Which NHL top lines have been the best and worst of the 2024-25 season?

Nearly every powerhouse NHL team boasts star forwards at the top of their lineup. This has been true for recent Stanley Cup winners like the Panthers, Golden Knights, Avalanche and Lightning.

Of course, there’s way more to team-building than having a few elite forwards. This isn’t the NBA, where one or two superstars are enough to form a contender; you need formidable depth throughout your lineup.

A dominant top line is one heck of a start, though.

With that in mind, it’s worth analyzing which first lines around the NHL are producing and which are underperforming this season.

We’ll begin by identifying every team’s No. 1 center as a proxy for the first line and then examining the results when that player is on the ice. There will be exceptions for teams whose top center has moved up and down the lineup, as opposed to staying fixed on the first line, or has missed significant time with injury. In those cases, we chose a winger to represent his team’s top-line minutes (e.g. Kirill Marchenko for Columbus, Mitch Marner for Toronto, David Pastrnak for Boston, etc).

Here are the proxies we used.

To measure performance, we’ll look at the goals for and against differential when that first line is deployed at five-on-five. As an example, it means we’re looking at how many goals Edmonton scores and how many it allows with Connor McDavid on the ice at even strength. We’re using that as our measure instead of points because points can’t account for defense.

Goal differential can be skewed positively or negatively based on shooting and goaltending luck. Sometimes, a team’s first line controls play well and generates tons of chances, but is snakebitten finishing-wise and/or doesn’t get saves from its goaltender. We’ll be sure to point out where that seems to have made an impact, especially later in the article when we look at other underlying metrics.

Here are the numbers so far this season, sorted by the best goal differential rate.

Note: Individual team write-ups are not presented in the exact order of their goal differential. Some teams’ analysis has been saved for the final section of the article.

Columbus Blue Jackets

Nobody could have predicted that Columbus’ first line would throttle opponents on the scoreboard to this extent.

Marchenko has had an exceptional breakout campaign on the top line and is one of the most underrated stars in the league. The 24-year-old Russian winger is tied with McDavid, among others, for the 10th most five-on-five points in the NHL this season. Marchenko and Sean Monahan have spent over 400 five-on-five minutes together on the top line, in which the Blue Jackets have controlled a whopping 60 percent of expected goals and outscored opponents 34-11.

The Blue Jackets’ first line also gets a boost from how often they’re self-matched with Zach Werenski, who’s having a Hart Trophy-caliber season. Columbus looks unstoppable offensively when Werenski’s pair is deployed with the first line.

Adam Fantilli has stepped up impressively, centering the top line since Monahan’s injury. And Dmitri Voronkov has been a very underrated complementary piece to round out Columbus’ first line with his monster 6-foot-5 frame, deft hands and net-front scoring to the tune of a 32-goal pace per 82 games.

Columbus’ first line has surrendered just 1.68 goals against per 60, but that stellar number is misleading because it is bleeding scoring chances at a pretty high rate (2.69 expected goals against per 60). The impressive goals-against rate for Columbus’ top line is propped up by outrageously good goaltending (.937 save percentage with the first line on) and will likely regress over time.

This line’s offensive success, however, is both elite and sustainable.

Vegas Golden Knights

The Golden Knights’ top line is excellent at both ends of the rink — they score goals in bunches and have given up just 1.88 goals against per 60 defensively.

Jack Eichel has been the engine of this line’s two-way success. The 28-year-old has a chance to crack 100 points for the first time in his career. He’s a smooth puck-transportation machine, a sublime playmaker and outstanding defensively.

Eichel’s line has slowed down a bit offensively over the last several weeks for a couple of reasons, however.

Mark Stone’s been split up from Eichel lately to give more balance to a Vegas top nine that’s missing William Karlsson due to an injury. Ivan Barbashev, a fixture on the first line, was scoring at a breakout 41-goal, 82-point pace through the first 30 games but has gone ice-cold with just five points in his last 18 games.

Vegas’ top line is still decisively winning its matchups because it is so stingy defensively, but it’s probably hoping to rediscover the elite offensive gear it showed through the first 30 games or so.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Jake Guentzel have been as dynamite together as you’d expect. They score goals at will and have cut down on the chances and goals they give up defensively.

