In the lead-up to the 4 Nations Face-Off, one of the many intriguing questions was whether Canada would roll out a line of Nathan MacKinnon, Sidney Crosby and Brad Marchand. Those three players are not only from the same giant country. They’re also from the same metropolitan area: Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The ability to form an elite line of forwards from the same hometown got me thinking. What other cities could pull off comparable groupings? Could any other metropolitan area come close to that one? Thus began the quest to form hometown lines.
Hometowns and birthplaces are different, which makes this exercise difficult. William Nylander was born in Calgary when his dad was on the Flames, but he represents Sweden internationally and considers Stockholm home. For this project, I tried as best as possible to put players with where they spent their formative childhood years before leaving for junior hockey, college or the pros.
A good distinction is where a player brings the Stanley Cup. Matthew Tkachuk, for example, was born in Arizona during his dad’s playing days but grew up in the St. Louis area and brought the trophy there after the Panthers’ Stanley Cup win in 2024.
Here are some ground rules for how I compiled these lines:
• When evaluating a city, I went with anyone whose hometown is within a 40-mile radius as the crow flies. That covers players who are from suburbs of big cities.
• If a player represents a country, his hometown must be from that country. Jack Hughes, for example, spent a lot of childhood in Toronto but represents Team USA internationally. Because of this, he’s ineligible for the Toronto line.
• Some of these lines took creativity. Not everyone is an exact positional fit. I didn’t punish lines in the rankings if they had three wings and no natural centers.
• Obviously this list only includes forwards. Perhaps we can do a later story looking at defensive pairings by hometowns.
Rankings are subjective, based on how I think the lines would do against each other.
Let’s dig in.
1. Halifax
Nathan MacKinnon, Sidney Crosby, Brad Marchand
Halifax is not one of the 10 biggest metropolitan areas in Canada but has produced some of the game’s biggest stars. All three of these players have won Stanley Cups. Crosby and MacKinnon have both won the Hart Trophy, and Marchand has a pair of top-five finishes for that award. It’s a stacked line, even if Crosby and Marchand are past their peaks.
2. Toronto
Mitch Marner, Connor McDavid, Robert Thomas
In terms of production this year, the Toronto line has a case to be ahead of the Halifax one. McDavid is a one-of-one player any season, and Marner is having a career-best year. Robert Thomas is playing at close to a point-per-game pace, too, and had 86 points in 82 games in 2023-24. He gets the third spot on this line, but there are plenty of other options, including John Tavares, Tom Wilson, Anthony Cirelli and Sean Monahan. The geographic parameters of this exercise cost Team Toronto another strong forward in Mark Scheifele, who likely would have made the roster. He’s from Kitchener, about 65 miles outside Toronto.
If this exercise was focused on making two complete lines, Toronto would be No. 1. But this is about getting three star players together, and Halifax gets the slight edge.
What would Connor McDavid and Mitch Marner look like on the same side? (Claus Andersen / Getty Images)
3. Moscow
Alex Ovechkin, Ivan Barbashev, Nikita Kucherov
Kucherov was born in Maykop, well south of Moscow, but moved to Moscow at a young age. Two future Hall of Famers, including arguably the greatest goal scorer ever, plus a two-time Cup winner in Ivan Barbashev, make for a line that would put a lot of points on the board.
Nikita Kucherov, front, and Alex Ovechkin played together at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. (John E. Sokolowski / USA Today)
4. Stockholm
William Nylander, Mika Zibanejad, Jesper Bratt
You could come close to forming a full lineup of NHL forwards solely with players from around the Stockholm area. Nylander and Bratt are locks for the group. Both are in their prime and are big point producers on playoff teams. Zibanejad has had a down year, but he still averaged a point per game over the previous three seasons. He gets the nod over Rickard Rakell, William Karlsson and William Eklund. Gabriel Landeskog would have been another strong candidate, but he has been out since Game 6 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final with a knee injury.
