Teams are always looking for the next French Connection or West Coast Express. Once players have success and chemistry playing together, it makes things so much easier for the coach. Here are some of the top lines in the West and a look at some interesting line combinations as well.

To put things in perspective the Boston Bruins line of Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand lead the league (100 minutes or more together) in shot share (shots for vs. shots against) at 66.5 percent, and Corsi at 66.2. Tom Wilson, Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov lead with 20 goals for while the line of Gustav Nyquist, Boone Jenner and Oliver Bjorkstrand have the distinction of allowing the most goals against with 12.

Anaheim – Troy Terry, Adam Henrique, Ryan Getzlaf

The line leads the Ducks in playing time with 144.1 minutes together so far. With eight goals for and only three against they're five goals in the black so far with no indication that they won't be able to sustain their success. The unit has outshot and out-chanced their opponents with 84 SF and 75 SA good for an SF% of 52.8 and 160 CF and 128 CA good for a CF% of 55.6. Getzlaf has been great in the faceoff circle winning 56.9 percent of his draws, while Henrique is a very capable backup (57.3).

Calgary – Matthew Tkachuk, Elias Lindholm, Johnny Gaudreau

This line has dominated so far with 18 GF and only two against, while their SF of 148 against their SA of 100 has accounted for 59.7 percent (first in the West) of the shot share in the 244.8 minutes this line has played. Their CF percentage of 59.9 is third in the NHL for lines over 100 minutes. Right now I would consider this the best line in the West.

Chicago – Patrick Kane, Alex DeBrincat, Kirby Dach

The line has seven goals for and four against while having a shot percentage of 49.1 and a CF percentage of 45.9. This might translate to less success moving forward for this unit with a few more goals given up. They have played together for 112.4 minutes.

Colorado – Mikko Rantanen, Gabriel Landeskog, Nazem Kadri

Everything Kadri has touched has turned to gold this season, including this line that has only played together 27.9 minutes but has produced six goals with zero against. Their shot share percentage is 58.8 and CF is 64.4, so they might be riding some skill and some good luck. It is nice to have a fallback for when Nathan MacKinnon is injured.

Colorado – Nathan MacKinnon, Nazem Kadri, Gabriel Landeskog

An interesting combination that has only been together for one minute this season, but has two shots for, two chances for and two goals for in that minute, with no shots, chances or goals against. You can't get much better than that.

Dallas – Jason Robertson, Joe Pavelski, Roope Hintz

This combination has played together the most of any Stars line so far at 132.5 minutes and has had success and is in good recent form. They have seven goals for and four against with a shot share percentage of 56 and a Corsi percentage of 56.9. The line is heating up and with it the production for all three.

Edmonton – Jesse Puljujarvi, Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl

The Oilers would prefer to spread the scoring out and have McDavid and Draisaitl on separate lines, but sometimes they need to power up the dynamic duo. This line has played together 109.4 minutes with 11 GF and five against while putting up a shot share of 56.1 percent and a Corsi percentage of 56.4. In recent games, Puljujarvi has been on the third line, but Dave Tippett has this line in his back pocket if needed.

Edmonton – Kailer Yamamoto, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Leon Draisaitl

This line has skated together for 165.1 minutes, which is most on the Oilers while producing 11 GF and five against. Their shot share is only 42.9 percent and their Corsi percentage is 45.5. The line is susceptible to being scored on more than they have, but have been fortunate so far. Expect some reversion with this unit.

Edmonton – Jesse Puljujarvi, Connor McDavid, Zach Hyman

This line has played together 143.6 minutes with seven goals for and two against. Their shot share has been 52.8 percent and their Corsi percentage is 57.1. This was the hope when the team signed Hyman, that they could get two very strong lines. So far so good. When you have a power-play as effective as the Oilers, it is imperative to have your offense still produce at even-strength, especially during the playoffs, when the whistles get put away. 

Los Angeles – (Adrian Kempe or Andreas Athanasiou), Alex Iafallo, Phillip Danault

The production is a bonus on this defensively responsible line with Kempe, Iafallo and Danault and they have delivered with six goals for and four against while posting a shot share of 60.5 and a Corsi percentage of 62.3 in 97 minutes of ice time.

If the coaches shuffle Andreas Athanasiou for Kempe, the line is still effective, which is what they had done recently. That line has four goals for and two against in 93.6 minutes with a 59.3 percentage of shots and a Corsi percentage of 52.2. Athanasiou is on the Covid list and will be out day-to-day.

