When you think of dynamic duos, the chances are your mind immediately goes to Batman and Robin, but who comes to mind when discussing the NHL?

It's a question we asked ourselves after watching Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin help each other reach milestones last week in the Pittsburgh Penguins' overtime win against the Buffalo Sabres.

Crosby reached the 1,600-point mark and Malkin scored his 500th career goal in that game and we were left marveling at their brilliant and ongoing careers. Over the history of the NHL, there have been countless numbers of teammates who helped set standards for each other and their teams.

But NHL history is vast, and the various eras make it tricky to compare who was better than another one, so we're going to limit our scope just a little and rank the top duos in the NHL since 2000. That gives us almost a quarter century to comb over stats and team successes and general impacts on the game.

Picking out the top 10 was difficult enough but ranking them out from there was even harder to do, so cut us some slack in the comments or don't do that and just sound off about why we're wrong.

10. Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry

From 2005-2006 until 2018-2019, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry made life miserable for any opponent of the Anaheim Ducks.

Their similar styles of playing fast, physical and hard made them a perfect fit in the Western Conference and not only did they muscle opposing players around, but they also scored a ton of points together.

Since the 2000-2001 season, Getzlaf ranks 19th in points scored and keep in mind he retired in 2022. Perry, of course, is still playing and annoying other teams by toeing the line with his physical play and hanging around the net bothering goalies.

But when your favorite team lined up against the Ducks, you knew there was no way it was going to be an easy night because both Getzlaf and Perry were going to be delivering crunching hits and scoring backbreaking goals if not defended well enough.

What's remarkable about the pair is they helped the Ducks win the Stanley Cup in 2007 and Anaheim missed the playoffs just three times and made it to the Western Conference Final three other times in the 14 seasons they were together.

9. Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov

Sometimes the best duos aren't meant to last forever, and the magic we've watched Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov perform together since 2013-2014 through to last season was filled with all kinds of highlights, not to mention a couple Stanley Cups.

Both light up opposing goalies and make it look easy. Kucherov does it with a mix of elite stickhandling and skill as well as a sick shot, while Stamkos' shot remains one of the best weapons in hockey, particularly on the power play.

In the 11 years Stamkos and Kucherov were teammates, the Lightning missed the playoffs only once in 2016-2017 and that was by just one point in the standings.

They were a threat to win the Cup every year and they pulled it off two years in succession. It doesn't matter that those seasons were thrown out of whack by the pandemic (although it helps spice up arguments to bring it up) and doesn't take away from how dangerous those two were for Tampa Bay.

One day they'll raise Stamkos' No. 91 to the rafters, and they'll probably have Kucherov's right next to it when that time comes as well.

Yes, these Lightning teams were loaded with talent all over the ice, but these two together helped make Tampa Bay a perpetual threat to go all the way.

8. Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin

You could say Henrik and Daniel Sedin had an unfair advantage into being one of the best duos in hockey since 2000 given they're identical twin brothers.

However, the fact that they also happened to be among the best players in the NHL and stayed together with the Vancouver Canucks for their entire career is beyond impressive.

The Sedins played like they could reach each other's minds and knew precisely where one another was going to be on the ice at all times. They finished with near-identical career point totals with Henrik outscoring Daniel 1,070 to 1,041 in 24 more games played.

The Sedins were the picture of consistency. Their play together helped the Canucks become a perennial playoff contender in a brutal Western Conference that was dominated by Chicago and Los Angeles.

That they punched through and made it to the 2011 Stanley Cup Final against Boston proved how good they could be. That they fell one win shy of Vancouver's first-ever Cup is tough because for all the criticism the Sedins got from opposition fans, the adulation they deserved was harder to come by because they didn't win it all.

7. Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk

From 2002-2003 until 2015-2016, the pairing of Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk terrified opponents of the Detroit Red Wings and thrilled fans with their spectacular abilities.

Both were brilliant offensive players capable of scoring and helping set up teammates as well. Since 2000-2001, Zetterberg has the 25th most points in the NHL and Datsyuk is 29th.

Zetterberg was ruthlessly efficient in how he scored, while Datsyuk seemed to make the highlight reel nightly with the way he handled the puck and broke opponents' ankles at will.

But what also made them miserable for opponents to deal with was the way they defended. Zetterberg's presence up front frustrated countless top-scoring teams by smothering them on the forecheck. Datsyuk was a magician with the stick capable of stealing the puck away without his rival realizing he'd done it.

The two of them were brilliant and when you factor in Nicklas Lidström on defense, it's easy to see why the Red Wings made the playoffs every season, including back-to-back Cup Final appearances against the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2008 and 2009, winning it in 2008.

6. Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand

The duo of Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand was about as close to a "good cop, bad cop" dynamic as you'll find in the NHL.

Bergeron was a universally respected player for his style of play, off-ice candor and all-world ability both offensively and defensively. He won the Selke Trophy six times and before retiring last year.

Marchand, meanwhile, was (and still is) despised by fans around the league outside of Boston.

