A really good line can start clicking for a number of reasons.

Sometimes, it's simply due to the individual talent of the three forwards in question, but it isn't always that easy. Putting the best three players together doesn't always pay dividends. Often, it's more effective to combine ones whose strengths complement each other perfectly.

The top two units in hockey clearly play in Denver and Boston. However, the rest of the list isn't as cut-and-dried.

Some lines - like those featuring both Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl - were more than effective but weren't deployed consistently enough to qualify, while others (like those consisting of McDavid and various other teammates or the ones featuring Hart Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov) were certainly productive, but didn't rank highly enough in many of the relevant analytic categories.

Here's who we consider the NHL's five most consistent all-around three-man units based on advanced stats from the 2018-19 regular season, their collective two-way talent, and the success of their respective teams.

All stats are at five-on-five. Games played denotes number of contests played together as a line. League ranking is in parentheses. Time-on-ice ranking is based on a minimum 400 minutes at five-on-five.

5. Marchessault-Karlsson-Smith

The Vegas Golden Knights' unit of Jonathan Marchessault, William Karlsson, and Reilly Smith wasn't the powerhouse this past season that it was two years ago. However, it remained one of the NHL's most dependable lines.

While other productive groups like the Dallas Stars' top line of Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and Alexander Radulov produced a better share of Goals For in 2018-19, the enduring Golden Knights line played more together than all but one three-man forward unit in the NHL, driving possession at a favorable rate in the process.

They skated about 340 more minutes together in total than their Stars counterparts, who were shuffled around at times.

That heavy deployment was a testament to the chemistry that this Golden Knights line has demonstrated for the better part of two seasons, and if their Expected Goals For percentage is any indication, it's likely to stay that way.

4. Gaudreau-Monahan-Lindholm

This was an impressive trio in 2018-19, and it was only slightly less effective than the third-best group on this list.

The Calgary Flames' triumvirate of Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, and Elias Lindholm consistently drove possession and ranked relatively high in many analytics categories while leading a team that boasted the NHL's third-best offense.

This unit also posted respectable Scoring Chances For (52.56), High-Danger Corsi For (52.65), and High-Danger Goals For (58.82) percentages.

What this line did in 2018-19 definitely deserves some recognition, particularly when you remember it was Lindholm's first season with the club.

3. Hyman-Tavares-Marner

No line scored more goals at five-on-five in 2018-19 than the 53 buried by the Zach Hyman-John Tavares-Mitch Marner unit.

Only the No. 1 line on this list and the Golden Knights' top unit played more together during the campaign than this Toronto Maple Leafs trio, which posted a Scoring Chances For percentage of 56.51, exceeding the aforementioned Flames line in the process.

The Toronto threesome also produced excellent High-Danger Corsi For (56.82) and High-Danger Goals For (61.7) rates, proving more than capable of generating a favorable share of shot attempts, scoring opportunities, and goals across the board.

Yes, the Leafs, as a team, have to further prove themselves in the playoffs, but what this line accomplished across the majority of the campaign was impressive, especially considering that much like Lindholm and the Flames, it was Tavares' first campaign with his new squad.

Of course, Marner's contract situation could at least temporarily spell the end of this trio, but until he's absent from Leafs training camp or a member of another team, we're going to assume that these three players will line up together in 2019-20.

2. Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak

The excellence displayed by Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and David Pastrnak is even more impressive when you remember that two members of the Boston Bruins' elite forward group missed a combined 33 games due to injury this past season.

Bergeron was limited to 65 games in the regular season, and Pastrnak played 66. That obviously had an effect on the trio's totals, but the fact that they still drove possession as consistently as they did speaks not only to their obvious talent but also to their undeniable chemistry.

Despite the lack of season-long continuity, this line still finished with a top-five Corsi For rating, and only five teams had a better Expected Goals For rate. Bergeron's status as a defensive demigod also cements this group as one of the league's best.

Plus, you can't argue with the team's results, as the top line's strong play helped the Bruins reach the Stanley Cup Final this past spring.

1. Landeskog-MacKinnon-Rantanen

There's a pretty good reason why the Colorado Avalanche's tandem of Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon, and Mikko Rantanen led the NHL in ice time at five-on-five despite playing fewer games together than eight other forward units.

That reason, of course, is that they're arguably the best line in hockey. It makes a ton of sense that Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar would rely so heavily on his tremendous trio, as these three players excelled both individually and collectively in 2018-19.

MacKinnon, who consistently plays at a Hart Trophy level, topped 40 goals and fell one point shy of 100 this past season. Rantanen has averaged 30 goals and 85 points over his last two campaigns (only his second and third in the NHL), and Landeskog had a career year himself with 34 goals and 75 points.

