Back for more! Don't fret, the wonderful people at www.bleacherreport.com have much more to contribute! This time, they're telling us who the NHL's ten best Offensive lines are.
There weren't too many surprises, but a few combinations on the list did catch my eye.
Starting off at number 10 was the Crosby-Guerin-Kunitz line. OK, fair enough.
Number 9 was the trio of Parise-Langenbrunner-Zajac over in New Jersey. I can see that.
However, the number 8 combination seemed a little suspect. This was the trio in Philadelphia consisting of Richards-Briere-Gagne. I can't seem to find that line anywhere. Oh, wait. Is that it, about halfway down the list? Wow, those guys must be amazing. The 8th best line in hockey in terms of potential production this season, and they only play together 1.05% of the time(Up to this point)! Now that's what I call production!
Amazingly, that isn't the only combination on this list that doesn't even play together. The number 7 combo of Lecavalier-St. Louis-Tanguay has played together 5.02% of the time(again, at this point in the season). The number 6 combo of Sharp-Kane-Toews hardly sees time together, as it's normally Sharp-Toews-Versteeg and Kane-Bolland-Byfuglien. The number 5 combo of Bourque-Jokinen-Iginla hardly exists either, as Bourque is often paired with Dawes and Langkow, and Iginla and Jokinen typically skate with Moss.
But the worst part of it all is the NUMBER ONE COMBINATION of Ovechkin-Backstrom-Knuble. I understand that this may end up being the top line for Washington at some point this season, but so far, they have played together 0.23% of the time. LESS THAN ONE QUARTER OF ONE PERCENT OF THE TIME. How in the world can anybody possibly decide that this is the best line in hockey when they haven't even played together? That'd be like saying the line of Crosby-Iginla-Heatley was the best line for team Canada in the 2010 olympics. It might be! It's possible! But it hasn't even happened yet, and they might not even be linemates so how in the world can we say it is?!
Absolutely unbelievable.
I'm assuming Malts-Drapes-Abdelkader is 2nd.
ReplyDeleteThing is, this guy was SO CLOSE to being right. Ovechkin and Backstrom have been skating 5-on-5 wit Semin. Yikes.