The Production Line. The Triple Crown Line. The Trio Grande. The Punch Line. And, many more.
Introducing NHL94 All-time Greatest Lines!
NHL94 Alltime Greatest Lines.bin
All Time Greatest Lines Roster.zip
This ROM contains 18 historically famous, or reputable, NHL lines competing against each other for top billing. These are lines that teams used to score (so top line or 2nd line) and in some cases, were offensive juggernauts. It’s made up of the 3 forwards that made those lines notable. Further down is a list of all 18 teams and a brief summary of why they were selected.
MORE ABOUT THE ROM:
- This is was created using WBOY’s 30 team rom. It is 3v3.
- It has the weight bug fix applied to it.
- It has Clockwise's helmet/sprite patch AND the original goalie crease, faceoff circles and no trapezoid. It does have coaches on the bench, officials in the penalty box area and the new red goal light graphics. A little of the old and a little of the new. NOTE: If you apply the helmet/sprite patch to any rom, it automatically assigns that rom the new/modern goalie crease and trapezoid. So, it had to be undone in this case. Special thanks to Jkline3 for his assistance.
- 16 famous NHL team lines spanning the 30s to the 00s. 2 special Olympic lines. The last 12 spots are “hidden”. Feel free to create and unhide teams of your own choosing if you want to do so.
- Unlike my other ROMs, there are no headshots/portraits for the NLC players. It is a lot of work to do the headshots or more importantly, find ones of older players that are useable. I didn’t have the time/energy/patience to do so. Generic graphics were used instead. Maybe one day, I’ll get around to adding some headshots and post it as a v2.
- There are 2 playoff bracket scenarios.
- All skaters have a checking rating of 2 and aggression of 0. Hits and PIMs weren't tracked, stats wise, until the 90s/00s, so I didn't want to have to do much guessing. Furthermore, this reduces hits (in the game) which makes sense in 3v3 gameplay. It also greatly reduces penalties, on average. I also gave each team an Offensive rating of 5 and a defensive rating of 2. You’ll see more North/South play with more breakaway chances. Each goalie has a rebound control of 4 so as to help them out as they won't have Dmen support.
- It is set/defaulted to no line changes.
- Penalties, by default, are turned off. If enabled and there is a penalty, there will be 1 minute of 3-on-2 play. If you take two penalties, within that minute, it becomes 3-on-1. If you play with penalties ON, I recommend with line changes turned ON. Each team's extra 2 forwards make up the PK units which helps avoid a 3-on-1 PP.
- Period lengths are either 3, 5, 7 and 10 minutes (by choice). There is a 10 minute OT.
CRITERIA FOR TEAMS SELECTED:
- Further down is a list of all 18 teams (16 NHL and 2 Olympic) and a brief summary of why they were selected. Years chosen, for each team, is based on the linemates success together, not the team’s success. If the team won the Cup (or gold medal) that year… even better. The lines had to be offensive in nature. No grind or tough guy lines. No shutdown lines that don’t score.
- The lines had to have a nickname thus helping making it known/famous/legendary. Had to have played together, on the same line, for 2 or more seasons.
- Some notable lines were left out as I wanted to have 16 NHL teams that could be in the playoff bracket. There are actually two bracket scenarios.
THE PLAYERS - 5 Forwards per team. The 3 who make up the famous lines plus two additional in case of injuries or, if you wish to mix and match (should your line be having an off night).
- Player Attributes are based on the season, mentioned later in this post, of the line’s greatest offensive success.
- Like my modern era/current season ROMs, shot accuracy and pass accuracy are based on “per game” stats, not season % (as there is no season mode). Offensive awareness is based on points per game. JERSEYS AND LOGOS - While jersey layouts don't 100% mirror the actual versions, in several cases, the colors that I used are pretty close to the official team colors. I used two websites that provide official team RGB colors, per season, so that I could match them up (as much as possible) in NOSE. Helmets, are corrected due to the Clockwise patch.
