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The NHL’s most dangerous dynamic duos and what makes them tick

November 12, 2025
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Chemistry is hard to define or describe, but you know it when you see it.

Maybe you grew up on Henrik and Daniel Sedin terrorizing the Western Conference or Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin in the East. Or maybe it was Wayne Gretzky feeding Jari Kurri, Adam Oates finding Brett Hull, or Bryan Trottier and Mike Bossy leading the dynasty New York Islanders. Maybe your entry point is more recent: Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov in Tampa Bay, or Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in Edmonton.

Whenever you fell in love with the game, you know what it’s like when two NHL athletes take over games by making plays only they seem to see. And if you’ve ever played hockey, you know the magical feeling that is having an idea on the ice, trying it out and discovering your teammate was on exactly the same page.

But dynamic duos are more than an enormous part of hockey lore. They’re part of how modern-day NHL coaches build their lineups. Get two players that work, pair them together, and the rest all seems falls into place.

Today we take a look at the league’s most dangerous duos to start the season, with clips, quotes and scoring-chance data from Meghan Chayka at Stathletes, helping us talk about the players who are connecting most to create the NHL’s most dangerous plays.

Top 10 scoring chance data

Here are the league’s most dynamic duos in terms of creating scoring chances, with the passer shown on the left and the shooter on the right.

The combinations you see twice? Those pairs are so good they’ve made the leaderboard in both directions.

Passer Shooter Scoring Chances

Clayton Keller

➔

Nick Schmaltz

19

Martin Necas

➔

Nathan MacKinnon

17

Jesper Bratt

➔

Jack Hughes

16

Sidney Crosby

➔

Bryan Rust

13

Kyle Connor

➔

Mark Scheifele

12

Nathan MacKinnon

➔

Martin Necas

12

Macklin Celebrini

➔

Will Smith

12

Mark Scheifele

➔

Kyle Connor

11

Lucas Raymond

➔

Alex DeBrincat

11

Troy Terry

➔

Leo Carlsson

11

Today’s piece is heavily informed — but not fully dictated — by Stathletes’ scoring chance data. We’re also looking at point totals, finishing, and a subjective sense of players who can’t help but find each other when they’re on the ice.

Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz

The first of two Mammoth duos has absolutely dominated the flow of play, while connecting for the most scoring chances of any two players in the NHL this season. They’re the the single most dangerous scoring chance pipeline in hockey, with 19 scoring chances coming from Schmaltz-to-Keller setups.

With those numbers, it’s no surprise Schmaltz has factored in on 12 of Keller’s 15 points so far this season. They overlap for the goal and primary assist on eight Utah goals (second only to Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor), outscoring their opponents 23-13 and outshooting them 106-73 through their first 16 games this season.

What are teams even supposed to do?

Some of the duo’s success comes from their role on Utah’s top power-play unit, with the right-shooting Schmaltz in the high slot and the left-shooting Keller set up on his off wing. They play catch so well, threading needles into and out of the slot through sticks as needed.

A lot of their dominance is about what they do off the rush, where they’re equally likely to find each other attacking at pace:

The Mammoth are one of the NHL’s top teams in transition, which is entirely sensible for a team so young, fast and talented. Give credit to their coaching staff for finding different ways to exploit their speed.

On this milestone goal, JJ Peterka’s touch pass plays a key role off a Mammoth breakout. The finishing strike belongs to Keller — his 100th career point with Utah — but Schmaltz’s vision makes it all click.

Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther

Every duo on this list has put together a lengthy highlight reel. Cooley and Guenther’s might just be the most spectacular. They simply find each other, no matter what else is happening on a shift.

They’ve connected directly for seven Mammoth goals, exploiting counterattack opportunities with their speed and finishing plays that display raw offensive instincts. This Cooley dangle was part of a natural hat trick he picked up in the first period against St. Louis, with Guenther setting up all three goals:

Counterattack and finishing brilliance are their hallmark. The duo is up 20-13 in goals with a 133-83 lead in shots, made possible by the speed at which the duo turns 50-50 pucks into quality scoring chances.

Watch how Guenther steals, spins and places a perfect backhand pass on Cooley’s stick against Edmonton on Oct. 28. The goal starts with the Oilers on the attack, but Cooley gets it out of the zone leading to a fumble and Guenther’s spinning pass. There are a lot of players who wouldn’t score on the shot Cooley ultimately chooses to take, but he puts it on off the post against the grain of Stuart Skinner’s push.

It’s not all about pace and counterattack, though. Cooley’s first goal against the St. Louis Blues was a one-time bomb, teed up with a Guenther drop pass on a broken play. Guenther’s game-winner against the Winnipeg Jets was the product of an aggressive forecheck and Cooley returning the spinning backhand favor with an incredible pass off the boards and into the slot.

The duo plays close together on Utah’s No. 1 power play, connecting for two goals with the man advantage. They provided two layers of screen on the play that led to Cooley’s third goal against the Blues.

Their pace, skill, and ability to find each other at pace are the best parts. It’s no-numbers-needed chemistry, with elite finishing to boot.

Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith

Macklin Celebrini is on the path to superstardom, emerging as a potential next face of the NHL, but don’t overlook Will Smith’s role in Celebrini’s success.

Smith is in on 13 of Macklin Celebrini’s 24 points so far this season — impressive, though not quite as as influential as Celebrini factoring in on 13 of Smith’s 16 points. Smith is half of the duo’s famous “Dumb and Dumber” Tik Tok post and consistently finds himself on the business end of Celebrini’s brilliant passes.

