Rookie trio changing how names are treated in the NHL

Alexis Lafrenière, Tim Stützle, and Nils Höglander have two things in common. They're all rookies in the NHL this season, and they all have their name spelt according to their home language.

When Alexis Lafrenière was drafted first overall by the Rimouski Oceanic of the QMJHL, they spelt his name wrong. Then he represented Canada at the U-18 and World Juniors, only to have his name spelt wrong. What was missing? The accent grave over the second "e".

Prior to Alexis being selected first overall by the New York Rangers in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, his parents wanted his name spelt correctly, with the accent grave.

"It was something that was very important to the family," said Lafrenière's agent, Emilie Castonguay. "When the Rangers drafted Alexis, one of the first conversations I had with his mom was about the accent."

For Tim Stützle of the Ottawa Senators, he started in training camp, and a small portion of the regular season with the North American spelling of his name "Stuetzle". The German forward wore "Stützle" on his jersey at the 2021 World Juniors. That's when Senators general manager Pierre Dorion went to Stützle to discuss the topic.

"Pierre Dorion came up to me and asked if I wanted to have the German spelling on my jersey," Stützle said in training camp. "At first it was not allowed to do that, I think, and we were not able to do it. But right now we were able. In Germany, that's my real name, so I kind of liked it and I think it's great to have the umlaut right now on my name."

The umlaut on Stützle's name then prompted fans of the Vancouver Canucks to demand that forward Nils Höglander have one over the "o" in his name. In the Swedish language "o" is a different letter than "ö" so the Canucks had been spelling wrong since he was drafted.

"We don't often make decisions based on social media reactions," said Canucks director of communications Ben Brown. «But this was a valid question.»

In early March, the Canucks were switching to a new set of jerseys, as every team does multiple times a year. Prior to the change, Canucks equipment manager Brian Hamilton asked Höglander if he would like the umlaut on his jersey.

"He very quickly said he'd like that," Hamilton said.

While it's a small addition to a jersey, it means a lot for these three players. It could pave the way for future NHLers to go in the same route. It also reminds them of their homeland, and their family who they may be far away from, but the spelling on their jersey makes it feel like they're right there with them.

Of particular interest in New York, Ottawa and Vancouver, I explored what goes into having accents and umlauts added to jersey name bars, and how Alexis Lafrenière might have started a trend of accuracy in North America's most international sports league: https://t.co/TLcAkmrpjB— Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) March 19, 2021

Source: Arpon Basu/The Athletic

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