I was chewing the hockey fat with my friend, Tom Blanciak, over a couple of beers at Pennsbury Station (formerly the Pennsbury Pub & Grille) the other night. During the course of our conversation, Tom mentioned that each of our Cup-winning teams boasted strong third lines. His astute observation got the wheels a turnin’. So Tom, this one’s for you.
1991 & ’92—Troy Loney (lw), Bryan Trottier (c), Jaromir Jagr (rw)
The Pens’ Cup winners of the early ‘90s were exceedingly deep and talented, boasting no fewer than seven Hall-of-Famers. Not to mention studs like Jagr, Tom Barrasso, Kevin Stevens and Rick Tocchet.
Just how deep were they? Scott Young, a speedy right wing of considerable promise (he’d go on to score 40 goals for St. Louis in 2000-01) often skated on the fourth line in ’90-91 and was a frequent healthy scratch. Rather than ride the pine the following season, he played in Italy and, briefly, for the U.S. National Team.
Jagr, a future five-time scoring champion and sure-fire Hall-of-Famer, arguably the second-greatest player in franchise history, saw mostly third-line duty. Although the Pens frequently juggled their line combinations, the preternatural Czech spent a considerable amount of time skating next to veterans Troy Loney and Bryan Trottier.
In many ways it was a classic combination. Tall and rugged, Loney served as the corner man and protector, doing the heavy lifting in the trenches and seeing to the defensive chores. The wily Trottier, also good defensively, was the setup man. Jagr provided the sizzle. While not physical in a hammer-and-tongs sense, all three waded into traffic and got their fingernails dirty.
The NHL didn’t keep advanced stats back in the day, so there’s no way to accurately quantify how the trio performed. However, after combining for eight goals during the ’91 Cup run (including three game winners), they exploded for 19 goals in ’92, 11 by Jagr. It should be noted that by the second round Jaromir had bumped up to the top six in the wake of injuries to Mario Lemieux and Joey Mullen.
Still, the line’s contributions shouldn’t be overlooked.
2009—Matt Cooke (lw), Jordan Staal (c), Tyler Kennedy (rw)
When Pens GM Ray Shero signed Matt Cooke in the summer of 2008, the final piece of what would become perhaps the finest third line in club history fell snuggly into place.
Along with Tyler Kennedy, a homegrown buzz-saw who possessed a bit of a scoring touch, the feisty left wing provided matching kamikaze bookends for Jordan Staal.
In many ways Staal was the anti-Derick Brassard, a player of top-six pedigree who willingly embraced a bottom-six role. A 20-year-old horse already in his third full NHL season, Jordan was emerging as the quintessential third-line center, improving on face-offs and already adept defensively. In addition, he was a scoring threat in his own right, topping 20 goals in two of his first three seasons to give the Pens incredible depth down the middle.
During the march to the ’09 Cup the trio combined for 10 goals, including a team-best three-game winners by Kennedy. Staal’s shorthanded goal in Game Four of the Final with the Pens trailing both the game and the series 2-1 was arguably the turning point.
For the next three seasons the trio was widely regarded as the best third line in hockey. Then Staal was traded to Carolina in 2012, triggering a drop-off for Cooke and especially Kennedy. Effectively ending their stays in the Steel City.
2016 & ‘17—Carl Hagelin (lw), Nick Bonino (c), Phil Kessel (rw)
Born out of equal parts necessity, inspiration and desperation, the HBK Line was formed in response to an injury to Evgeni Malkin in March 2016. Conventional wisdom suggested that Matt Cullen would slide between Carl Hagelin and Phil Kessel. But coach Mike Sullivan opted for Nick Bonino, who’d scored all of four goals.
“I think ‘Bones’ has some real good offensive instincts,” said the Pens’ coach.
Sully’s evaluation was prophetic. Almost from the moment they were united the trio made sweet music together. Hagelin, the speedy puck hound, contributed timely goals and crackerjack two-way play. Bonino supplied grit, smarts and a defensive conscience, as well as some surprising offense.
And Kessel? Given a line of his own, “the Thrill’s” extraordinary creativity and playmaking chops bubbled to the surface.
The trio propelled the Pens down the homestretch and kept right on ticking in the playoffs, pacing all NHL lines in postseason scoring with a combined 20 goals and 56 points.
And then? Pffft. The magic disappeared.
During the 2017 postseason, Kessel moved up to the second line with Malkin. They made a devastating pair, combining for 18 goals and 51 points. As for Bonino and Hagelin? The former’s most frequent linemates were Conor Sheary and Bryan Rust. Hagelin suffered a broken fibula on March 6. Although he returned for the second round of the playoffs, he potted only two postseason goals and wasn’t much of a factor.
Okay, so 2017 doesn’t quite fit the narrative. The exception to the rule.
What about the current third line? How does it stack up to the seminal combos of the past?
Although our ’22-23 line combinations are hardly set in stone, at first blush it would appear veteran Jeff Carter will anchor the third line, with Danton Heinen manning the portside and Kasperi Kapanen the starboard.
On the plus side, Heinen’s a good skater and does a terrific job of finding the openings and seams. An underrated finisher, too. With Carter employing the center drive on a regular basis and creating opportunities with his shoot-first mentality, in theory this has the potential to be a nice combination.
On the flip side of the coin? Given that Carter’s not much of a playmaker, I’m not sure how well he and Kapanen fit. The speedy winger did his best work skating beside Malkin, a slot that figures to be filled either by Rust or Rickard Rakell.
Another concern is defense, or lack of. Neither Carter, who slowed as the season progressed, nor Heinen are especially adept at goal prevention. And Heinen and Kapanen aren’t known for their puck retrieval work. Both operate better in open ice.
If Sullivan prefers a little more grit? He could bump Brock McGinn into Heinen’s slot. However, the “Brock Star” struggled at times offensively and had the worst Corsi among the regulars last season (46.07). Carter had the second-worst at 47.07. Not exactly a match made in puck-possession heaven.
No matter how you slice it, this unit doesn’t stack up to the classic combinations of the past.
So what does that say about our Cup chances?
You can draw your own conclusions.
Hey all.
I’m going to blow the whistle on myself here. I wrote that the Cooke-Staal-Kennedy trio was arguably the best third line in Penguins history, and it certainly ranks high on the list. But I’d overlooked the “Battleship” Kelly-Pierre Larouche-Chuck Arnason combo that scored 84 goals in 1974-75. Nearly as many as that team’s very potent first and second lines.
Unfortunately the line didn’t last very long. The following season Wren Blair traded Arnason, who had a blistering shot but struggled to get it on net consistently, to Kansas City. But for an all-too-brief time they were a terrific line.
Rick