Tampa’s top line is surrendering just 2.27 goals against per 60 this season, which is a huge improvement from the 3.49 per 60 it was giving up last season. Andrei Vasilevskiy’s bounce-back is a huge driver behind that, but the first line is also doing a significantly better job of limiting quality chances against.

Kucherov’s magician-like vision and playmaking, Point’s speed and elite finishing and Guentzel’s net-front IQ/skill complement each other perfectly. Watching them play together feels like poetry on ice.

Minnesota Wild

Kirill Kaprizov was leading the NHL in five-on-five points heading into the Christmas break. He was tearing it up on Minnesota’s top line and a front-runner for the Hart Trophy before being derailed by injuries.

Since Kaprizov’s injury, Matt Boldy has moved up to play alongside breakout sophomore Marco Rossi and elder statesman Mats Zuccarello. This trio is doing an admirable job of keeping the lights on offensively, outscoring opponents 14-9, even though their play-controlling metrics haven’t been the best.

Florida Panthers

Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart are the backbone for the best defensive first line in the NHL.

Florida’s top line has conceded 1.67 goals against per 60, which is the best mark in the league for the second year in a row. The Panthers’ top line is only middle-of-the-pack in offensive scoring rate, but it’s so stingy defensively that it still dominates its matchups night in and night out.

Carter Verhaeghe and Evan Rodrigues have split time as the third wheel next to Barkov and Reinhart.

Buffalo Sabres

It is almost hard to believe the Sabres rank this high and are still nowhere close to the playoff race.

Buffalo’s first line has piled up 3.91 goals for per 60, which is the second-highest rate among all top lines. Tage Thompson’s huge bounce-back has been the main driver — he leads the NHL with 22 five-on-five goals despite having played several fewer games than the players right behind him.

Thompson’s linemates have fluctuated — Alex Tuch, JJ Peterka, Jason Zucker and Jiri Kulich have all gotten looks — but most have supported him well.

The Sabres’ underwhelming second line (Dylan Cozens and Jack Quinn have had miserable years), woeful 27th-ranked power play, poor defensive play, subpar goaltending and below-average penalty kill are some of the reasons the club is so far out of the playoff conversation despite its top line clicking at a strong level.

Washington Capitals

Every single member of the Capitals’ top six has shattered expectations, starting with the top line.

Alex Ovechkin has turned back the clock. At age 39, his five-on-five goal-scoring rate this season is the third-best clip of his career. Dylan Strome is averaging over a point per game for the first time in his career.

The third member of the top line has fluctuated — it’s included Aliaksei Protas, Connor McMichael and more recently Tom Wilson — but it hasn’t really mattered because all of those players are having standout seasons, too.

New York Islanders

It’s a bit surprising that the Islanders rank this high, given their lack of superstar talent and mediocre record. However, the Islanders are a genuinely solid even-strength team, boasting a plus-10 goal differential at five-on-five, which ranks 11th in the NHL. They’ve just been torpedoed by a 32nd-ranked power play and a 31st-ranked penalty kill.

The Islanders’ first-line defensive results (1.84 goals against per 60) are a bit inflated by exceptional goaltending (.932 on-ice save percentage). But they’re also decisively outshooting and outchancing opponents, so this hasn’t been all about luck.

Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal have been terrific together, controlling nearly 58 percent of expected goals and outscoring opponents 10-3 in their minutes together; it’s a shame Barzal has missed 27 games with injuries and is still out.

Anders Lee has been Horvat’s most common winger. The 34-year-old Islanders captain is on pace for a 33-goal season after scoring just 37 points last season.

New Jersey Devils

The Devils’ first line has been excellent across the board, controlling nearly 58 percent of scoring chances and 59 percent of goals. They’re dynamic and fun offensively but also do a stellar job defensively, limiting scoring chances and goals against.

Jack Hughes demands most of the national attention, but Jesper Bratt has been an equally important catalyst for the first line’s success. Bratt has scored more even-strength points than Hughes and is on pace for a career-high 94 points.

The only concern with New Jersey’s first line is that 33-year-old Ondrej Palat has largely been a black hole dragging them down.

Chart via Evolving-Hockey RAPM model

Toronto Maple Leafs

Auston Matthews, battling through an injury, hasn’t been operating at the level of a top-five player in the league as he usually does. He’s still comfortably over the point-per-game mark, but his five-on-five point production rate this season is the lowest since 2019-20.

