Where do Jimmy Snuggerud, Jagger Firkus and Cruz Lucius end up among the best names available in the draft?
In the NHL draft entry, team executives approach the microphone excitedly to say the names of their selections in the draft entry, hopefully, most correctly.
Some names, however, are more fun to say than others. That means it’s time for the most important draft ranking of all: the top 20 draft names.
This has become an annual tradition at PITB, with the Vancouver Canucks even selecting some of the best names from the previous lists, such as Jack Rathbone, Jett Woo and Nils Höglander. Clearly someone from the Canucks organization is calling my job, which is pretty understandable – it’s a lot more fun to cheer on a player with a funny name.
Some of the best names available in last year’s draft were not chosen, so they are still available, such as Bogdans Hodass, Lorenzo Canonica and Jimi Suomi, aka. Jimmy Finland. But the draft is about new blood, so we focus on new names.
And there are some beauties in this year’s draft class. So let’s start with the honorable mentions, and then move on directly to the top 20 names in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft.
Honorable Mentions: Grayson Badger, Zach Bookman, Boston Buckberger, Alex Bump, Aidan Castle, Blake Dangos, Domenic DiVincentiis, Conor Geekie, Hunter Haight, Gibson Homer, Taos Jordan, Karlis Mezsargs, Fraser Minten, Lukas Swedin, Livio Curdin Truog , Kai Uchacz, Zaccharya Saviesa
20 | Jack Hughes
True, there is another Jack Hughes. There are several Jack Hugheses. O Jacks Hughes. Each.
This Jack Hughes is not the brother of Quinn Hughes and Luke Hughes, but he is also an American center outside the U.S. National Team Development Program and a legitimate prospect on his own merit. This Hughes is not a candidate to get out of the overall first, but he is still expected to be a second-round pick.
This is a fantastic name not only because it’s funny that there are two, but also because it’s fun to say your name with an exaggerated French accent while pointing spectacularly: J’accuse!
19 | Jimmy Snuggerud
Dave Snuggerud has one of the best names in NHL history, so how could he deny his son a place in the top 20 names in the 2022 NHL Incoming Draft?
Major Snuggerud was first selected overall in the 1987 supplementary project after an outstanding college career at the University of Minnesota. After a few years in the NHL, however, he retired to finish his career again and became a sixth-grade teacher.
Young Snuggerud has the potential to be even better than his father, who was primarily a defensive striker and an NHL penalty killer. Snuggerud scored 63 points in 59 games in the U.S. National Team Development Program and is expected to be a first-round pick.
Also, it’s a lot of fun to say Snuggerud. Snuggerud, Snuggerud, Snuggerud!
18 | Chase Coward
You’d think if you chased a coward, it would be easy to catch, but some cowards are very, very fast.
Okay, it can be hard to sell that fans buy a T-shirt with “Coward” on their back, but that’s how you do it: convince people that only those who are comfortable with themselves and with their own lack of cowardice would be willing to buy one. So only the truly brave would buy and wear a “coward” t-shirt.
Coward traded headlines with Connor Ungar for the Red Deer Rebels in the WHL last season, and then took most of the playoff outings, where he recorded a .925 savings percentage. The 19-year-old is unlikely to be recruited this year, but it’s worth keeping an eye on him with the 6’2 “goalkeeper.
17 | Brady Stonehouse
She may be a brick house, but he is a stone house.
The only thing that piles up the 5’9 “Stonehouse is the soul and determination. The winger is one of the youngest players in the draft category and makes an annoying physical game despite his smaller size.
Stonehouse has flashes of skill and play that, combined with being a plague, can turn him into a final draft pick.
16 | Topi Rönni
“Topi Rönni, the Hausjärvi deal” * ding ding *
Topi Rönni may look like a delicious new pasta dish, but it is best known for serving records. He is a solid two-way center with a mature defensive game that accompanies his deceptive play and his excellent hands.
Rönni is likely to be picked in the middle rounds of the draft and give an NHL team an excellent garrison for their potential group.
15 | Adrià Rebelo
Rebelo is an elite surname that elevates Adrian’s relatively mundane name.
Rebelo is a Portuguese surname that literally translates as “rebel”, which would also be a pretty sick surname, but it sounds much more dramatic and fresh with this additional “o” at the end.