All three possess both goal-scoring prowess and elite playmaking ability. It's that combination of skills that makes them so difficult to defend against.

Much like Marner, Rantanen is currently a restricted free agent in need of a new contract. However, he's Colorado's only free agent and the team has more than $16 million in cap space, so don't expect this line to be broken up anytime soon.

(Analytics courtesy: Corsica and Natural Stat Trick)

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The Maine Mariners will dedicate a night to the most beloved referee in hockey next season.

Wes McCauley Appreciation Night will be held Nov. 15 when the New York Rangers' ECHL affiliate hosts the Brampton Beast, the Mariners announced Thursday.

McCauley will be on hand to sign autographs for fans during the first intermission, and the team will play a video compilation of some of his best mic'd up moments on the scoreboard. Fans are also being encouraged to wear officiating stripes to honor him.

A resident of South Portland, Maine, McCauley has been a full-time NHL ref since 2005, working numerous Stanley Cup Finals throughout his career.

The 47-year-old has earned both respect from NHL players for his officiating ability and adoration from fans for his emphatic calls.

McCauley was voted the league's top referee in an NHLPA players poll during the 2017-18 season.

- With h/t to BarDown

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The New York Islanders have taken another significant step toward breaking ground on a new home.

New York's Empire State Development board approved the Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Belmont Park facility, the Islanders announced Thursday.

Six members of the board voted unanimously in favor of the $1.3-billion arena and entertainment complex, according to Newsday's Candice Ferrette and Jim Baumbach.

It was the final stage of ESD approval required for the plan. The next step before groundbreaking can begin is for the Franchise Oversight board to rubber-stamp the state's environmental review. That's expected in a matter of weeks, according to Ferrette and Baumbach.

The Islanders' new home is expected to open in the fall of 2021 at a projected cost of $955 million. It would be the first major-league sports arena to be built on Long Island since Nassau Coliseum in 1972.

The club played regularly at the Coliseum until 2015 and essentially split its home games between that arena and Brooklyn's Barclays Center in 2018-19. The Islanders also played both of their first-round home playoff dates at their original barn this past spring.

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Last month, on Independence Day, the Portland Pickles hosted a one-off exhibition game dubbed Future of Baseball Night - a radical reimagining of the sport. Every bunt hit was ruled a double, and batters ran the bases clockwise during odd-numbered innings. If needed, a home run derby would have been staged to break a tie.

Of the 12 clubs that comprise the collegiate summer West Coast League, only the Pickles have ever thought to organize a D.B. Cooper Night. On a Sunday in June, fans were encouraged to arrive with theories about the fate of the skyjacker whose parachute escape has mystified U.S. authorities for the past five decades.

And on every game night at Portland's home park, Walker Stadium, players and spectators rise to their feet whenever the Pickles plate a run. Together they hoist their stools and lawn chairs toward the sky, an enduring nod to a relief pitcher who once surrendered to spontaneity and celebrated that way in the bullpen.

"If we score a lot of runs, it's a real workout," said Pickles owner Alan Miller. "It's really fun to watch people who haven't been there before look around, like, 'What is going on?'"

It's safe to say they do baseball differently in Portland, where an anthropomorphic vegetable mascot named Dillon the Pickle paces the sidelines with a perpetual smile, and where offbeat ideas tend to prevail.

Miller, 47, is a California-raised baseball obsessive who has spent most of his adult life working as an entertainment marketer. Along with his fellow Pickles owner, former NFL punter Jon Ryan, he's on a self-described "quest" to be transformative in a staid sport. Portland doesn't have another baseball team, and Miller is convinced that every Pickles homestand should double as "the best party in town."

Such are the conditions under which the Pickles recently distinguished themselves from the rest of North America's sports landscape. This season, they became the first team in baseball to strike a sponsorship deal with a CBD brand - a novel kind of partnership that, if attitudes change, could soon permeate the biggest leagues around.

A rapid-fire primer on CBD, or cannabidiol: It's the compound found in cannabis plants that doesn't get users high. (THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the psychoactive component.) Anecdotal accounts and some clinical trials suggest that CBD oil extracted from hemp can help manage pain and other medical conditions without the deleterious effects of opioids. Consumer demand is skyrocketing.

The Brightfield Group, a Chicago research firm that studies cannabis markets, has predicted that the value of the hemp-derived CBD industry will balloon to $22 billion by 2022, up from a mere $591 million in 2018. In pure financial terms, it stands to reason that leagues that have long cozied up to beer companies might want a piece of that advertising money.