- Home jerseys are white. Away, are dark. This didn’t change, for the NHL, until the 2003-04 season. That said, I made the 2005-06 Senators have a white home jersey to be consistent. Also, all white (home) jerseys have shoulder stripes/coloring as I felt it looked better for this ROM
- Team center ice and selection logos are the official team logos, for the year, of the team/line. KNOWN BUGS - Player cards freeze within the game due to the lack of Dmen on the teams. They do not on the team selection page.
- If you like to watch intermission other game highlights, there is a “ghost” player who appears at the home team’s 1st and 3rd period blue line (bottom right). It does nothing but stand still and players will skate through him. It is likely due to this ROM not having Dmen and a glitch formed.
Without further ado…
THE LINES/TEAMS
Boston Bruins
1939-40 “Kraut Line” Woody Dumart – Milt Schmidt – Bobby Bauer The nickname referenced the German descent of the three players, all of whom grew up in Kitchener, Ontario. This line finished first, second, and third in scoring during the 1939-1940 season, a feat repeated only once, by the 1944-1945 Punch line for Montreal (also included in this ROM). The trio played almost 1,900 NHL games with the Boston Bruins but put their careers on hold during WW II to serve in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Buffalo Sabres
1974-75 “French Connection”
Rick Martin – Gilbert Perreault – Rene Robert Three outstanding French Canadien players dazzled the upstart Sabres in the early years of the franchise. They were a mix of speed, finesse and sheer talent.
Chicago Blackhawks
1966-67 “Scooter Line” Doug Mohns – Stan Mikita – Ken Wharram While Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita put up astronomical numbers with the Blackhawks, they weren’t even linemates. Mikita centered the Scooter Line, with Wharram and a revolving winger (Ted Lindsay, who was replaced by Ab McDonald and later Mohns). ’67 was a peak year for this trio, especially Mikita who was playing his best seasons in the later half of the decade. This line was nicknamed for their speed.
Colorado Avalanche
2002-03 “AMP Line”
Alex Tanguay – Peter Forsberg – Milan Hejduk Played together during the 2001 & 2003 seasons. This was Forsberg at his peak right before injuries started to settle in. In 2003, Forsberg led the league in points and Hejduk, led in goals. While Forsberg was out, after having his spleen removed during the 2001 season, Joe Sakic centered this line and had some success with it too – nicknamed the JAM Line. However, it’s greatest success came with Foppa centering it.
Detroit Red Wings
1951-52 “Production Line” Ted Lindsay – Sid Abel – Gordie Howe Arguable, one of the greatest if not the greatest lines in NHL history. guys could produce points with the same consistency as the then-booming Detroit automotive production lines.
Edmonton Oilers
1986-87 “Finnish Sandwich” Esa Tikkanen – Wayne Gretzky – Jari Kurri Wayne Gretzky could make any line productive. But when Jari Kurri and Esa Tikkanen, two Fins, flanked him, the entire line was unstoppable. A perfect balance of offensive and defensive awareness. And, the trio feature on the Title Page of this ROM.
Los Angeles Kings
1980-81 “Triple Crown Line” Charlie Simmer – Marcel Dionne – Dave Taylor This line, during the 1981 season accounted for 48% of the teams goals! That same season, they became the first trio to each score 100 points in the same NHL season. And that is with Charlie Simmer suffering a tragic season-ending injury and only playing in 65 games.
Montreal Canadiens
1944-45 “Punch Line” Toe Blake – Elmer Lach – Maurice “Rocket” Richard These guys, assembled by Habs head coach Dick Irvin, were known for their offensive punch. And maybe a little more if you got on the Rocket’s wrong side. During the 1945 season, they became the 2nd line in NHL history to finish first, second, and third in scoring.
