CHICAGO (AP) - NHL best names are those who never list.
Or get used by MOM.
Tazer. Ball of hate. The great one. SID the child. Looch (who also goes by Gino). The Bulin Wall. Kells.
"There is always someone or some guys, who want us to call things different," said Chicago Blackhawks left wing Brandon Saad, nicknamed "The..." by his teammates. "I guess it is only part of the camaraderie of the sport and the guys who are close. I'm not really sure of the exact science."
Who has ever played a sport knows that the nicknames are part of the game, a byproduct of competition and camaraderie. But hockey players have led to an art form.
From the smallest mite big stars of the NHL, everyone has a nickname and usually more than one. Most are simplistic, involving the addition or subtraction of a letter or two. Shorten a surname, tack an' or a 'y' ('i.e.' also works), and voila! Nickname snapshot. Patrice Bergeron becomes "Bergy". Brent Seabrook is "Seabs" or "Seabsy."
If a player's last name has only one syllable, just add an 'r' or a 'y' ('ie' rule applies here, as well). Patrick Kane is now always known as "Kaner," while Patrick Sharp, his occasional partner in second line of Chicago, is "Sharpie."
And anyone whose last name is Campbell is automatically "Soup" or "Soupy."
"Very boring", said Chris Kelly, who is known as you guessed it, "Kells." from the center of Boston Bruins desire came up with cool nicknames.
But the beauty of simplicity is its versatility. You can apply to almost any name, regardless of their nationality.
Jaromir Jagr? Jags. Alex Ovechkin? Ovie. Marty Turk? Turks.
Works even with leftist Bruins Kaspars Daugavins.
"We call it puppy," said Kelly.
But as there are exceptions to every grammatical rule, there are some names that defy the conventions of the nicknamification of hockey. Or lend themselves to something of greater creativity.
Blackhawks right Jamal Mayers is "Jammer" - not to be confused with defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson Chicago, which is the "hammer". Edmonton goalie Nikolai Khabibulin is "The Bulin Wall". Henrik Lundqvist, the Vezina trophy, 2012, seven seasons straight 30-win and Olympic gold medal in 2006, is, simply, Henrik King.
Other pseudonyms produced by something that makes a player on the ice.
Hall of Fame Max Bentley was known as the "Dipsy Doodle Dandy of Delisle" because of its soft style silky elude opponents. Steve Yzerman thought that Johan Franzen seemed "a mule" buzzing around the ice as a rookie in 2005. The nickname stuck. Phoenix enforcer Paul Bissonnette is "BizNasty."
And some nicknames happen.
Boston forward Brad Marchand is now called "little ball of hate," thanks to President Barack Obama. But the nickname originally belonged to Pat Verbeek of the Rangers in New York. He got it because teammate Glenn Healy had already nicknamed Ray Ferraro "The big ball of hate".
"It's just a bunch of guys probably acting a bit more young than they should and goofing," said Blackhawks Captain Jonathan Toews, known as "Enabled" or "Captain serious."
But it is also a nod to the roots of hockey, a reminder that no matter how great the NHL becomes, not be that far away from its picturesque history of small towns and garden ponds.
"Goes back to the fact that hockey, most of baseball, for example, was a Canadian game of the border... and the vast majority of the players came from small areas," said Stan Fischler, MSG hockey analyst and leading historian of the NHL.
"" (NHL) is a multi-billion dollar industry. ""But at the same time, it has a familiar feel, folksy about it, said Fischler.
In fact, not just everyone has a nickname, but all of them used too.
Imagine LeBron James classmates, calling him 'Jamesy' or 'Band'. Or Gregg Popovich commenting on Tim Duncan as "Duncs."
It was never going to happen.
But Chicago coach Joel Quenneville routinely refers to his players by their nicknames, and sometimes that comes with them. The next Blackhawk to call Kane Patrick will be the first.
"That's part of the beauty of hockey," said Fischler. "Apart from the intensity on the ice is a great sport."
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AP sports writer Jimmy Golen in Boston contributed to this report.
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