Jesper Bratt and William Nylander will get a taste of playing together at the 4 Nations. (Elsa / Getty Images)
5. Phoenix
Matthew Knies, Auston Matthews, Tage Thompson
There’s a real case for this line over the Stockholm one. Matthews is one of the game’s premier players, and Thompson has shown he can score close to 50 goals in a season. There’s a dropoff to Knies, who isn’t the same level of star but could get to 30 goals this year. If Knies continues to develop, Phoenix could jump the Swedish capital before too long.
Thompson moved around growing up, living in 11 different places. But he was born in the Phoenix area and spends his summers there. For our purposes, we’re counting it as his hometown.
Matthew Knies and Auston Matthews, with Mitch Marner, already have experience playing together with the Leafs. (Nick Turchiaro / USA Today)
6. St. Louis
Brady Tkachuk, Clayton Keller, Matthew Tkachuk
Both the Tkachuk brothers were born in Scottsdale, Ariz., while their dad was playing for the Coyotes, but they were in St. Louis during their formative years. When Matthew won the Stanley Cup, he spent his day with the trophy in St. Louis. He and Brady are both top-level players with an edge to their game, and Keller has emerged as a point-per-game player for Utah.
If this was an actual line, it would likely struggle without a natural center. But as stated above, I’m giving grace when it comes to positions.
Uniting Matthew Tkachuk, Clayton Keller and Brady Tkachuk would create a St. Louis super line. (Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
7. Tampere, Finland
Roope Hintz, Aleksander Barkov, Patrik Laine
Hintz and Barkov are two of the best two-way forwards in the league. Pair them with Laine’s goal-scoring ability and you have a line no one would want to go against.
Barkov is probably a more valuable player than teammate Matthew Tkachuk, the top forward on the St. Louis line, but Tampere’s trio ranks slightly lower as a whole.
Patrik Laine and Aleksander Barkov on separate sides in 2021. (Jasen Vinlove / USA Today)
8. Boston
Chris Kreider, Jack Eichel, Matthew Boldy
All three of these players grew up near Boston and chose to play their college hockey in the city, with Kreider and Boldy going to Boston College and Eichel spending a year at Boston University. Eichel is the headliner. He’s already shown he can be the top center on a Cup-winning club and is now in the midst of his best regular season. Boldy is a top-line player for Minnesota and certainly belongs in this trio. Kreider, meanwhile, is in the midst of a difficult season. Conor Garland, Charlie Coyle or Matthew Beniers could have a case to supplant him. But given Kreider’s pedigree (a 52-goal season in 2021-22, 39 last season), he gets the nod.
Jack Eichel (9) and Chris Kreider (18) make a fearsome combo in front of the net at the 2019 World Championship. (Joe Klamar / Getty Images)
9. Vancouver
Sam Reinhart, Mathew Barzal, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
If I redo this exercise in five years, this line could be close to the top. Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini were tough omissions, and they both seem bound for stardom.
For now, this line is good but not among the elite. Reinhart is an exceptional two-way player who scored 57 goals last year. He was the only lock to make the Vancouver team. Nugent-Hopkins had a 104-point season — 35 more than any other point total he’s had in a season — and was a key piece on a team that reached Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final in June. He’s a good complementary player. Barzal can play center and is a brilliant skater who can produce points.
Sam Reinhart and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins were opponents in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final. (Sam Navarro / USA Today)
10. Detroit
Kyle Connor, Dylan Larkin, Alex DeBrincat
All three of these players can put the puck in the net, especially Connor, who is eighth in the league in goals since the start of 2017-18, his first full season. Dylan Larkin is a steady, responsible center who consistently scores over 30 goals, and his Red Wings teammate DeBrincat has scored as many as 41.
Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Larkin have experience celebrating together. (Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)
11. Turku, Finland
Artturi Lehkonen, Mikko Rantanen, Kaapo Kakko
As was the case with the St. Louis line, the Turku trio doesn’t have a natural center, though both Rantanen and Kakko have played the position in spurts this season. The newly traded Rantanen’s resume speaks for itself, and Lehkonen is one of the most clutch players in the game. He twice sent his team to the Stanley Cup Final with an overtime winner (Montreal Canadiens in 2021, Colorado Avalanche in 2022) and had the winning goal in Colorado’s 2022 clincher. The third spot comes down to Kakko and Matias Maccelli from Utah. I’m going with Kakko, mostly because of his increased production since joining the Kraken in December.