It definitely also sounds like a name that George Lucas would have used in his Star Wars sequels if he hadn’t sold the franchise to Disney. Adrian Rebelo is definitely an X-Wing pilot in one of his draft scripts for episode XI.
14 | Odelius street
My word, does that name ever come out of the tongue right? For some reason, I mean “Calle Odelius” with an Irish accident: “Top of the mornin ‘, Calle Odelius!”
Odelius is actually Swedish and one of the best potential defenders in the draft, ranked 15th by Elite Prospects, and is expected to be late in the first round. He is a fantastic skater, who is a dynamite when it comes to making the transition from disc to ice with his feet or his step.
Oh, one day I’ll get your lucky charms, Odellius Street.
13 | Kochendorfer Cross
Sorry, you may not have understood this name: Croix. Kochendorfer.
Amazing.
If Kochendorfer ever makes it to the NHL, you better get a sponsorship from La Croix. He was literally born for that.
Croix is also a pretty decent goalkeeper, though he may not be selected. The 6’4 ”Kochendorfer placed 27th among American goalkeepers in the Central Scouting mid-term standings, but failed to make the cut in their final standings.
12 | Cross Lucius
Yes, he is the brother of one of our best names from last year’s draft, Chaz Lucius. This family knows how to name children.
Cruz Lucius has some additional internal rhyme, which could elevate his name above that of his brother. It’s just a delicious name to say and you can predict that game-by-game announcers will take every opportunity to say their full name whenever possible.
It is good that he has the best name, because Cruz will not be chosen higher than his brother, who finished 18th overall in the 2021 draft. It is much more likely that the cunning game creator will be chosen in the third round, all and that a strong under-18 world tournament could have elevated him in the esteem of some teams.
11 | Jake Furlong
People named Jacob often go through Jake, but that perspective goes through Jake Furlong.
A furlong is not used much as a unit of measurement these days, probably because it is exceptionally confusing. It’s equal to 220 yards or an eighth of a mile, because the imperial units are a dog’s breakfast.
Jake Furlong can shoot at the disc about a furlong. He is a complete defender with decent mobility and a good level of battle. With 42 points in 67 QMJHL games, he was also decently productive and could be found selected in later rounds.
10 | Miquel Mastrodomenico
This is an absolute last name beast that probably makes team managers try to fit it into a name bar. This is a name that goes completely from shoulder to shoulder, if not wrapped around the shoulders.
Mastrodomenico sounds like someone who should conduct an orchestra in a particularly dramatic way. He is the master of his domain and his domain is doing the best possible performance of a group of classical musicians.
Mastrodomenico is certainly spectacular on the ice. He is a physical defender, excellent at the start and loves to jump on the attack. Mastrodomenico’s problem is his skating, with major mechanical defects that limit his mobility in four directions. It may have to be completely rebuilt from the ice for it to reach the NHL.
Still, someone could risk Mastrodomenico in later rounds. Frankly, it would be a shame for the NHL to be deprived of such a magnificent name.
9 | Cedricson Okitundu
I love everything about that name. Okitundu is almost percussive with the way he dances with his tongue and Cédricson is such a satisfying name with his inner hiss.
Okitundu is unlikely to be selected this year after just 5 points in 43 games, but there are some elements in the defender’s game that suggest Okitundu has more stuff than initially seen. He has a bit of size, grenade and defense, but there is also skill and skating below the surface that could come out in the coming years.
8 | Dylan Godbout
Dylan is not the most famous Godbout. Jacob had a good fight of God in Genesis 32, Diomedes got into a couple of pieces with Aphrodite and Ares, Heracles became entangled with all sorts of gods and the whole plot of the God of War game series is a sequence of God … fighting.
Godbout could be a final pick after a good season in Minnesota high school hockey, but he’s more likely to end up as a coveted college free agent after a couple of years at the University of Wisconsin. His two-way forward power play could make him a standout in the NCAA.
7 | Zam plant
I like to think of Zam Plante as the kind of factory plant. Like, “I’m going to the zam plant in turn. If I don’t meet my zam quota this month, I could lose my zam job!”
Zam is one of the most unlikely names I’ve ever heard, because that’s his full name. It’s not the abbreviation for “Zamir,” which is a comparatively more common name. It could even come from Zoroastrianism, where “Zam” is the concept of “land” as a primary spiritual element.
Or maybe …