The duo has outscored its opposition 14-3 while playing together at five-on-five, which is an incredible advantage given their underlying numbers are closer to 50 percent. Is it possible that generational talent defies PDO?

Zoom into the goals themselves and you’ll find tap-ins like Smith’s above, netfront pileups, and yes, a little bit of luck. Mostly you’ll find a steady stream of passes from Celebrini to Smith for scoring chances — the fifth most scoring chances created by one teammate for another in the NHL.

Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor

The Jets have scored 47 times so far this season. Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor have scored 18 of those goals, with one of them directly setting up the other 10 times. That’s a greater degree of overlap for primary points than any other two players on this list — and the scoring chance numbers back it up.

Via Stathletes, Connor has set Scheifele up for 12 scoring chances so far this season — the fifth-highest total in the NHL. Scheifele has set Connor up for 11. There is only one other duo creating this many scoring chances in both directions — Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas — and one of those players is a Hart Trophy winner who routinely scores well over 100 points per season.

“They’re like the Harlem Globetrotters in the o-zone,” new Jets forward Cole Koepke said early this season. “When J-Mo’s out there, all of them are just wheeling and dealing, passing the puck, gives, goes, and the next thing you know it’s in the back of the net.”

The Globetrotters reference is a reminder that Connor and Scheifele can wheel in open ice. In this case, Connor uses his speed to beat one defender and then draw a second one toward himself before finding Scheifele on the wing.

There is also a slower, cycling, in-zone element to this duo’s offence: Scheifele is one of the NHL’s top skilled forwards in terms of puck protection, turning his back to the play, boxing out his defender, and moving the puck into dangerous space. It’s a perfect complement for Connor, who is great at finding soft ice and then using a deceptive, quick release to beat goaltenders outright.

Their sense of spacing — when to play tight, when to look for holes, and when to stretch the offensive zone to the fullest — is second to none, based on nine seasons’ worth of playing together on the Jets’ top line.

Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas

Nathan MacKinnon leads the NHL in points and it’s not close, following his four point game in Edmonton by picking up five points in Vancouver the very next night. The scary thing is that, based on the number of scoring chances between MacKinnon and Martin Necas, MacKinnon could have even more points than he already does.

MacKinnon scores with everyone, seemingly at will. He’s combined with Necas for 11 points — a much higher percentage of Necas’ 19 points this season than MacKinnon’s 29. They’ve combined to be the scorer and the primary assist six times, which is fewer than most of the other pairs on this list, and it’s clear that MacKinnon is on another level than Necas (or any other player in the league right now).

It’s the sheer volume of scoring chances they create that earns them their spot. Necas’ speed gives the Avalanche another dynamic threat through the neutral zone and he’s not afraid to play East-West hockey, using the full width of the offensive zone to create space for his teammates.

It’s not surprising that one of the world’s best — and fastest — players can exploit that space. The surprising part might be that, according to Stathletes data, there are more Necas-to-MacKinnon passes for scoring chances than any other combination in the league.

Necas had fed MacKinnon for 17 such changes, second only to Schmaltz feeding Keller, so it can’t be argued that MacKinnon is doing things all by himself.

Even when he makes plays like this one:

Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki

If you don’t watch a lot of Montreal Canadiens games, you might not know quite how dominant Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield have been together this season. The Canadiens have outscored teams 11-3 with the two of them playing together at five-on-five, while earning 60 percent of shots and expected goals.

Juraj Slafkovsky deserves credit here, too — he’s finished off some stunning passing plays — but Suzuki and Caufield connect for the lion’s share of moments that make you wonder how they even found each other. Suzuki has points on 12 of Caufield’s 18 points and the primary assist on five of Caufield’s 12 goals, including this game-winner:

It doesn’t hurt that the two get so many puck touches on the NHL’s fifth-best power play, either — Suzuki is tied for sixth with nine power play points and Caufield’s had a hand in six of them.

Jesper Bratt and Jack Hughes

The Jesper Bratt to Jack Hughes passing pipeline has created the third-most scoring chances in the NHL. That’s a trend that might surprise you if you’re not paying close attention to the Devils — Hughes tends to get most of the acclaim — but the hockey world is starting to take notice.

“I feel like Bratt flies under the radar so much around the league for how good he actually is,” one scout told Peter Baugh when granted anonymity for this piece. “So dynamic, such a creative passer. Him and Jack’s chemistry is great.”

Bratt has set Hughes up for 16 scoring chances in all situations so far this season, including this beauty against Colorado:

Hughes and Bratt have managed to get outscored 10-8 despite controlling the flow of play, including a sizable advantage in scoring chances. The Devils have managed just .878 goaltending behind the duo at five-on-five, a number that won’t last even if team defence stays a bit loose with so many young defencemen in the lineup and Brett Pesce out of it.

Give Bratt and Hughes credit for success on the forecheck, too, as on this play for Hughes’ outstanding goal against Edmonton.

Honorable mentions:

  1. Lucas Raymond and Alex DeBrincat
  2. Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust
  3. Leo Carlsson and Troy Terry
  4. Evan Bouchard and Connor McDavid
  5. Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake

There are some notable absences here, including Jack Eichel and Mark Stone — who would almost certainly qualify had Stone stayed healthy — and any combination involving Connor Bedard. It shouldn’t need to be said but it’s not remotely a bad thing that Bedard, Carlsson or Eichel are all well inside the top-10 in league scoring despite generating their offense with various combinations of players.




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