NHL Team On-Ice Impact & Line Combinations

Every skater’s 5-on-5 on-ice impact and the line combinations each NHL team actually used — goal and expected-goal rates measured while a player is on the ice, and for the same team while they sit.

What on-ice impact measures

Box-score totals describe what a player collected. On-ice impact describes what happened around them. For every 5-on-5 second a skater plays, their team's shot attempts, expected goals and goals are counted both for and against, and the same totals are kept for the minutes that skater spent on the bench. The gap between the two is the on/off split, and it is the part of a player's season that never reaches the scoresheet.

Expected goals carry most of the signal. Goals for and against are the outcome everyone can see, but over a single season they are noisy enough that a good unit and a lucky one look alike. Expected goals grade every unblocked shot on where and how it was taken, so a line that gives up ten harmless point shots is not charged the same as one that gives up two chances from the slot.

How a line combination is identified

Nothing here is read off a lineup card. Every 5-on-5 shift is grouped by the exact set of skaters who were on the ice together, and any forward trio or defence pair that shared enough ice time is treated as a unit in its own right. Combinations a coach never announced but leaned on for two hundred minutes show up; combinations announced in the morning and abandoned by the second period do not.

That is also why these units can disagree with the projected lines published before a game. The projection is an intention. This is the record.

Why on-ice rates need a with-or-without-you baseline

A raw on-ice rate is mostly a description of deployment. Start a line in the offensive zone against fourth-line opposition and it will post excellent numbers whatever it does with the puck; hand a defence pair the defensive-zone draws and the toughest matchup every night and its rate will look poor even if the pair is excellent. The rate measures the assignment at least as much as the player.

Comparing the same team with and without a player on the ice cancels most of that shared context — the same coach, the same teammates, the same schedule. What survives is much closer to the player's own contribution. It is the logic behind the with-or-without-you views on the linemate pages, applied to whole units.

Best forward lines in the NHL — 2025-26

Forward trios ranked by their 5-on-5 expected-goal share, among units with enough ice time together to be worth reading.

#	Line	Team	TOI	xGF%	CF%	GF%
1	Ross Colton · Jack Drury · Victor Olofsson	COL	125	68.8	63.6	50.0
2	Brady Tkachuk · Tim Stützle · Fabian Zetterlund	OTT	139	68.1	61.9	46.7
3	Parker Kelly · Jack Drury · Joel Kiviranta	COL	176	67.9	65.4	65.0
4	Brett Howden · Mark Stone · Mitch Marner	VGK	103	67.8	61.2	58.8
5	Josh Doan · Ryan McLeod · Alex Tuch	BUF	106	67.6	58.0	64.7
6	Artturi Lehkonen · Brock Nelson · Valeri Nichushkin	COL	128	67.3	63.2	66.7
7	Jason Robertson · Mavrik Bourque · Roope Hintz	DAL	203	66.4	59.8	61.1
8	Taylor Hall · Mark Jankowski · Eric Robinson	CAR	128	66.4	64.5	66.7
9	William Carrier · Mark Jankowski · Eric Robinson	CAR	157	65.9	61.9	58.8
10	Luke Evangelista · Ryan O'Reilly · Ozzy Wiesblatt	NSH	110	64.7	67.9	100.0
11	Brady Tkachuk · Dylan Cozens · Ridly Greig	OTT	314	64.6	59.4	59.3
12	Leon Draisaitl · Connor McDavid · Zach Hyman	EDM	135	64.3	60.2	46.7
13	Jesper Bratt · Jack Hughes · Nico Hischier	NJD	102	63.5	59.2	50.0
14	Denver Barkey · Sean Couturier · Owen Tippett	PHI	164	62.9	53.2	37.5
15	Ivan Barbashev · Jack Eichel · Mitch Marner	VGK	105	62.7	54.8	72.7

Best defence pairs in the NHL — 2025-26

Defence pairs on the same measure. Pairs draw heavier defensive deployment than the forward lines above, so the two tables are not directly comparable.