Thankfully, Mitch Marner has picked up some of the slack on the top line. The 27-year-old pending unrestricted free agent has been flat-out sensational — he’s tied for fourth in NHL scoring and is on pace to hit a career-high 105 points.

Sophomore Matthew Knies is playing further down the lineup now but has also spent a large chunk of the year on the first line. Knies has taken a major step, scoring at around a 30-goal pace.

Los Angeles Kings

This is the third year in a row in which the Kings’ first line has ranked slightly above average in goal differential.

Anze Kopitar probably doesn’t get enough love for continuing to hold the fort down as an effective No. 1 center at age 37. Sure, he’s not an explosive 80-to-90-point offensive producer, but he continues to be good for 70-ish points on top of a stout two-way profile. Adrian Kempe, meanwhile, is still the main offensive threat on that line, on pace for 37 goals.

L.A.’s first line is only scoring 2.79 goals for per 60, which ranks 20th, but is one of the best at preventing goals against defensively. Its sparkling 1.96 goals against per 60 could be boosted to some extent by goaltending; the Kings’ top line is only about break-even at controlling shots and expected goals this season.

Montreal Canadiens

Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovský have been a high-event trio.

Montreal’s first line has been prolific offensively, generating a ton of shots, chances and a 3.66 goals for per 60 pace that ranks fifth-best in the NHL. But it also bleeds scoring chances against: its 3.0 expected goals against per 60 rate is second-worst among first lines and its actual goals-against rate ranks 26th.

Caufield is on pace for a career-high 38 goals and Suzuki has a good chance of being a point-per-game player for the first time in his career. Slafkovský, however, hasn’t taken a step after his promising 50-point breakout last season.

Utah Hockey Club

Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz are terrific creators on the wing, but with apologies to Barrett Hayton, they haven’t played with a true No. 1 center to help them hit the next level.

Lately, however, Logan Cooley has been bumped up to the top line after looking outstanding on the second line with Dylan Guenther for most of the season. It’s a small sample, but the Cooley-Keller-Schmaltz trio has outscored opponents 11-4 in 150 minutes together.

Cooley’s arrival could take Utah’s first line to the next level, but how much will the second line hurt without him?

St. Louis Blues

The key to a productive top line for the Blues is keeping Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich together.

Early in the season, the Blues experimented with Buchnevich as their second-line center. It didn’t work, and the underlying results show that Thomas is far more dominant when he has Buchnevich on his wing compared to any of the alternative options. The Thomas-Buchnevich duo has commanded 57 percent of scoring chances and 62 percent of goals together.

Winnipeg Jets

Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor have leveled up their all-around game over the last couple of seasons.

This duo’s defensive play has been criticized in the past, but this is the second year in a row that the Jets’ top line is controlling at least 55 percent of goals. It’s also the first time since 2017-18 (the year Winnipeg made the Western Conference final) that Scheifele’s line owns an expected goal share above 50 percent. Gabriel Vilardi, meanwhile, has been a perfect complementary piece for them.

You might be surprised that Winnipeg’s top line doesn’t rank higher, but it’s worth remembering Scheifele and Connor’s truly elite play has come on the Jets’ league-best power play.

Boston Bruins

Elias Lindholm catastrophically flopped as the Bruins’ No. 1 center. He and David Pastrnak spent over 200 five-on-five minutes together, in which the Bruins mustered just 1.77 goals for per 60.

Lindholm has been bumped down the lineup, with Pavel Zacha operating as the de facto 1C and Morgan Geekie playing on the other wing. The results have been significantly better and Pastrnak has caught fire with a league-leading 17 goals and 35 points at all strengths in 20 games since Jan. 1.

Dallas Stars

When we’ve done this annual exercise, Dallas’ first line has routinely ranked among the best in the NHL. Unfortunately, that isn’t quite the case this season.

Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz got off to really slow starts in the first 20 games. Robertson has been on an obscene scoring tear since about Jan. 1 — picking up points hasn’t been an issue for him with 15 goals and 28 points at all strengths — but the Stars’ top line isn’t pushing an elite goal differential like it has in years past.

With that said, Dallas has among the best second and third lines in the NHL, so this drop-off isn’t too concerning.