To date, though, interest in aligning with the CBD movement has mostly been limited to the fringes of American sports, such as the relatively obscure West Coast League. While 90 WCL alumni were selected in this year's MLB draft, including No. 1 overall pick Adley Rutschman, it isn't even the country's most prominent summer baseball competition. (That distinction belongs to the much older Cape Cod League.)

Yet even far removed from the shining lights of the majors, the Pickles' pact with Lazarus Naturals, a CBD manufacturer based in Seattle, marks a significant step.

At every Pickles home game during the regular season, which concludes this weekend, Lazarus employees have positioned themselves in an area near right field to sell select company wares - such as CBD tinctures and balm - and to answer any questions about the substance. Banners bearing the Lazarus logo hang around the park. The team has invited military veterans to watch games from a Lazarus-branded box, situated in prime viewing territory between home plate and the opposing dugout.

Some fans have been apprehensive about Lazarus' presence at the park; others mistakenly thought the company's comparatively understated sales booth would resemble a head shop. Miller, though, has found the vast majority to be receptive - open either to purchasing a CBD product or, at least, to learning more about it.

"As a sports team, or as any business, I think we have an obligation to be progressive," Miller said. "There's a negative stigma around CBD because of the confusion with cannabis and how all the different elements work, and this is a hemp-derived product and some are not. But it was important to me to help open that door and make it a bit more accessible to people.

"At the end of the day," he continued, "this is a product that is helping people."

Increasingly, this conviction is gaining purchase across a number of sports, well beyond the snug confines of Walker Stadium.

Take auto racing's IndyCar Series, where James Hinchcliffe and Marcus Ericsson drive with the logo of a CBD-infused sports beverage, Defy, on their cars. Tennis player John Isner endorses Defy, which Pro Football Hall of Famer Terrell Davis helped create. PGA Tour veteran Bubba Watson is sponsored by cbdMD, a North Carolina-based brand that's also the official jersey patch provider of the BIG3 basketball league.

"Sports are really the perfect way to begin preaching and educating a diverse audience on how CBD, holistically, represents a more natural approach to wellness," said Ken Cohn, cbdMD's chief marketing officer. "With major partners like Bubba and the BIG3, we think we're getting the CBD brand and our story in front of millions of people in ways that otherwise we wouldn't be able to accomplish."

Jeff Kwatinetz, the entertainment executive who co-founded the BIG3 with Ice Cube in 2017, says his league's deal with cbdMD falls in line with its overarching desire to take care of players. The three-on-three basketball circuit, which barnstorms across U.S. cities on summer weekends, has become a landing spot for dozens of former NBAers at the tail end of their careers, from Gilbert Arenas to Amar'e Stoudemire to current per-game scoring leader Joe Johnson.

These players have subjected their bodies to a whole lot of pain over the years, which prompted the BIG3 to permit the use of CBD in 2018. Several companies subsequently approached the league about a partnership. As of this season, the cbdMD logo adorns every BIG3 uniform.

"For us to make the decision, I had to look at: What's the right messaging toward our fans?" Kwatinetz said. "I have a 20-month-old daughter. Would I would want her taking CBD or Oxycontin (someday) if she needed pain (relief)? The answer is simple. I would want to avoid opioids at all costs, seeing how they're ravaging society.

"Our world needs to be improved. Any way that we can help, we want to help. And certainly with athletes, we feel a responsibility to them," he added. "It's doing things we believe are better for society. CBD, frankly, was an easy one."

The tradition of athletes trumpeting the benefits of various pain remedies long predates CBD's ascent into the mainstream. Shaquille O'Neal made Icy Hot patches famous. Joe Namath used to shoot commercials for aloe vera gel. In May, Namath told Fox Business that he thinks athletes should be allowed to treat pain with marijuana, so long as they don't drive while high.

On the same day as Namath's comments were published, the UFC announced that it planned to partner with Aurora Cannabis to facilitate clinical research into the link between CBD and athlete wellness and recovery. The NHL Alumni Association has a similar arrangement in place with another cannabis producer, Canopy Growth, to test whether CBD could help treat post-concussion neurological diseases.

As these studies get underway, the advertising space represents another barometer with which pro sports' tolerance for CBD can be gauged. At the moment, all of the United States' four major leagues - the NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB - prohibit their franchises from signing CBD companies as sponsors.

No discussion has taken place at the NFL about the possibility of partnering with CBD brands, Brian McCarthy, the league's vice president of communications, told theScore via email.

An NBA spokesperson said in an email that the league is discussing CBD with its teams and the players' association and is "continuing to stay abreast of the latest developments in the science and related legal and regulatory frameworks.”

Meanwhile, the shape of CBD legalization across the U.S. is a hodgepodge. Laws governing its sale and possession vary by city and state. The cultivation and sale of hemp has been legal at the federal level since late 2018, but the national Food and Drug Administration has so far approved just one CBD product, a prescription drug that treats rare forms of epilepsy.

