What is in a name? Sometimes a lot.
After all, no one has ever given a lot of guys who hit 0.225 or a team that ended in the middle of the ranking. But do something special and with a flair and people are starting to call you MagicThe hammer or The big.
Hockey was once at the forefront of this denomination ritual, with the tradition of buffering memorable nicknames on the most productive score lines of sport dating from the 1920s and the New York Ranger trio of Fred “Bun” Cook, Frank Boucher and Bill Cook, collectively known as “a line” after the metro line that took place under Madison Square Garden.
The names could sometimes be creative, as with the “mattress line” of Vancouver cannucks, which included two twins (Daniel and Henrik SEDIN) and a king (Center Jason King) and the “French connection” of the Buffalo Sabers of the French Canadians Gilbert Perreault, Rick Martin and Rene Robert. Or sometimes ridiculous, as with the “Trio Grande Line” by Clark Gillies, Bryan Trottier and Mike Bossy, who brought the New York Islanders to four consecutive titles of the Stanley Cup.
Which brings us to the current upper line of Kings on the left Andrei Kuzmenkocenter Anze Kopitar and straight Adrian Kempe. He did not set any record and won any Stanley Cup. But that helped the Kings get a place in the playoffs on Saturday when Kuzmenko scored in a 3-0 Victory on Edmonton's Oilers, coupled with Calgary's defeat against Vegas later in the day.
Since he got together a month ago,, When the Director General Rob Blake acquired Kuzmenko From Philadelphia Flyers to the deadline for trade, the trio has collected 17 goals and 22 assists in 16 games to become one of the hottest trios in the NHL.
After obtaining six or more goals in a match four times in the first 60 games, the Kings have done it four times in the next 13 with Kuzmenko. The whole score has reached near one goal per game and the team has lost only three times in its last 16 games, which puts it to rhythm to open the playoffs of the Stanley Cup at home, where they have the best record of the Western Conference.
And that triggered a question: how should the line be called?
“I didn't even think about it”, ” Kings coach Jim Hiller said.
“It's not really on the front burner,” added Glen Murray, director of players development. “I didn't really think about it much.”
Ok, so maybe it's not a burning question. But there are candidates all the same.
“AK,” Kopitar said. “That's what I'm going.”
Kings attacker Andrei Kuzmenko famous after marked the Winnipeg jets on April 1.
(Kyusung Gong / Associated Press)
This is solid because it works on two levels, using the initials of each player, but also emphasizing the fact that they all have a strong blow.
Patrick O'NealWho hosts the pre-match and post-match shows of “La Kings Live” on the West Fauxel, likes “Special K.” Simple but elegant.
Then there is the “AAA line”, inspired by the initial first of each player and the fact that, like the automotive club, the line is reliable and that the Kings will trust that it will bring them where it wants to go.
The chances that one of them will have been accompanied for a long time since the prevalence of the allocation of nicknames to the best lines of the NHL has faded in recent years, fly the game of some of its pleasure. With pairs of messy lines and the players have exchanged themselves so often in modern hockey, it has become difficult for fans and the media to develop an association with particular combinations. At the same time, the rise in data and analyzes has moved attention to the collective performance of a group of players, such as a line, to the performance of individuals.
Murray, who patinated the “700 pound lines” of Boston Bruins, a name inspired by the collective weight of the three players, said that the absence of nicknames does not necessarily represent progress.
“It's a shame,” he said. “There is nothing wrong with coming for a name for a line that has just been assembled.”
Hiller thinks that nicknames can be useful for developing an identity and esprit de corps For young players, which usually miss both. But it is not really necessary on a line centered by someone like Kopitar, who is fourth among players active in the games played.
“For some young players, perhaps,” he said. “I saw him when three young players come together and they have energy and things like that. But I'm not sure there are too many things that will go Kopi in a different direction at this stage.”
In any case, it was not a nickname that transformed the Kings line, but rather the addition of Kuzmenko on the left side.
“It took a few games to understand how Kuzy plays. But they are dangerous,” said Murray. “This guy is ultra-stillly. He can play games everywhere on the ice and it's fun to watch. The enthusiasm that Kuzy has for the game, it oozes and it goes to Kempe and Kopi.”
In Blake too. Rumors before the trade deadline have linked the Kings to a number of high -level objectives, including Pittsburgh Rickard Rakell. Ryan Donato de Chicago and Luke Kunin from San José. Thus, when Blake settled on Kuzmenko, who scored 39 goals in his recruited season with Vancouver in 2022-2023, then spent the following two seasons among four teams, the new disappointing.
Kuzmenko, however, overded, collecting five goals and six assists in 16 games. Consequently, trade has proven to be among the most substantial in the Western Conference, reinvigorating a team that saw a sequence of five consecutive defeats of one season end in the beginnings of Kuzmenko.
“The way he celebrates his goals is like the last he will mark,” said Murray about Kuzmenko. “It gives you some energy, right?” They know they are going to be a threat. ”
The question is now how should they be called?
“The playoffs are coming,” said Murray. “Having this new line, offering a unique name for that, I think it will come one day.
“I love it. It also makes him fun. “
