Overview:
After Yegor Sharangovich and Jonas Siegenthaler got an assist on the same goal yesterday, I got curious and wanted to find out which team could potentially have the longest possible goal on the scoresheet. The Hockey Guy regularly jokes that the Stars have the longest names in his nightly game recaps, is the answer actually Dallas? Let's find out.
Make a guess before reading the answer, see if you can come up with the winners.
Rules and Methodology:
I found every player with at least 8 letters in their surname, sorted them by team and name length, and found an example of a potential goal with the most possible letters the team could form, scoring 1 point for each letter on the scoresheet. I only considered players with at least 1 game played this year (sorry Landeskog and Backstrom), I didn't count hyphens as letters, and for hyphenated names I went with how the names are listed in hockeydb, so yes for Oliver Ekman-Larsson or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and no for Mats Zuccarello-Aasen or Patrice Bergeron-Cleary. Only the English version of the names were considered, not Cyrillic or other scripts.
With that out of the way, here are my findings:
Anaheim:
11-pointers: Shattenkirk, Silfverberg
10-pointers: Lundestrom
9-pointers: Klingberg
8-pointers: Henrique, McTavish, Beaulieu, Drysdale
Longest goal: 32 points - Silfverberg (Shattenkirk, Lundestrom)
Arizona:
12-pointers: Gostisbehere
8-pointers: Maccelli, Guenther, Valimaki, Bjugstad, Schmaltz, Vejmelka
Longest goal: 28 points - Gostisbehere (Maccelli, Guenther)
Boston:
8-pointers: Pastrnak, Lindholm, Bergeron, Marchand, Frederic, Grzelcyk, Stralman
Longest goal: 24 points - Pastrnak (Bergeron, Marchand)
Buffalo:
11-pointers: Mittelstadt
10-pointers: Hinostroza, Girgensons, Fitzgerald, Lyubushkin, Samuelsson
9-pointers: Jokiharju
8-pointers: Thompson, Olofsson, Anderson
Longest goal: 31 points - Mittelstadt (Hinostroza, Girgensons)
Calgary:
10-pointers: Mangiapane
9-pointers: Andersson, Huberdeau, Markstrom
8-pointers: Lindholm, Backlund, Desimone
Longest goal: 28 points - Mangiapane (Andersson, Huberdeau)
Carolina:
10-pointers: Svechnikov, Teravainen, Kotkaniemi
9-pointers: Martinook, Kochetkov, Chatfield
8-pointers: Andersen
Longest goal: 30 points - Svechnikov (Teravainen, Kotkaniemi)
Chicago:
10-pointers: Athanasiou
9-pointers: Dickinson, Blackwell, Entwistle, Soderblom
8-pointers: Lafferty, Kurashev, Robsinson, Katchouk
Longest goal: 28 points - Athanasiou (Dickinson, Blackwell)
Colorado:
10-pointers: Nichushkin
9-pointers: MacKinnon, Rodrigues, MacDermid, MacDonald
8-pointers: Rantanen, Lehkonen, Cogliano, Francouz, Georgiev
Longest goal: 28 points - Nichushkin (MacKinnon, Rodrigues)
Columbus:
12-pointers: Christiansen
11-pointers: Blankenburg
10-pointers: Gudbranson, Beyreuther, Merzlikins
9-pointers: Chinakhov, Sillinger, Korpisalo
8-pointers: Gaudreau, Werenski, Robinson, Roslovic, Gavrikov, Danforth, Bemstrom
Longest goal: 33 points - Blankenburg (Christiansen, Gudbranson)
Dallas:
10-pointers: Dellandrea, Glendening
9-pointers: Robertson, Heiskanen, Marchment, Lundqvist, Kiviranta, Wedgewood, Oettinger