Anaheim Ducks

For most of the season, the Ducks have relied on Troy Terry, Ryan Strome and Frank Vatrano to lead their first line. This trio has controlled a positive share of shots, scoring chances and goals in nearly 500 five-on-five minutes together, which isn’t too shabby.

It’s very disappointing, however, that none of the club’s marquee young players — Leo Carlsson, Mason McTavish, Trevor Zegras and Cutter Gauthier — have broken out as stars and forced their way onto the top line over the likes of Strome and Vatrano. McTavish is the only one of those four scoring over 0.5 points per game and even he isn’t on pace for 50 points.

Head coach Greg Cronin has gotten the Ducks to play more structured defense, but he’s also arguably stifling the offensive growth of the organization’s most promising young forwards.

Seattle Kraken

Seattle’s lack of star power is a problem.

Matty Beniers’ line has scored just 2.31 goals for per 60, which ranks 29th among top lines in the NHL. The Kraken don’t have a single forward on pace to hit 60 points or 30 goals. Seattle’s first line defends very well and doesn’t give up many goals, which has limited the damage on the scoreboard, but we’re talking about a low-event, mediocre top line.

Vancouver Canucks

Vancouver’s first line has seen a ton of different combinations, but all of them have largely disappointed.

J.T. Miller was the club’s No. 1 center, but he missed 10 games because of a leave of absence and has since been traded. Brock Boeser, meanwhile, missed seven games with a concussion and has played further down the lineup more recently.

Elias Pettersson has anchored the first line in the wake of Miller’s departure and continues to struggle. The Canucks still have a positive goal differential in Pettersson’s minutes because his defensive impact has been strong, but his line has scored just 2.4 goals for per 60, which ranks bottom-five among top lines in the NHL.

New York Rangers

The Rangers’ top-line results are a microcosm of the team’s season as a whole: They score at an above-average rate because of their high-end skill, but they give back most of that value because of their porous defensive play, leaving their overall results in a mediocre state.

Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafrenière have been New York’s most consistent first-line combination, but J.T. Miller and Panarin have been stapled as a duo since the former’s acquisition. The early returns are optimistic — they’ve dominated most possession/scoring chance metrics, though we’ll see how they fare defensively together long-term.

Detroit Red Wings

Despite their elite, No. 2 ranked power-play, the Red Wings’ top line has had trouble scoring even-strength goals for most of the season. However, it appears it has unlocked a new gear recently and could be on the cusp of a monster breakout.

Todd McLellan has put Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond and rookie Marco Kasper (who has 16 points in his last 18 games) together for the last several weeks, and they’ve annihilated opponents from a territorial standpoint. This new-look first line has controlled nearly 58 percent of expected goals and is scoring goals at a much higher rate than the first line managed earlier in the season.

Nashville Predators

The Preds’ lack of a true No. 1 playmaking center has cost them dearly.

Ryan O’Reilly and Steven Stamkos have split time centering Filip Forsberg this year to mostly underwhelming results. Forsberg scored 27 five-on-five goals in 2023-24 but has mustered just 11 so far this season. Nashville’s top line isn’t scoring proficiently and leaks plenty of goals against defensively, too.

Calgary Flames

The Flames have found something by pairing Nazem Kadri and Jonathan Huberdeau together on the first line. In nearly 450 five-on-five minutes together, that duo has outshot and outchanced teams decisively. It hasn’t lit the world on fire offensively, scoring 2.54 goals per 60 together, but it has been tight defensively and given a ragtag Flames team reasonable play at the top of the lineup.

Without Huberdeau, Kadri’s line has been outscored 11-5 and mustered a woeful 0.76 goals for per 60 in nearly 400 five-on-five minutes. That explains why the Flames’ overall first-line results this year are lackluster offensively.

San Jose Sharks

Macklin Celebrini has exceeded all expectations this season, scoring at a rate of 73 points per 82 games. Sure, his line is having a tough time controlling play and has lost its matchups more often than not this season, but that’s to be expected when you’re an 18-year-old center on a bad, rebuilding team.

Lately, Celebrini has been flanked by William Eklund and Tyler Toffoli. This new first-line trio has driven 55 percent of shot attempts and scoring chances together in 161 minutes, which is extremely impressive considering the team’s overall struggles to control play. San Jose’s new-look top line has been fast, dynamic and entertaining to watch.

