the results were not always great when they did play together. The addition of DeBrincat, however, seems to have really sparked something for all of them.
As a trio, they have outscored teams by a 10-3 margin going into play Thursday, while they have averaged 6.24 goals per 60 minutes. They are simply lighting up the scoreboard both individually and as a group.
DeBrincat looks like he is on track for another 40-goal season, while Larkin looks poised for a potential career year offensively.
Frank Vatrano, Mason McTavish, Ryan Strome (Anaheim Ducks)
In an effort to reach the cap floor and get some veteran presence in their young, rebuilding lineup, the Ducks signed Vatrano and Strome to multiyear deals in free agency prior to the 2022-23 season and got some OK production from them, as both reached 41 points. Through the first month of this season, the Ducks seemed to have found the glue that can bring them together, and it is one of their recent first-round picks, Mason McTavish.
In 93 minutes of five-on-five action entering play Thursday, that trio had outscored teams by a 9-2 margin when on the ice together and averaged 5.8 goals per 60 minutes. McTavish looks like he is on his way to a breakout year.
Sam Reinhart, Aleksander Barkov, Evan Rodrigues (Florida Panthers)
No matter where he goes, Evan Rodrigues seems to make every line he plays for better. It is happening again here in Florida next to Reinhart and Barkov.
Entering play on Thursday, that line was not only averaging more than six goals per 60 minutes of five-on-five ice time, they had also not been on the ice for a single goal against, outscoring teams by a 7-0 margin. Barkov is one of the best two-way centers in hockey, and he has a great mix of offensive support (Reinhart) and two-way play (Rodrigues) around him.
Cam Atkinson, Sean Couturier, Owen Tippett (Philadelphia Flyers)
Given the amount of money they have invested in them, it would be pretty beneficial for the Flyers if Atkinson and Couturier—and especially Couturier, who carries a $7.75 million cap hit through 2029-30—could still be good NHL players.
The early returns this season, and for this line, are extremely promising.
Couturier in particular has been a huge surprise (eight points in 10 games) as he attempts to come back from a couple of lost campaigns due to injuries. This trio has been a huge bright spot for the Flyers early on and has provided a surprising amount of offense (4.93 goals per 60 minutes) while tilting the ice in their favor territorially.
5. Pittsburgh Penguins: Sidney Crosby, Bryan Rust, Jake Guentzel
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He might be in his late 30s. The team around him might have its share of problems when it comes to scoring depth and goaltending. But Pittsburgh Penguins legend Sidney Crosby still has it, and he still centers one of the league's most dangerous top lines between Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust.
They have had some defensive issues as a group early in the season, but they have enough of a track record to make you believe they are going to clean that up. Even with the occasional defensive mishaps, they are one of the most productive offensive lines in the league and doing what they can to try to drag a flawed team back to the playoffs.
Crosby and Guentzel have been regulars alongside each other since the latter arrived in the NHL early in the 2016-17 season and have developed an incredible chemistry. Guentzel might benefit from playing alongside Crosby, but he is by no means a passenger on that line.
A lot of talented players have spent a lot of time skating next to Crosby and never scored goals at the rate Guentzel has. There is something to be said for being able to finish those chances Crosby provides. They complement each other extremely well.
That trio has played more than 1,100 minutes together since the start of the 2021-22 season and averaged more than 3.2 goals per 60 minutes of five-on-five play.
4. Ottawa Senators: Brady Tkachuk, Claude Giroux, Tim Stutzle
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The Ottawa Senators might have their shortcomings at the bottom of the lineup and their question marks in goal—and their front office might be completely dysfunctional—but they do have one whale of a top six.
That includes the line of Brady Tkachuk, Claude Giroux and Tim Stutzle.
Tkachuk and Stutzle are centerpieces of the Senators rebuild after being selected with top-four picks in recent drafts, and both are off to sensational starts to their respective careers. They are already top-line producers and still have what should be their best days in front of them.
Giroux has been more of a surprise because when his time in Philadelphia ended, it looked like he might be starting to enter the twilight of his career. But his production has been rejuvenated in Ottawa, and he has been a sensational fit alongside the two young stars.
Among lines that played at least 400 minutes together last season, this trio was in the top 10 in expected goal share, total goal share and goals per 60 minutes, per Moneypuck.
Just a handful of games into this season, they are off to the exact same start.
3. Los Angeles Kings: Anze Kopitar, Adrian Kempe, Quinton Byfield
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This line might not get a ton of headlines, but the Los Angeles Kings trio of Anze Kopitar, Adrian Kempe and Quinton Byfield has been as good as any in hockey since the start of last season, and the numbers speak for themselves.
So let's talk about those numbers.
They played 475 minutes together last season during five-on-five play and outscored teams by a 31-11 margin. Among lines that played at least 400 minutes together, that goals share was tops in the league, per Moneypuck).
They also had an enormous territorial edge in terms of shot-attempt share, expected-goal share and scoring-chance share, and really started to click as a unit in the second half of the season.
Kopitar is one of the best two-way players of his era, and even as he gets into his mid- and late 30s is still capable of carrying a line and playing like a franchise center. Kempe has also blossomed over the past two years into a top-line scorer, netting 76 goals between the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons.
The presence of those two has also been a great way for Byfield, the No. 2 overall pick in 2020, to get a taste of top-line hockey and be put into a situation where he does not need to carry a line himself. His individual numbers might not be great at the moment, but he has fit in extremely well with the two veterans and given the Kings one of the NHL's elite lines.
2. Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Anybody Else
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Individually, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are two of the best offensive players in the world.
When paired together, whether during five-on-five play or on the power play, they become a hockey super-weapon that can light up the scoreboard to an absurd degree.
It does not even matter who the third member of that line is.
For most of the 2022-23 season and the start of this season, the third member of that group was Zach Hyman, helping form a trio that has been outstanding together. But no matter who it is that joins forces with them, the McDavid-Draisaitl duo is as dynamic and productive as any other line in hockey.
Since the start of the 2021-22 season, they have outscored teams 54-39 during five-on-five play and dominated every underlying metric.
When neither player is on the ice, the Oilers have been outscored 138-151.
1. Dallas Stars: Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz, Joe Pavelski
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This line has been a non-stop force for the Dallas Stars ever since it was first put together, and the numbers have been consistently dominant.
Since the start of the 2021-22 season, the trio of Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz and Joe Pavelski have played 1,615 minutes of five-on-five hockey together and been the focal point of the Stars' resurgence into a Stanley Cup contender.
During those minutes, the Stars have outscored teams by a 109-62 margin and have controlled more than 58 percent of the expected goals in those minutes. They have also had decisive edges in scoring chances and shot attempts and generally just been an offensive steamroller that nobody has been able to slow down.
Through the first month of the 2023-24 season, they are still rolling along.
Robertson has blossomed into one of the NHL's brightest young stars and most creative players, while Pavelski has only managed to get better as he gets older. Hintz is a perfect centerpiece for that unit and has been one of the league's most underrated players for a couple of years now.
They are not only wildly productive together, they are also incredibly fun to watch.
Advanced statistics via Natural Stat Trick unless otherwise noted.
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