Artturi Lehkonen and Mikko Rantanen played together with the Avalanche until Rantanen was traded to the Hurricanes last month. (Charles LeClaire / USA Today)
12. Pittsburgh
Logan Cooley, J.T. Miller, Vincent Trocheck
Two-thirds of this line already plays together with the New York Rangers thanks to a blockbuster that sent Miller there on Jan. 31. The end to Miller’s tenure with the Vancouver Canucks was tumultuous, but he’s elite when at his best. He had 103 points in 2023-24. Trocheck, his childhood friend and now teammate, can play with top-level talent, as he showed by forming a dominant line with Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafrenière last season.
At 20, Cooley is by far the youngest of the three, but he’s shown high upside since coming into the league. The Coyotes drafted him No. 3 in 2022, making him the highest-drafted player ever from the Pittsburgh area.
GO DEEPER
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13. Chelyabinsk, Russia
Artemi Panarin, Evgenii Dadonov, Valeri Nichushkin
Panarin, who is from 25 miles south of Chelyabinsk, headlines this trio. He’s been a prolific offensive player since coming into the league in 2015-16 and has two top-three finishes in Hart Trophy voting. Nichushkin was a key member of the 2022 Avalanche Stanley Cup team and, when on the ice, is an elite two-way wing. Dadonov, who has played nearly 600 NHL games, rounds out the grouping.
This is another centerless line. Yakov Trenin is also from Chelyabinsk, and he can play center, but Dadonov edged him out.
Artemi Panarin and Evgenii Dadonov celebrate a goal with Vadim Shipachyov during the 2016 World Championship. (Yuri Kadobnov / Getty Images)
14. Calgary
Taylor Hall, Brayden Point, Dylan Holloway
Point was a central part of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s two consecutive Stanley Cup championships and is an offensive force. Holloway, who signed an offer sheet with the St. Louis Blues over the summer, is an up-and-coming player. And Hall brings experience. He’s been more of a middle-six player in recent years but has a Hart Trophy to his name.
If this were an exercise in making a five-man skater group, Calgary would be near the top. Josh Morrissey and Cale Makar would make for an elite defensive pair to go with this line.
Taylor Hall and Dylan Holloway go at it during the 2024 Winter Classic. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
15. Minneapolis-St. Paul
Jake Guentzel, Anders Lee, Brock Boeser
Minnesota produces a lot of great players, but they’re lower than expected on this list. All three of these forwards are good players but not consistent game-breakers, though all three have scored 40 goals at least once in their careers.
Honorable mentions
London, Ontario
Nick Suzuki, Bo Horvat, Nazem Kadri
Horvat was born in London and grew up just close enough to qualify (Rodney is 36 miles from London as the crow flies). Travis Konecny, also born in London, grew up just outside the required radius. He is welcome to file an appeal.
Winnipeg
Mark Stone, Brett Howden, Seth Jarvis
Stone and Howden won the Stanley Cup together in Vegas, and Jarvis is an up-and-coming player who made Team Canada for 4 Nations.
Edmonton
Jake DeBrusk, Brandon Hagel, Dylan Guenther
Hagel’s emergence as a standout in Tampa Bay helps make this a potent line.
Karlstadt, Sweden
Leo Carlsson, Joel Eriksson Ek, Fabian Zetterlund
We’ll give Sweden some more love in the honorable mention category, and this line could be on the rise. Carlsson and Zetterlund are both young.
Montreal
Jonathan Huberdeau, Anthony Duclair, Alexis Lafrenière
None of Canada’s forwards for 4 Nations is from Quebec, and that’s reflected in this exercise. Still, you can make a solid line of Montreal-area players.
(Top photos of Matthew Tkachuk, Brady Tkachuk, Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
