Down Goes Brown: Which two NHL franchises would hold the league’s Tag Team Championship? (2024)

We’ve almost made it through August. We’re just a few days away from September, which means we’re just a few weeks away from training camp, which means soon we’ll have some actual hockey to talk about.

Which also means, tragically, that we’re running out of chances to spend our days building fake rosters based on arbitrary rules. We’ve already done first names and the $200 challenge. Today, let’s celebrate the spirit of teamwork with a question: Which two franchises could combine to hold the NHL’s tag team championship belts?

In other words, which two teams could produce the best starting lineup entirely out of players who played for both of them?

This idea comes to me from a reader who pointed out a weird fact: You could build an entire 20-man roster just using players who played for the Islanders and the Oilers within a few years of each other. That seems like an extreme example, but we can certainly find a few combos that will give us a strong starting six. So let’s do that. Come on, it’s not like you wanted to work today.

As always, let’s lay out some ground rules:

– For each combo, we’re looking to build a six-man starting roster of players who played for both franchises. That means a minimum of one game – players who were technically acquired but never suited up do not count.

– We want each lineup to have three forwards, two defensem*n and one goalie, but other than that position doesn’t matter.

– Here’s the important part that will mess up the people who don’t read it: For these rosters, you get credit for everything a player did on those two teams only. That doesn’t mean that a player had to have been a superstar for both teams – Gordie Howe only scored 15 NHL goals in Hartford, but he’d did still be a monster for a Whalers/Red Wings tag team. But Eric Lindros on a Leafs/Stars team? Not great.

Got the idea? We’re going to come up with 10 entries to get you started. Then you can head to the comments and unveil you challenger to the tag team title.

Older teams have a big advantage here, so let’s get started with a few Original Six combos to help us get our heads around the concept…

Bruins/Blackhawks

Forwards: Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge, Pit Martin

Defensem*n: Bobby Orr, Allan Stanley

Goaltender: Frank Brimsek

The 1967 Esposito trade is the key here, giving us all three of our forwards. Sure, we could have used the other Esposito trade to form a Bruins/Rangers tag team that would also feature Brad Park, Jean Ratelle and Rick Middleton. But we can’t resist the chance to build around Orr’s entire career, so the Hawks are the pick. And that means we can also take Brimsek, giving us the full decade-long resume of a Hall-of-Famer and eight-time all-star, even though he only played the final one of those seasons in Chicago.

But apart from Esposito, Orr and Brimsek, the rest of the lineup is hit-and-miss. The “only get credit for what they did on your team” rule means we can’t sneak in Paul Coffey here, and Stanley isn’t as impressive as he seems because we’re only getting the seasons he squeezed in between his stronger runs with New York and Toronto.

So it’s not a bad roster. But honestly, it’s not as good as you might expect once you get past the Orr/Esposito combo. Let’s have another Original Six team challenge them for the title…

Maple Leafs/Red Wings

Forwards: Frank Mahovlich, Darryl Sittler, Norm Ullman

Defensem*n: Red Kelly, Borje Salming

Goaltender: Terry Sawchuk

There’s no Orr-level deity here, but it’s a more well-rounded lineup than the Hawks and Bruins could offer. We’ve got Hall-of-Famers at every position, with basically every one of their best seasons is represented. The only controversy might be over how you slot Kelly into the lineup, since he went from defense to center once he was traded to Toronto. Still, that just shows that he could play both, so we’ll use him on the blue line, if only so that we don’t have to mention the Larry Murphy trade.