8-pointers: Pavelski, Johnston, Gurianov, Hakanpaa, Peterson
Longest goal: 29 points - Dellandrea (Glendening, Heiskanen)
Detroit:
11-pointers: Nedeljkovic
9-pointers: Rasmussen, Sundqvist, Soderblom, Lindstrom
8-pointers: Berggren, Bertuzzi, Oesterle
Longest goal: 29 points - Rasmussen (Sundqvist, Nedeljkovic)
Edmonton:
13-pointers: Nugent-Hopkins
12-pointers: Janmark-Nylen
11-pointers: Niemelainen
10-pointers: Puljujarvi
9-pointers: Draisaitl
8-pointers: Bouchard, Yamamoto, Holloway, Campbell
Longest goal: 36 points - Nugent-Hopkins (Janmark-Nylen, Niemelainen)
Florida:
11-pointers: Luostarinen
9-pointers: Verhaeghe, Hornqvist, Heponiemi
8-pointers: Forsling, Reinhart, Kiersted
Longest goal: 29 points - Verhaeghe (Luostarinen, Hornqvist)
Los Angeles:
13-pointers: Anderson-Dolan
10-pointers: Grundstrom
9-pointers: Arvidsson
8-pointers: Anderson, Petersen
Longest goal: 32 points - Arvidsson (Anderson-Dolan, Grundstrom)
Minnesota:
10-pointers: Zuccarello, Eriksson Ek, Cramarossa, Gustavsson
9-pointers: Middleton, Goligoski
8-pointers: Kaprizov, Gaudreau, Spurgeon, Greenway
Longest goal: 30 points - Zuccarello (Eriksson Ek, Gustavsson)
Montreal:
12-pointers: Montembeault
10-pointers: Slafkovsky
9-pointers: Gallagher, Kovacevic, Edmundson
8-pointers: Caufield, Anderson, Pezzetta
Longest goal: 31 points - Slafkovsky (Gallagher, Montembeault)
Nashville:
12-pointers: Niederreiter
10-pointers: Borowiecki
9-pointers: Parssinen, Jankowski
8-pointers: Forsberg, Granlund, Johansen, McDonagh, Tolvanen, Sherwood, McCarron, Lankinen
Longest goal: 31 points - Niederreiter (Parssinen, Borowiecki)
New Jersey:
12-pointers: Sharangovich, Siegenthaler
10-pointers: Zetterlund
9-pointers: Blackwood
8-pointers: Hischier, Hamilton, Severson
Longest goal: 34 points - Sharangovich (Siegenthaler, Zetterlund)
New York Islanders:
11-pointers: Beauvillier, Clutterbuck
9-pointers: Wahlstrom, Soshnikov
8-pointers: Palmieri, Mayfield, Johnston, Varlamov
Longest goal: 31 points - Beauvillier (Clutterbuck, Wahlstrom)
New York Rangers:
10-pointers: Lafreniere, Shesterkin
9-pointers: Zibanejad, Carpenter, Schneider
8-pointers: Trocheck, Gauthier, Kravtsov
Longest goal: 29 points - Zibanejad (Lafreniere, Shesterkin)
Ottawa:
13-pointers: Bernard-Docker
10-pointers: Brannstrom
9-pointers: DeBrincat, Batherson, Sanderson
8-pointers: Brassard, Kastelic, Gambrell, Hellberg, Forsberg
Longest goal: 32 points - DeBrincat (Bernard-Docker, Brannstrom)
Philadelphia:
11-pointers: Van Riemsdyk, Deslauriers, Ristolainen
9-pointers: Laczynski, Sandstrom
8-pointers: DeAngelo, Provorov, Laughton, Lycksell
Longest goal: 33 points - Van Riemsdyk (Deslauriers, Ristolainen)
Pittsburgh:
10-pointers: Pettersson
9-pointers: Archibald, Hallander
8-pointers: Guentzel, Poehling, Dumoulin, Ruhwedel, Caggiula
Longest goal: 28 points - Archibald (Pettersson, Hallander)
San Jose:
10-pointers: Svechnikov, Harrington
9-pointers: Barabanov, Gadjovich
8-pointers: Karlsson, Lindblom, Kahkonen
Longest goal: 29 points - Svechnikov (Harrington, Barabanov)
Seattle:
11-pointers: Bjorkstrand
10-pointers: Burakovsky
8-points: Schwartz, Wennberg, Oleksiak, Olofsson, Grubauer
