Goalies and skaters have nearly identical average last-name lengths: 6.85 vs 6.92 letters. An analysis of over 5,000 NHL player last names.
Ten-letter surnames are hockey's rarest group with just 361 players, yet 14 of them are in the Hall of Fame: Robitaille, Andreychuk, Alfredsson, and more. N ends a quarter of these names.
Nine-letter surnames count 773 players and 10 Hall of Famers, from Hawerchuk and Perreault to Lundqvist. N ends nearly a quarter of these names.
Eight-letter surnames count 1,414 players and 35 Hall of Famers, from Ovechkin, Lidström, and Esposito. N dominates the final position.
Seven-letter surnames have the highest Hall of Fame rate in hockey: 77 inductees among 1,831 players, from Gretzky and Lemieux to Bourque.
Six-letter surnames are hockey's most common length with 1,987 players and 58 Hall of Famers. Crosby, Dionne, and Coffey all fit, and E dominates the fifth position.
