As is often the case early in the NHL season, the teams that have the most success early tend to have the most players among the league’s top scorers. Eventually hot starts trail off and the top-30 or so scorers start to diversify in terms of what teams they come from. However, as has been the case in the last two seasons, pretty much wire to wire, you’re going to find Dallas Stars forwards Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin high up on the list.

After his first four seasons with Dallas, it was abundantly clear that Benn was a rising star in the league. The supporting cast around him, however, was not going to allow the club to be especially competitive. They risked wasting a talent on the rise.

Enter Seguin in 2013-14. Acquired in a stunning trade with the Boston Bruins, there was still uncertainty as to whether Seguin would mature and if he could grow into the player that everyone thought he could be when he was the second overall pick at the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.

It was the first big move in a series of three splashy summers for Stars GM Jim Nill and it will always be the most important. The two combined for 164 points that first season together. Last year, Benn won the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s scoring champion with 87 points while Seguin notched 37 goals for a second straight season despite missing 11 games with injury.

This season Benn and Seguin are first and tied for second in league scoring, respectively. Benn has posted nine goals and eight assists, putting him three points clear of his Dallas teammate and Boston Bruins forward David Krejci. His nine goals put him two ahead of four other players.

Meanwhile, the Stars are tops in the Central Division with an 8-2-0 record. They are getting somewhat better goaltending this season with Antti Niemi taking more of the reps in net and the young defense continues improving. Things are starting to come together for a team that took a big step back last season after reaching the playoffs in the first year of the Benn-Seguin Experience.

However, it’s not just the points that make Benn and Seguin the league’s most dynamic duo. It’s the way they combine power and skill that makes them so fun to watch. Benn can bowl through just about anybody, but he has the touch to be one of the league’s elite scorers. Seguin is artful with the puck on his stick, using his strong stickhandling ability and hockey sense to beat defenders with ease and the speed to often make them look silly.  Every time they hit the ice, it’s an event. This season, it’s also proving to be successful where it matters most – the standings.

Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn are on fire once again to start the season. (USATSI)
Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn are on fire once again to start the season. (USATSI)

2. Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov, Washington Capitals

One of the season’s most interesting developments has been the matching of Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov on Washington’s top line with T.J. Oshie.

Normally, Ovechkin would be paired with Nicklas Backstrom, one of the elite setup men in the game for the game’s best goal scorer. However, injury kept Backstrom out of the team’s first three games, requiring a new center for Ovechkin. Barry Trotz tabbed Ovi’s countryman Kuznetsov for the job and it’s been as entertaining as it has been effective. Kuznetsov is among the league’s top scorers with 12 points this season. Ovechkin has five goals and nine points.

Perhaps the most important thing this line has done is that it has allowed the Caps the flexibility to put Backstrom as their No. 2 center, providing a much more difficult matchup situation for opposing teams. Meanwhile, Kuznetsov is poised for the breakout season many predicted for him following his strong finish to 2014-15.

3. P.K. Subban and Andrei Markov, Montreal Canadiens

Usually when we’re talking about dynamic duos, the defensemen get left out even though they’re naturally a duo. They don’t produce at the clip of the forwards and don’t get to be as flashy usually, but these two break the mold.

Subban and Markov were huge driving forces behind the Habs’ remarkable start to the season. Both are among the league’s top scorers right now as well with 11 points, each posting an identical one goal and 10 assists. They are together almost exclusively at even strength and have combined for 13 assists with teams skating five-on-five. Obviously, the forwards are benefiting from that as well.

The Habs have five players in the top-20 in league scoring to start the year. It’s all three forwards on their top line – Max Pacioretty, Tomas Plekanec and Brendan Gallagher -- and both of their top defensemen. When that quintet is on the ice, there are few teams better in the NHL and a lot of that has to do with their dynamic top pairing of Subban and Markov.

P.K. Subban and Andrei Markov have been dynamic from the blue line. (USATSI)
P.K. Subban and Andrei Markov have been dynamic from the blue line. (USATSI)

4. Connor McDavid and Nail Yakupov, Edmonton Oilers

There might not be two players more fun to watch play together right now than McDavid and Yakupov. Paired on a line with veteran forward Benoit Pouliot, the two former No. 1 overall picks look like a match made in heaven.

Since being put on the same line, both of their games have really taken off after a brief adjustment period. McDavid overcame a slow start with one point in his first four NHL games to explode for 11 in his last eight. Yakupov also had one point through his first four and now has nine over his last eight.

What makes McDavid and Yakupov so entertaining is the speed at which they play. Yakupov is 22 and McDavid is 18, yet they’re driving NHL defensemen nuts because of how they’re able to buzz through the neutral zone and create in the offensive zone.

McDavid has been phenomenal and everything everyone said he would be, but his ability to help Yakupov break out could prove to be one of the key long-term benefits of his arrival.

5. Patrick Kane and Artemi Panarin, Chicago Blackhawks

When Kane looks at Panarin, he has to wonder if he’s looking in a mirror that turns back the clock about four years. How Panarin is built, how he looks and how he plays is incredibly reminiscent of Kane around the same age.

Head coach Joel Quenneville loves to jumble his lines, so it’s hard to keep duos together, but Panarin has been Kane’s most frequent linemate this season along with center Artem Anisimov. It gives Chicago one of the most dangerous second lines they’ve had in the last few years.

Kane is among the league leaders already with 13 points, including six goals. Panarin, a 23-year-old rookie in his first season in North America at any level, has nine points. They have been in on seven of Chicago’s 20 goals this season and continually keep defensemen on their heels with their immense collective puck skills. This could be an interesting duo all year long, or at least until Quenneville inevitably breaks them up.

Honorable mention: Max Pacioretty and Tomas Plekanec (Montreal Canadiens), Mark Stone and Kyle Turris (Ottawa Senators), Jaromir Jagr and Aleksander Barkov (Florida Panthers)