Longest goal: 29 points - Burakovsky (Bjorkstrand, Schwartz)
St. Louis:
11-pointers: Toropchenko
10-pointers: Buchnevich, Alexandrov, Neighbours, Binnington
9-pointers: Tarasenko, Barbashev
8-pointers: Bortuzzo
Longest goal: 31 points - Toropchenko (Buchnevich, Alexandrov)
Tampa Bay:
11-pointers: Namestnikov, Vasilevskiy
9-pointers: Sergachev, Bellemare
8-pointers: Kucherov
Longest goal: 31 points - Namestnikov (Sergachev, Vasilevskiy)
Toronto:
10-pointers: Aston-Reese
9-pointers: Robertson, Liljegren
8-pointers: Matthews, Nylander, Jarnkrok, Giordano, Holmberg, Simmonds, Kallgren, Samsonov
Longest goal: 28 points - Aston-Reese (Robertson, Liljegren)
Vancouver:
12-pointers: Ekman-Larsson
10-pointers: Pettersson
9-pointers: Hoglander, Podkolzin, Studnicka, Brisebois, Burroughs
8-pointers: Kuzmenko, Mikheyev, Lockwood, Rathbone, Stillman
Longest goal: 31 points - Pettersson (Ekman-Larsson, Hoglander)
Vegas:
12-pointers: Marchessault
11-pointers: Pietrangelo
10-pointers: Stephenson, Whitecloud, Leschyshyn
8-pointers: Karlsson, Theodore, Martinez, Thompson
Longest goal: 33 points - Marchessault (Pietrangelo, Stephenson)
Washington:
11-pointers: Van Riemsdyk
10-pointers: Gustafsson
9-pointers: Kuznetsov, Johansson, Malenstyn, Fehervary, Aube-Kubel, McMichael
8-pointers: Ovechkin, Hathaway, Johansen, Alexeyev, Lindgren
Longest goal: 30 points - Kuznetsov (Van Riemsdyk, Gustafsson)
Winnipeg:
14-pointers: Jonsson-Fjallby
10-pointers: Maenalanen, Gustafsson, Capobianco, Hellebuyck
9-pointers: Morrissey, Scheifele, Eyssimont
8-pointers: Perfetti, Appleton, Toninato
Longest goal: 34 points - Maenalanen (Jonsson-Fjallby, Gustafsson)
Teams with the Fewest Long-Named Players:
Los Angeles Kings and Tampa Bay Lightning - 5 players
Despite having so few names to work with, these two teams put up impressive scores of 32 and 31, respectively.
Team with the Most Long-Named Players:
Columbus Blue Jackets - 15 players
Injuries have influenced not just their poor position in the standings but also major roster turnover; the Jackets have had MANY players don the sweater this year, long surname or not. Dallas was second with 14 players to choose from.
Shortest Goal:
Boston Bruins - 24 letters
Somehow the Bruins don't have a single player with a surname longer than 8 letters. That blows my mind! Arizona is also only a Shayne Gostisbehere away from joining them.
Runners Up:
New Jersey Devils and Winnipeg Jets - 34 letters
New Jersey got there with several consistently-long names, while Winnipeg relied on Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, the longest surname in the NHL at 14 letters.
And the Winner is:
Edmonton Oilers - 36 letters
Showing how overpowered hyphenated names are in this contest, Edmonton puts up an insurmountable lead on the backs of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Mattias Janmark-Nylen. They also have at least one player with 8 though 13 letters in their surname.
What did you think? Are you surprised by the results? Did you guess correctly? Can you come up with any potential goals from past teams that could be longer than 36 letters?