So there you have it: The Leafs and Wings have captured our tag team championship. Can anyone beat them? We could probably keep going with various combos using just the Original Six teams, but while we’re not done with the glory days quite yet, let’s let some of the more modern franchises have a shot at the title. We’ll start with… wait, that can’t be right…

Flyers/Penguins

Forwards: Jaromir Jagr, Mark Recchi, John Leclair

Defensem*n: Paul Coffey, Kjell Samuelsson

Goaltender: Ken Wregget

This is an admittedly odd pairing, since the Penguins and Flyers hate each other and pretty much always have. But given that, there’s an oddly impressive amount of crossover featuring several of the best players of the last few decades. Jagr didn’t do much in Philadelphia and neither did Leclair in Pittsburgh, but when we add them up and we’re getting 13 all-star seasons. And while Recchi bounced around a ton, he had a combined five stints with these teams, accounting for the majority of his 22-year career. We’re so stacked up front we don’t even have to use Rick Tocchet or Kevin Stevens.

The backend is a little tougher, but we can squeeze in some good years from Coffey and our choice of the Samuelsson boys, Ulf and Kjell. And Wregget was better than you think. Are they contenders? They’re not the favorites, but they’re not bad. The only questions is (WWE voice) can they co-exist?

No, they clearly cannot. Look, they’re already punching each other. This was a bad idea, let’s never speak of it again. Instead, we’ll move on to a strange one…

Canucks/Panthers

Forwards: Pavel Bure, Todd Bertuzzi, Igor Larionov

Defensem*n: Ed Jovanoski, Bret Hedican

Goaltender: Roberto Luongo

Admit it, that’s a lot better lineup than you thought we’d be getting from this seemingly random pairing. Sure, it’s heavily driven by a handful of trades. But we’ve got almost all of a future Hall-of-Famer in net and one of the best goal-scorers of his era up front, plus a few more useful pieces. The weak spot is the blue line, as you knew it would be since the Canucks have been around for almost 50 seasons and have still never had a single elite defenseman and everyone just acts like this isn’t completely weird. Still, it all adds up to a way better entry than it probably has any right to be, and we’re including it as much for the novelty factor as anything.

Here’s another pairing that may not seem obvious, but yields a decent team…

Islanders/Sabres

Forwards: Pat LaFontaine, Clark Gillies, Pierre Turgeon

Defensem*n: Alexie Zhitnik, Uwe Krupp

Goaltender: Robin Lehner

I wanted to work in a Sabres team, and had a few candidates in mind. There’s Detroit, which would give us Dominik Hasek as well as the glory days of Danny Gare and Mike Foligno, but we’ve already got the Wings paired off with the Leafs. There’s the Devils, which could start off with Dave Andreychuk, Alexander Mogilny and some of Phil Housley. But I kind of like the Islanders pairing, if only because we know what happens if I don’t mention them in a post.

We’ve got a really nice forward group here, thanks to a blockbuster trade that gives us almost all of LaFontaine and about half of Turgeon, including both of their epic 1992-93 seasons. We also get an entire Hall-of-Fame career from Gillies, which pushes Kyle Okposo down to the farm team. But the blue line is just OK, and we’ll go Lehner’s higher peak in goal over a bigger body of work from Martin Biron.

Let’s skip ahead to a question that might have been brewing in the back of your head: Who’s the best tag team partner to help us reassemble the 1980s Edmonton dynasty?

Oilers/Kings

Forwards: Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, Ryan Smyth

Defensem*n: Paul Coffey, Charlie Huddy

Goaltender: Grant Fuhr

That looks awfully familiar, as most of our lineup is made up of the core that won a bunch of Cups in Edmonton. That’s no surprise, given that the Kings entire team-building strategy after the Gretzky trade was basically “surround him with as many former teammates as possible.” Mix in Smyth, and this is a lineup that Oiler fans can get behind, and probably brings back mostly good memories for Kings fans too.

So yeah, this team is good. But are they as good as another option we could build around Gretzky?

Oilers/Rangers

Forwards: Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri

Defensem*n: Kevin Lowe, Jeff Beukeboom

Goaltender: Cam Talbot

We’re weaker in several spots here, as the Sather Squad loses Coffey and Fuhr, not to mention three of Gretzky’s Art Ross seasons in L.A. But they gain one of the league’s all-time leading scorers in Messier, who I’m assured by Canucks fans only ever played for these two teams.