Timothy Dewhirst, a marketing professor at Guelph University in Ontario, Canada, said it's understandable that high-profile leagues may want to wait for the FDA to introduce comprehensive regulations before considering CBD brands as sponsors. Yet even if the biggest fish remain wary, the deals that already exist in Portland, the PGA Tour, and elsewhere could have a potent effect on public opinion.

"That kind of visibility (CBD companies) can gain by these partnerships, and especially a partnership with someone like Bubba Watson, a two-time Masters champion - if he's touting the great benefits of these products and their safety and so on, that can go a long way to making them deemed far more socially acceptable," Dewhirst said.

If the major leagues come to view CBD lines as appropriate partners, the inroads that the product makes into sports advertising circles could compare to those of the gambling industry, Syracuse University sports management professor Patrick Walsh suggested in an interview. The NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB have all inked official casino or gaming partnerships within the past 13 months, a sea change made possible by the May 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed states to legalize sports betting.

Major League Soccer didn't respond to requests for comment about its stance on CBD partnerships, but it, too, has displayed a willingness to venture into markets once considered taboo. In June, three months after MLS struck its own gaming partnership with MGM Resorts, the league authorized its clubs to pursue stadium-naming and jersey-sponsorships deals with sports betting and liquor companies, a first in U.S. team sports.

"We want to be viewed as a progressive league," MLS senior vice president of business development Carter Ladd told Fortune at the time. "We don't want to be restrictive. We want to enable (our clubs) in a positive way, and that's why we're taking this action."

Miller, the Pickles owner, traces his desire to push the boundaries of baseball entertainment back to August 1994, when a players' strike halted the MLB season and later prompted the cancellation of the World Series.

At 22 years old, single, and living in Los Angeles, he set out with friends on idle days throughout the rest of that summer to discover nearby minor-league experiences, starting with the High-A Lake Elsinore Storm, where a bunny mascot bounded from the outfield wall to perform a little jig every time the home side scored a run.

"That was too good," Miller said.

Ahead of the advent of the internet, Miller knew little about the minor-league scene in different pockets of the U.S., but in the following years he journeyed to ballparks as far away as Staten Island and Durham, N.C., observing, appreciating, and memorizing the quirks and customs that made each place different. The promotions that stuck in his mind were those that seemed authentic, having amplified something cool about the team's city.

Before he recounted this personal history one recent afternoon, Miller mentioned that the Pickles were hours away from holding the franchise's first Tattoo Tuesday, where anyone aged 21 or older could have a mark of their fandom etched into their skin free of charge. It was, as he put it, just another day in Portland.

The deal with Lazarus Naturals is one more way in which Miller's merry band of chair-raisers stand apart from the pack - for now. The Pickles are committed to the partnership for the next couple of years, by which point, if more state legislatures begin to adopt Oregon's lenient approach, they could have plenty of company in the market.

To Miller, it's less a matter of if than when.

"In three-to-five years, it's just going to be like buying a beer or buying a hot dog at any other park," he said. "There's no way it isn't going to be, 'I have a Budweiser deal and I have this CBD company deal.'"

Nick Faris is a features writer at theScore.

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Although then-Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban said Sidney Crosby told him his breath smelled bad during the 2017 Stanley Cup Final, it was Crosby who was left with a bad taste in his mouth.

The Pittsburgh Penguins superstar recently admitted to being bothered by Subban's accusation following the Predators' Game 3 win of that series.

"Yeah, I was a little irritated by it," Crosby said on Barstool Sports' Spittin' Chiclets podcast. "I mean, I think you could tell at the time when I was doing the interviews. It was just the last thing I wanted to be talking about. But I mean, maybe that was part of it.

"(Subban) had said something to (Jake Guentzel while) leaving the ice, and I just went to kind of get in the middle and try to break them up. He kind of kept saying stuff, and him and I went at it. Nothing was said even remotely close to that, but then to read that after, it was like, 'Oh okay, I'm going to have to answer (questions) about this.'"

Crosby, at the time, denied making fun of Subban's breath. In February 2018 of the following season, the blue-liner admitted to making the whole thing up.

The Penguins defeated the Predators in six games in 2017 to give Crosby his third-career Stanley Cup victory. The win likely helped the recently-turned 32-year-old to look back and laugh about the incident.

"He still jokes about it - we were just at the awards and he was still joking around about it. I mean, it is what it is. … That's just mind games, it's nothing. Me and him had some good run-ins throughout the whole series, I was playing a lot against him. I don't have anything against him for that. I just was kind of annoyed that I had to answer about it."

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