Los Angeles – Blake Lizotte, Brendan Lemieux, Arthur Kaliyev

Not names we would normally associate with an effective line, but these three have been together for 85.9 minutes with six goals for and three against. Their shot share is 56.3 percent and their Corsi percentage is 53.3. With Lemieux possibly facing a suspension, the Kings might have to look for a replacement for one or two games.

Los Angeles – Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown, Viktor Arvidsson

These three have played together 113.5 minutes, which is the most on the Kings. They have four goals for and three against with a shot share of 58.6 percent and a Corsi percentage of 53.1. With Arvidsson back in the lineup, they haven't been put back together yet, but it is the most successful combination with Kopitar and Arvidsson.

Minnesota – Mats Zuccarello, Kirill Kaprizov, Kevin Fiala

When Fiala and Kaprizov play together good things come in small doses as the coaching staff would prefer to spread them out. In 9.1 minutes, this line has two goals for and none against, with a shot share of 100% (12-0) and a Corsi percentage of 88.9 (17-2). 9.1 minutes is a very small sample size for sure, but the line is something to keep an eye on.

Minnesota – Marcus Foligno, Kevin Fiala, Joel Eriksson Ek

This line is second in minutes on the Wild at only 74.8, which points out that the coaching staff likes to mix the lines a lot. This unit has five goals for and five against but a shot share of 59.8 and a Corsi percentage of 63.2. They should be more positive in plus/minus than they are. This line has not been together recently.

Nashville – Mikael Granlund, Filip Forsberg, Matt Duchene

This line has been together 76.5 minutes and has seven goals with two against. Their shot share has been 56.3 percent and their Corsi percentage has been 57.9. It has been the most consistent line for the Predators.

San Jose – Timo Meier, Jonathan Dahlen, Logan Couture

With Dahlen being injured, the coaches will be anxious to have him back as this line played together 122.3 minutes and had 12 goals with only three against. Their shot share was 56.1 percent and their Corsi percentage was 51. Rudolfs Balcers has been effective but not nearly as much as Dahlen with three goals for and two against in 40.6 minutes.

St. Louis – Robert Thomas, Vladimir Tarasenko, Pavel Buchnevich

This line has been together for only 57 minutes and has six goals and one against with a shot share of 65.7 percent and a Corsi percentage of 58.7. They have dominated. There is a huge swing with Buchnevich instead of Barbashev as that line has played 126.1 minutes and had six goals for and nine against with a shot share of 43.8 and a Corsi percentage of 43.4. It seems an easy choice moving forward.

Vancouver – Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller, Brock Boeser

Sometimes coaches in the NHL can overcoach and I think that is the case in Vancouver with Travis Green. This line has been together for a few years and had enough success to get a line name of Lotto 649. This year things haven't gone well for the team or this line, but it hasn't been as dire as one would think.

The line has been together 100.7 minutes which pales in comparison to prior years. They have only produced two goals but surprisingly have only given up one. Their shot share is positive at 51.6 percent and their Corsi percentage is 56.5. These are not stats that are hurting the team other than not producing offense. By trying to spread out the offense, Green has sabotaged a proven line and created two lines that are not effective.

Vegas – Reilly Smith, Nicolas Roy, Jonathan Marchessault

This line has been together 77.9 minutes and has eight goals for and two against with a shot share of 59.3 and a Corsi percentage of 55. When the Golden Knights have replaced Roy with William Karlsson, that line played together 97.5 minutes and had five goals but eight against, with a shot share of 53.8 percent and a Corsi percentage of 52.6. Roy might have earned himself more ice time even when Karlsson returns from injury.

Winnipeg – Evgeny Svechnikov, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Kyle Connor

Svechnikov has been a pleasant surprise for the Jets and has fit in well on this line. These three have played together 137.6 minutes (which leads the Jets) and have had six goals for and four against with a shot share of 54.1 percent and a Corsi percentage of 54.4.

Chemistry comes and goes for lines and good coaches will recognize when to juggle lines and when to reunite all three players to get the most from them. Some lines are a little more interchangeable with two players driving the bus and it not being so important who the third linemate is (Meier and Couture might fall into this category).

Thanks for reading, and let me know if you want me to focus on any players or topics by messaging me below or following me on Twitter @gampbler15.