20 of the Most Interesting Player Names in NHL History

Who needs a nickname?

Not these guys, although it would not hurt in some cases.

It seems NHL players are generally too preoccupied with training and game-planning to formulate creative nicknames for their teammates. Consider the Boston Bruins locker room, where Patrice Bergeron is addressed as “Bergy” and Milan Lucic will at times answer to “Looch.”

Once in a while, though, there are those whose legal names go somewhere between making the nicknaming enthusiasts’ life easier and putting those specialists out of work altogether.

They are interesting enough for their exact matches with the names of pop culture or public figures, or for the fitting imagery they evoke—especially if they can be tied in with an aspect of the game.

The following is a collection of 20 past and present NHLers who either did not need an informal variation on their name or who could actually be nicknamed in a manner wholly unrelated to their legal name.

Unless otherwise indicated, all statistics and other background information were found via the Internet Hockey Database.

John Adams

Granted, the former goalie saw minimal NHL action, but 22 games are still 22 more than zero.

Of those 22 games, the player who shares a name with two early U.S. Presidents played 14 in Boston, the home of those two Presidents, and the other eight in Washington, the nation’s capital.

Hank Blade

A journeyman career that spanned portions of the 1940s and 1950s had Blade donning his blades for the Chicago Blackhawks a total of 24 times.

Radek Bonk

A decade-long member of the Ottawa Senators and a 14-season NHL veteran, Bonk arguably turned heads with his skill as much as his surname.

It was hard not to take notice of a player in a collision sport with a name that sounded like a hard-hitting cartoon sound effect.

Jim Carey

You know you are a devout puckhead if, as a '90s kid, you were familiar with the 1996 Vezina Trophy winner before you had ever heard of the actor of the same name (only with two R's in his surname).

This author can claim as much. The “Ace Ventura Net Detective” moniker did not make sense until I saw the ads for Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls and heard the name of the top-billed actor.

Ironically, on the ice and the big screen, respectively, both Jim Carey and Jim Carrey had their share of encounters with Cam Neely.

Terry Crisp

It is safe to assume that the head coach of the 1989 Stanley Cup champion Calgary Flames—and later the inaugural coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning—had many of the same fundamental expectations of his players as any other skipper.

Among those naturally assumed demands: Passes from tape to tape that were, in one turn of phrase, very crisp.

One can also assume that Crisp strove to deliver just as much during his playing days, which included a pair of titles with Philadelphia in 1974 and 1975.

Adam Foote

In his 20 professional years of playing a game with special emphasis on moving your feet, Foote spent two stints for a combined 12 seasons with the Colorado Avalanche.

As a result, Foote wore a foot―namely the Avs’ shoulder emblem―on his uniform for the majority of his career.

Harry Frost

Yes, it is easy to take note of a hockey player whose name evokes wintry visions. On the other hand, one would be remiss not to highlight him.

Frost was mainly a minor leaguer, but did garner three appearances with the Bruins in 1938-39.

Bill Gadsby

The New York Islanders came along a little too late for this player’s name to achieve its maximum fascination.

With that said, Gadsby did see substantial time with the New York Rangers. He was therefore based fairly close to the setting of a certain F. Scott Fitzgerald novel whose title character’s surname was off by only one letter—and a darn close-sounding one at that.

Bill and Leroy Goldsworthy

One surname, one slide, two men equally worthy of inclusion.

Bill Goldsworthy, hailing from Waterloo, Ont., played 771 NHL games in a career that spanned the better part of the 1960s and 1970s. Leroy Goldsworthy, from Two Harbors, Minn., saw action in 336 games during the 1930s.

Both were around in different eras, but both were around when the notion of sending NHL ambassadors to the Olympics was still an afterthought.

That’s a tough break for Leroy in particular, since he was one of the few Americans in The Show during his time, meaning under modern-day rules, he could have easily gone out to try to prove himself “gold-worthy.”

Ebbie Goodfellow

More literary classics come to mind with this player, who spent 13 years with the Detroit Red Wings throughout the 1930s and into the early 1940s.

For the record, “Ebbie” was short for Ebenezer. Naturally, the most famous, albeit fictional, carrier of that first name was notoriously unlikable before becoming quite the good fellow in the end.

Ted Kennedy

Better known as “Teeder,” the legendary Toronto Maple Leaf attained his fame between 1942 and 1957.

Kennedy’s retirement from the NHL would be five years before a Senator from south of the border began to gain fame with the same name.

Doug Lidster

Lidster enrolled at Colorado College in 1979-80, where he would spend his four maximum years of eligibility before a run with the Canadian Olympic team, en route to a 15-season NHL career.

As it happened, that was the same year the league he would soon join mandated helmets for all new players.

In other words, as he was starting his collegiate career, Lidster had to get used to wearing his "lid," since it would now be required everywhere he went to play.

Jonathan Quick

If he were to go by a less formal variation of his name, the Kings goaltender could sound like a prototypical comic book hero: Jonny Quick.

Come to think of it, that is pretty much what he was last spring, en route to a Stanley Cup title and Conn Smythe Trophy.

Pete Peeters

According to his Legends of Hockey profile, the former goaltender is known formally as Pete H. Peeters, so this could have, quite unbelievably, been even more interesting.

Can you imagine if his middle initial were “T”? You know, P.T. Peeters? Or just Petey Peeters?

Jim and Larry Playfair

It’s another set of two for the price of one here.

Jim Playfair lasted all of 21 games in The Show, putting in two appearances with the Edmonton Oilers and then 19 spread over two seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks.

Larry would garner a combined 688 ventures with the Buffalo Sabres and Los Angeles Kings.

That may not seem like a “fair” distribution, but at least they can both claim they had a chance to “play.”

Patrick Sharp

Not unlike his franchise predecessor, the aforementioned Blade, this current leaned-on scorer for the Blackhawks had best be sure he never lets his skates go dull at an inopportune moment.

Bill and Garth Snow

Fittingly, this slideshow concludes with one last two-for-one package.

When hockey is played in its natural habitat, visible snow accumulation in the vicinity is hardly uncommon. For that matter, snow will also pile up on artificial indoor frozen ponds as a result of ice scrapings.

And, as one will witness before the start of each period, the one player who will start thrusting snow on a clean sheet early and often is the one occupying the crease.

Fittingly enough, the most accomplished NHLer with the surname “Snow” was a netminder, and the other did his share of kicking up frosty precipitation at various levels.

Garth Snow had a 13-year career with five different franchises, while the unrelated Bill Snow played three games up front for Detroit.