NHL Season Preview: 5 Potential New Duos That Could Impress

NHL Season Preview: 5 Potential New Duos That Could Impress if Paired Together on a Line

Next in our NHL season preview, we have identified five potential new duos who could land on a line together in 2016-17 and impress the hockey world. These incoming additions were either acquired via trade, signed through free agency, or stepping up from the prospect pool.

Just a year ago, we were wondering what type of impact KHL transfer Artemi Panarin would have for Chicago, and where exactly he fit into the lineup. It quickly became clear that Patrick Kane, Artemi Panarin, and Artem Anisimov (also newly acquired at the time) were the NHL’s most dangerous line.

While difficult to imagine that performance being duplicated in 2016-17, there are still several exciting potential line combinations due to impact additions.

Below are five duos that could impress if the pair see significant time alongside one another:

NHL Season Preview: 5 Potential Duos That Could Impress

Zach Parise – Eric Staal, Minnesota Wild

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Coach Bruce Boudreau has already expressed interest in pairing Parise and Staal together.

Whether or not he feels the same on opening night is another question, but it seems the pair will be given a chance to see if they can develop chemistry early on.

This is a win-win for both players who could benefit from each other’s presence.

Parise’s best years (94 points in ’08-09, 82 points in ’09-10) came during his time alongside Travis Zajac in New Jersey – Staal is still an upgrade even if the numbers in recent years don’t support the argument.

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Connor McDavid – Jesse Puljujarvi, Edmonton Oilers

This might not be Todd McLellan‘s’ first selection given that McDavid has already shown good chemistry alongside other Oilers players, but it could be the end result.

Edmonton struck gold at the NHL draft when Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen chose to draft for position opposed to best available player.

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P.K. Subban – Roman Josi, Nashville Predators

While Shea Weber gives Eastern Conference forwards nightmares for the next decade, Nashville is taking a much different approach putting two highly potent offensive defenders together.

It should be interesting to see how other teams construct a game plan to shut down so much offense being generated from the back end (Ryan Ellis – Mattias Ekholm on the second pairing).

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Taylor Hall – Travis Zajac/or Adam Henrique, New Jersey Devils

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Logic would suggest that NJ could have a top line of Taylor Hall, Travis Zajac, and Kyle Palmieri when the season opens in October.

Palmieri is coming off a breakout year in which the Devils awarded him a hefty long-term contract betting there’s a higher ceiling.

Just a half decade ago, Travis Zajac was posting 60+ point seasons (62 in ’08-09, 67 in ’09-10) with former linemate Zach Parise.

Stick these three together, we could be talking about individual single-season career-highs for each.

Patrik Laine – Bryan Little/or Mark Scheifele, Winnipeg Jets

Folks in Winnipeg have good reason to be excited about the future. 2nd overall pick Patrik Laine draws comparisons to Alex Ovechkin, and should have no problem finding the back of the net early and often. Among the favorites for Calder Trophy contention in 2016-17, the Finnish sniper should be a gem for many years to come.

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The unexpected addition of Patrik Laine gives Winnipeg a couple of options for their top six forward group. They can either put Laine alongside Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler to create the most offensively potent line possible, or they force Patrik into a second line role playing with Bryan Little. By selecting the latter option, it may allow the Jets to further spread out their scoring – an important factor in today’s NHL.