---

Goal differential doesn’t always tell the full story of a line’s performance. Here’s a look at some of the play-driving results under the hood, which highlight a few important trends.

Edmonton Oilers

Edmonton’s top line has been miles better than the goal differential in the first table would suggest.

These play-driving metrics show that McDavid’s line has skated laps around their competition when it comes to piling up shots and high-quality chances. Nobody generates scoring chances at a higher clip than the Oilers’ first line, and they defend well in front of their goalies.

Their goal differential has suffered, however, because they aren’t getting any saves. Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard have combined for a woeful .872 save percentage when McDavid is on the ice despite Edmonton’s top line ranking top-five in the NHL at suppressing expected goals against.

Colorado Avalanche

Nathan MacKinnon’s line ranked in the top 10 for goal differential, but it still deserved better results based on how ruthlessly it has throttled opponents territorially.

The Avs have scored on less than 9 percent of their shots during MacKinnon’s five-on-five shifts. Over the last five seasons, MacKinnon’s on-ice shooting percentage has very consistently been in the 10-11 percent range, which indicates they’ve been unlucky with their finishing.

The new MacKinnon/Martin Necas duo also looks near unstoppable — they’ve generated 131 scoring chances and given up just 55 against in just 170 five-on-five minutes together.

Carolina Hurricanes

Sebastian Aho’s line has the worst goal differential of all first lines in the NHL this season, but it’s not really the skaters’ fault.

Carolina’s first line has scored a respectable 2.87 goals for per 60, which ranks 19th. Its overall goal differential is deeply in the red because it has given up an appalling 3.72 goals against per 60. Most of that is likely due to bad goaltending, however, because it is only conceding 2.52 expected goals against per 60, a league-average rate.

Aho and Mikko Rantanen haven’t paid elite dividends together on the top line yet, but it’s too early to write them off. Let’s wait and see.

Pittsburgh Penguins

It’s crazy that Sidney Crosby, at 37, is among the top five players in five-on-five points this season despite losing star linemate Jake Guentzel. Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust deserve credit for strong seasons on Crosby’s wing.

Pittsburgh’s top line has scored an impressive 3.42 goals for per 60, but its goal differential was slightly negative because it has leaked lots of goals against. This line’s strong underlying numbers, however, suggest that it mostly has to do with the team’s porous back end and poor goaltending rather than the top line’s two-way performance.

Philadelphia Flyers

The Flyers don’t really have a distinguished first line, instead rolling an ultra-balanced top-nine. Travis Konecny is their best forward, though — he leads the team in scoring by 21 points and leads the forwards in ice time — so I looked at his on-ice results as a proxy for the club’s “first-line” performance this season.

Konecny has been fantastic individually, but Philadelphia desperately needs a bona fide 1C to take its first line to the next level. Philly’s top line has been outscored by a fair bit this season, but its underlying metrics are decent and suggest it has been unlucky both offensively and defensively.

Ottawa Senators

Tim Stützle’s line has seen an impressive defensive glow-up under Travis Green this year. Ottawa’s top line is surrendering just 2.12 expected goals against per 60, which is the second-best mark among all first lines in the NHL, behind only Barkov’s line.

However, like the entire Senators team, it’s been tough for Stützle’s line to score at even strength. Ottawa’s first line ranks 26th in generating expected goals offensively, and its actual scoring rate ranks 23rd.

Chicago Blackhawks

This isn’t quite the monster sophomore breakout many expected from Connor Bedard: His line has been outscored by a wide margin and its underlying metrics are by far the worst of all first lines in the NHL.

It’s essential, however, to interpret these results with the right context.

Bedard is only 19, has no true first-line caliber wingers to play with and is supported by a horrible blue line that can’t defend or move the puck. Are there areas in which Bedard could be better individually? Absolutely. But the lackluster first-line results are more of an indictment on the front office’s inability to surround him with the proper insulation.

Oh, and before you sour on Bedard’s superstar ceiling, don’t forget that MacKinnon didn’t have his first point-per-game season in the NHL until Year 5 of his career.

All data courtesy Natural Stat Trick

(Top photo of Kirill Marchenko and Connor Bedard: Steph Chambers and Luke Hales / Getty Images)