#	Pair	Team	TOI	xGF%	CF%	GF%
1	Devon Toews · Sam Malinski	COL	234	67.5	64.5	68.8
2	Zach Werenski · Damon Severson	CBJ	390	66.7	62.1	59.5
3	Thomas Chabot · Jordan Spence	OTT	191	64.5	64.2	44.8
4	Ivan Provorov · Denton Mateychuk	CBJ	293	64.1	58.7	70.8
5	Tyler Kleven · Jordan Spence	OTT	653	62.1	59.4	64.7
6	Connor Clifton · Ryan Graves	PIT	192	62.0	53.7	57.1
7	Matthew Schaefer · Tony DeAngelo	NYI	163	61.9	58.8	64.7
8	Mike Reilly · Alexander Nikishin	CAR	204	60.8	61.3	61.5
9	Charle-Edouard D'Astous · Erik Cernak	TBL	225	60.4	54.6	42.3
10	Owen Power · Rasmus Dahlin	BUF	186	59.2	58.0	52.2

Team-by-team on-ice impact

Every club's skaters, their 5-on-5 on/off splits, and the combinations that actually played together.

Eastern Conference — Atlantic Division

Team	Lines & depth chart
Boston Bruins	BOS lines
Buffalo Sabres	BUF lines
Detroit Red Wings	DET lines
Florida Panthers	FLA lines
Montréal Canadiens	MTL lines
Ottawa Senators	OTT lines
Tampa Bay Lightning	TBL lines
Toronto Maple Leafs	TOR lines

Eastern Conference — Metropolitan Division

Team	Lines & depth chart
Carolina Hurricanes	CAR lines
Columbus Blue Jackets	CBJ lines
New Jersey Devils	NJD lines
New York Islanders	NYI lines
New York Rangers	NYR lines
Philadelphia Flyers	PHI lines
Pittsburgh Penguins	PIT lines
Washington Capitals	WSH lines

Western Conference — Central Division

Team	Lines & depth chart
Chicago Blackhawks	CHI lines
Colorado Avalanche	COL lines
Dallas Stars	DAL lines
Minnesota Wild	MIN lines
Nashville Predators	NSH lines
St. Louis Blues	STL lines
Utah Mammoth	UTA lines
Winnipeg Jets	WPG lines

Western Conference — Pacific Division

Team	Lines & depth chart
Anaheim Ducks	ANA lines
Calgary Flames	CGY lines
Edmonton Oilers	EDM lines
Los Angeles Kings	LAK lines
San Jose Sharks	SJS lines
Seattle Kraken	SEA lines
Vancouver Canucks	VAN lines
Vegas Golden Knights	VGK lines

Frequently Asked Questions

What does on-ice impact measure?

On-ice impact compares what happens while a skater is on the ice at 5-on-5 with what happens for the same team while they sit. Shot attempts, expected goals and goals are all counted for and against, so the number reflects a player's effect on the run of play rather than only the points they collect.

How is an NHL line combination identified?

Lines are read off the ice rather than off a lineup card. Every 5-on-5 shift is grouped by the exact set of skaters who were out together, and any forward trio or defence pair that shared enough ice time is treated as a unit. That is why the combinations here can differ from the projected lines published before a game.

Why compare a line to the team without it?

A raw on-ice rate is mostly a description of deployment. A unit that starts in the offensive zone against depth opposition will post good numbers regardless of how it plays. Measuring the same team with and without a unit on the ice (a with-or-without-you baseline) removes most of that shared context and leaves the part the unit is responsible for.

Which NHL forward line controlled play the most in 2025-26?

Ross Colton · Jack Drury · Victor Olofsson of the COL posted the best 5-on-5 expected-goal share of any qualifying forward trio in 2025-26, at 68.8% across 125 minutes together.