Is that enough to balance out the downgrades across the rest of the lineup? I’m not sure it is, especially since Kurri is a bit worse on this roster too (but still better than other options, like Glenn Anderson, Doug Weight and Adam Graves). It’s debatable, but I have the Los Angeles version ahead on my scorecard.

But wait… is it possible that the best Gretzky-based contender might not involve the Oilers at all?

Rangers/Kings

Forwards: Wayne Gretzky, Marcel Dionne, Luc Robitaille

Defensem*n: Harry Howell, Mark Hardy

Goaltender: Glen Healy

That’s not bad, although this team isn’t as strong as it appears at first glance. Remember, we’re losing all of Gretzky’s Edmonton seasons here, so instead of The Great One we’re really building around a merely Very Good One. But we’re gaining over 600 goals of Robitaille and 1,400 points of Dionne, plus two decades from a Hall-of-Fame blueliner in Howell. Even with a weak spot in net, this Gretzky squad at least has a place in the conversation.

To be honest, I’m not sure that any of our three Gretzky-inspired rosters is good enough to take the tag team titles. But if we let the Oilers, Rangers and Kings all compete as a threesome under the Freebird Rule, they’d be unbeatable. They could be managed by Bernie Nicholls. I may have thought about this too much.

In case you’re wondering, Gretzky’s fourth team doesn’t really combine with any of his others for a great squad. But that’s OK, because the Blues have another team they can partner up with…

Blues/Flames

Forwards: Brett Hull, Doug Gilmour, Joey Mullen

Defensem*n: Al MacInnis, Jay Bouwmeester

Goaltender: Curtis Joseph

I referenced it earlier in the summer, but it’s worth repeating: For a period back in the 1980s, the Blues and Flames only ever seemed to trade with each other. That gives us a forward line filled with Hall-of-Famers, and while we don’t get Gilmour’s peak years in Toronto, we do get most of his best work, six 40-goal seasons from Mullen, and over 550 goals from Hull.

That’s not a bad start, and we can supplement it with a blue line that features a Hall-of-Famer’s entire career, plus over a decade of Bouwmeester. Joseph barely played in Calgary and isn’t giving us as many seasons as we’d like, but his early Blues years were some of his very best, so we’ll give him the nod over larger bodies of work like Rick Wamsley.

But while Blues/Flames forms an impressive team, I still don’t think they can challenge the Leafs/Wings combo. That near-century of Original Six history might just be too big an advantage to overcome. So let’s close out our list with the one Original Six team we haven’t mentioned yet. (Jim Ross voice.) Good god, that’s the Montreal Canadiens’ music!

Rangers/Canadiens

Forwards: Guy Lafleur, Boom Boom Geoffrion, Howie Morenz

Defensem*n: Doug Harvey, Babe Siebert

Goaltender: Jacques Plante

Yikes. This lineup gives us all seven of Harvey’s Norris Trophies, six of Plante’s seven Vezinas, Geoffrion’s entire career and just about all of Lafleur and Morenz’s best production. Siebert’s only giving us a few seasons, especially since we’re not counting his Maroons stint, but we do get his Hart Trophy year. If he’s the weak link, we’ll take it. These are our new champs. And we didn’t even have to use Scott Gomez to do it!

Now it’s over to you. Head into the comments if you think you can beat the reigning champs, or just want to have some fun with a particular pairing. Looking to take a crack at one of the other Original Six combos? Looking to build a Rangers South tag team with New York and Tampa? Maybe take a crack at a surprisingly feisty Hawks/Thrashers pairing? Want to build a team around Martin Brodeur, Scott Stevens and Brendan Shanahan just so you can call them the Blue Devils? Feel like getting way to deep into a promising Avalanche/Sharks team before realizing no goalie has ever played for both franchises? Have at it. The Rangers and Canadiens are fighting champs, and are ready to defend their belts against on all comers.

(Top photo: Bruce Bennett Studios/Getty Images)