New Jersey Devils
2000-01 “A Line”
Patrik Elias - Jason Arnott - Petr Sykora The A-Line had a multi-year run as the Devil’s dominant line and is likely the franchise’s most famous to ever take the ice. New York Islanders
1981-82 “Trio Grande”
Clark Gillies – Bryan Trottier – Mike Bossy
Also known as “Long Island Lighting Company” given how often they “lit the lamp!” Bossy was a pure sniper, Trottier was a playmaker and Gillies was a rugged, physical player who worked the corners. Together, they won 4 straight Stanley Cup Champions during the early 80s. New York Rangers
1971-72 “Goal-a-Game Line”
Vic Hadfield - Jean Ratelle - Rod Gilbert
Though they never won a Stanley Cup, they transformed the Rangers into contenders. As the nickname suggests, in the 1971-72 season, collectively, they averaged a goal per game while playing together. They are one of the best scoring lines in NHL history. Ottawa Senators
2005-06 “Pizza Line” Dany Heatley – Jason Spezza – Daniel Alfredsson
This trinity of Ottawa Senators earned many nicknames. The first, The Cash Line, was simply an acronym of the ‘C’ in ‘captain; and the initials of each player… Alfredsson, Spezza and Heatley. They were also known as the Capital Punishment Line for their filling the net and for being located in the capital of Canada. The third name, the Pizza Line, was due to a home promotion that rewarded all attending fans with a free slice of pizza from a local restaurant chain when the team scored five goals or more. The team scored five or more at home 10 times out of 41 regular season games in 2005-06. They did it five more times the following season. Guess which three forwards had something to do with that... Philadelphia Flyers
1975-76 “LCB Line”
Reggie Leach – Bobby Clarke – Bill Barber
Named for the first letters of their last names. In 1975-76, the line notched 141 goals (Leach 61, Clarke 30, Barber 50), setting an NHL record for goals by a single line. Pittsburgh Penguins
1992-93 “Sky Line” Kevin Stevens – Mario Lemieux – Jaromir Jagr Lemieux and Jagr were arguably the most electric duo of their era. Stevens gave them an added edge, striking fear into goalies every time they took the ice. In their first two seasons, they led the Pens to back-to-back Stanley Cups. This was Lemieux in his prime. Due to an injury, he only played 60 games in the 1992-93 season. He still finished with 69 goals and 160 points. Wow! Toronto Maple Leafs
1931-32 “Kid Line” Harvey “Busher” Jackson – Joe Primeau – Charlie Conacher Maple Leafs head coach, Conn Smythe, arranged the Kid Line when his team moved into the historic Maple Leaf Gardens in 1931. Conacher, 23, was joined by the two 18 year olds and the line was an instant hit, delivering the franchise’s third Stanley Cup. The Leafs made it to four Stanley Cup Finals in the next six seasons, but failed to win it again. Individually, Conacher led the league in scoring twice and Jackson led the league in scoring once while they were members of the Kid Line. All three players are members of the Hockey Hall of Fame. These three made up one of the NHL first superstar lines. Vancouver Canucks
2002-03 “Westcoast Express Line”
Markus Naslund – Brendan Morrison – Todd Bertuzzi One of the most dominating scoring lines of the early 2000s. A tough feat considering that was still part of the “dead puck era” of hockey. In 2002-03, they accounted for 45% of the teams goals.
Team USA
1980 “Coneheads Line”
“Buzz” Schneider – Mark Pavelich – John Harrington Part of the Miracle on Ice team that won gold at the 1980 Winter Olympics. USA head coach Herb Brooks felt the three played best together on the same line because all three grew up playing pickup games on ponds in the Iron Range of Northeast Minnesota. Named after the Saturday Night Live sketch because their style of play was considered "alien."
Team USSR
1980 “The Army Line”
Valeri Kharlamov – Vladimir Petrov – Boris Mikhailov One of best offensive lines ever, dominating international hockey for many years. While not (maybe) as prolific/talented as the Russian “KLM Line” of the 80s, they are a (very) close second. The line was part of an Olympic program that won 2 golds and a silver. Guess who was responsible for helping them get that silver.
If anyone notices a mistake, for a line or that particular year, please let me know.
Cheers!