His hard edge and penchant for crossing the line occasionally drives opposing players and fans alike mad. That he loves being hated makes opposition fans want to dislike him all the more, but it's how good of a player he is that drives them into fits of fury.

The two of them together (with an all-star cast that included Zdeno Chara, David Pastrnak, Tuukka Rask and Tim Thomas throughout the years) helped Boston become one of the best teams in the league every year including a Stanley Cup win in 2011, two other Final appearances in 2013 and 2019 and three Presidents' trophies (2014, 2020, 2023).

5. Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau

From 2005-2006 to 2016-2017, Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau were so intrinsically entwined that it was hard to think of the times when they weren't part of the San Jose Sharks.

When the Sharks acquired Thornton from the Boston Bruins in 2005, putting the top two picks of the 1997 NHL draft together proved to be a winning formula.

Thornton immediately won the Hart Trophy as league MVP, and he and Marleau were as close to automatic when it came to scoring goals as you could find.

For the 12 seasons they were together in San Jose, the Sharks only missed the playoffs once (2014-2015). It only makes sense that they made the franchise's first-ever Stanley Cup Final the following year where they lost to Pittsburgh.

Thornton and Marleau being together for as long as they were saw them cross a couple of NHL generations in which they had battles against the likes of Joe Sakic, Brendan Shanahan and Paul Kariya to Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin, and Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

What's more, Thornton and Marleau were regularly among the league leaders in scoring among all of them at all ages.

4. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl

It might not seem remarkable that the NHL's current most dangerous scoring duo of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl is ranked as highly as we have them, but consider what some of the previous duos have accomplished in the past and then think about how many more seasons the Oilers' superstars will have to achieve even more than they have done already.

McDavid is in a class of his own as a player and scorer in the league. After he helped lead the Oilers to the Cup Final last season and the way he was able to take over games showed that despite having done so much already, he's got even more to show us in the years to come.

It would be easy to look past what Draisaitl has done because of McDavid's presence on the team, but he's got an MVP award of his own as well. His ability to fill the net routinely and having one of the best shots in the league, particularly on the power play, makes him one of the most dangerous offensive players in the league.

The only thing left for these two now is to win the Cup and, after getting so close a year ago, it feels like it's only a matter of time before they do it.

3. Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Bäckström

Part of what made Alex Ovechkin's innate ability to score goals for the Washington Capitals at will was the way his center, Nicklas Bäckström was able to help set him up to do it.

Since 2000-2001, Ovechkin is the second leading scorer in the NHL with more than 1,550 points and more than 850 goals; and he's had Bäckström with him almost every step of the way.

While Ovechkin entered the NHL in 2005-2006, Bäckström landed in Washington in 2007-2008. The pair forged a legacy that made them one of the most exciting and highest-scoring teams in the league.

Bäckström piled up more than 1,000 points before his health sidelined him a year ago. That he's not there with Ovechkin in his pursuit for Wayne Gretzky's goal record is sad, but when the two teamed up to win Washington's first Stanley Cup in 2017, it was a fitting crowning for what they helped to do in making D.C. a destination for elite hockey.

If it hadn't been for the Caps' rivalry with the Penguins and New York Rangers, who knows if they'd have made it to the Cup Final more than just once, but their successes together made them one of the best duos to play the game.

2. Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane

In the NHL, winning is the only thing and something Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane did consistently throughout their careers together in Chicago.

The center and winger helped lead the Blackhawks to the Stanley Cup three times in 2010, 2013 and 2015. With Toews' all-around game being on an elite level both as a playmaker and a defender and Kane's electrifying offensive ability as one of the league's top scorers, it gave them a one-two punch that was often too much for opposing teams to get a handle on.

Kane's elusiveness with and without the puck made him an ideal winger for the hockey-smart Toews. That they had seemingly opposite personalities helped give them the kind of counterpart relationship that thrived on the ice.

Had it not been for the Los Angeles Kings, Chicago might have been able to win another Cup or two, but with how much Toews and Kane made magic from 2007-2008 until 2019-2020, it's a wonder that anyone else in the league was able to get past them.

1. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin

When Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin became teammates in Pittsburgh in 2006-2007 after the latter arrived from Russia, most of us had a good feeling they would become a powerful duo for years to come.

What we didn't realize then was that it would last for nearly two decades.

Crosby has more than 1,600 points and Malkin has more than 1,300, which makes them one of the top duos of all time. That's two elite players playing together for their entire career and wreaking havoc on everyone they've gone up against the entire time.

They've made the Stanley Cup Final together four times, winning three of them with Crosby claiming the Conn Smythe twice and Malkin once, the same ratio in which they've also won league MVP as the Hart Trophy winners.

Both have been the NHL's leading scorer twice and the one award Malkin won that Crosby never will was the Calder as league rookie of the year (Crosby lost out to Alex Ovechkin in 2005-2006).

For years, fans got sick of seeing the Penguins on national television, especially against the Capitals, but what a lot of people didn't realize in the moment is we were being treated to seeing the best of the best playing together against more of the best.

That Crosby and Malkin don't look anywhere close to being finished makes their accomplishments even more amazing.