Hockey nicknames do not have a reputation for being the most inventive, but, boy, are they fun to say.
As the Toronto Maple Leafs unveil their 23-man opening-night roster for the 2017-18 season, we asked prototypical “good dressing room guys” Matt Martin and Nazem Kadri to run down the lineup and let us know the hockey moniker for all the boys.
All of the Buds’ monikers are kept to one or two syllables max, which makes for a quick way to beg for the puck and adds efficiency to friendly chirps.
Tuesday, the club sent down Rosie (Calle Rosen) to the AHL and released Polie (Roman Polak) from his PTO, though he will continue to practice with the team.
“I will call ‘Gards’ Jake sometimes. I’ve called ‘JVR’ James before. Other than that, I don’t think there’s one guy here I don’t call only by their nickname,” says Kadri, surveying the room’s nameplates.
Most are easy to guess. Shorten the player’s given name or surname, slap an “s” and/or “ie” on the end, presto. For obvious reasons, Connor Brown is abbreviated to “Brownie,” not “Connie.”
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Despite what the media may have you believe, to his teammates James van Riemsdyk is more often “Reemer” than “JVR.”
“Mitchy, we call him ‘Mouse’ sometimes, short for Mighty Mouse or Mini Mouse,” Kadri says of his 6-foot(?) teammate. “I prefer Mini Mouse.”
Because of the confusion of Matt Martin and Martin Marincin both being “Marty,” Matt pulled the vet card and Marincin increasingly goes by “Marv.”
Kadri himself is affectionately known as “Dreamer,” derived from “The Dream,” derived from “Nazeem the Dream,” an alias teammates popularized years ago upon hearing Torontonians incorrectly pronounce Kadri’s Arabic first name “Na-zeem” instead of “Na-zihm.”
“It’s definitely not self-proclaimed, that’s for sure. I don’t mind it, whatever,” says Kadri, smiling. “Dreamer, Dream, Dreamy—more and more of my teammates started calling me that. It spread like wildfire, then the fans started catching on to it and everybody loved the nickname.”
Here’s the full rundown. Leafs Nation, feel free to scream these punchier versions of the players’ names at your television set or tattoo them on your chest. Get familiar.
FORWARDS
11 Zach Hyman — “Hyms”
12 Patrick Marleau — “Patty”
15 Matt Martin — “Marty”
16 Mitchell Marner — “Mitchy” or “Marns” or “Mouse”
20 Dominic Moore — “Mooresy”
23 Eric Fehr — “Fehrsy”
25 James van Riemsdyk — “Reemer” or “JVR”
28 Connor Brown — “Brownie”
29 William Nylander — “Willie”
32 Josh Leivo — “Leivs”
34 Auston Matthews — “Matty”
42 Tyler Bozak — “Bozie”
43 Nazem Kadri — “Naz” or “Dreamer”
47 Leo Komarov — “Uncle Leo” or “Lee”
DEFENCEMEN
2 Ron Hainsey — “Hains”
8 Connor Carrick — “Cees”
22 Nikita Zaitsev — “Zaits”
44 Morgan Rielly — “Mo”
51 Jake Gardiner — “Gards”
52 Martin Marincin — “Marty” or “Marv”
55 Andreas Borgman — “Borgy”
GOALTENDERS
31 Frederik Andersen — “Freddy” or “Andy”
35 Curtis McElhinney — “Mac”
COACH
Mike Babcock — “Babs”
