Players with nationalities you didnt expect based on their name

[CraigBillington]

Kevin Stenlund then, Columbus. My point stands. I'm not making things up. Name became almost a phenomenon after Home Alone in the early 90s. Was more or less non-existent prior to that in the Nordic countries.

I knew plenty of Kevin's growing up, all born in the 80s - before Home Alone

 

[Bixby Snyder]

When John Carlson entered the league I assumed he was Swedish for a couple of years.

Shocking that a guy with a very American name would be in fact American.

 

[Deadly Dogma]

You'd think a guy named Josh Ho-Sang sporting hyphenated Chinese surnames would be more... Chinese.

1 that gets me is Gaudreau being American, I thought he was Canadian for sure

 

[ItWasJustified]

The one that always gets me for some reason is Guentzel, who's from ...Nebraska, USA.

Don't you ever read his forename? Because Jake is almost as anglo as you can be named.

 

[ziggyjoe212]

This comment is more applicable 10 years ago but Nicklas Backstrom (Center) is Swedish, but Niklas Backstrom (goalie) is Finnish.

 

[Stive Morgan]

Christian Wolanin being Canadian-American. I always thought he was Swedish.

 

[Hanji]

Never would've guessed Andreas Lilja was of African descent.

 

[GlitchMarner]

Shocking that a guy with a very American name would be in fact American.

If he was Swedish, his last name would be spelled Karlsson.

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

The winner is Douglas Murray

Mic drop

 

[KovalchukFistPump]

I just assumed Jujhar Khaira was some Finnish name until I looked up what he looks like and made the effort to fully enunciate his name and now it makes sense. I think it was because there’s lots of Finnish names that start with J.

 

[GlitchMarner]

I thought Mcdavid was Scottish

Did you think he was actually from Scotland?

Not many hockey players are from there, let alone ones who are that good.

 

[lottster14]

Surprised Mike Smith is Canadian, thought he'd be American

 

[Mitch nylander]

Surprised Mike Smith is Canadian, thought he'd be American

I thought he was Russian.

 

[Frenchy]

Christian Wolanin being Canadian-American. I always thought he was Swedish.

Borned in Québec from when his dad played for the Nordiques.

 

[ryan callahan]

Every ai generated player on my nhl 21 gm mode team

Shoutout to Mike Gionta from Montenegro and Brian McMuffin from China.

 

[M2Beezy]

Surprised Mike Smith is Canadian, thought he'd be American

Came here to post this, glad Im not the only one who thought this

 

[troyerlaw]

Verhaeghe. Figured he was from Europe. Was wrong.

 

[schnapshot]

Verhaeghe. Figured he was from Europe. Was wrong.

Definitely Dutch. But his first name is Carter so that kind of gives it away.

Joakim Ryan is one that messed me up a bit.

 

[Karl Eriksson]

The golden pheasant himself, Andrej Meszaros. Slovakian with a Hungarian name.

 

[troyerlaw]

Every two years I re-realize that Zibanejad is from Sweden. The dad was from Iran, the mom from Finland.

 

[notDatsyuk]

Leo Komarov, although he has both Russian and Finnish citizenship, is actually from Estonia.

How many people could find Estonia on a map?

 

[Nunymare]

Jacob Trouba sounded like Czech to me but he's American.

I think you're right, he does indeed seem to have Czech ancestry (great-great grandparents) after a bit of research.

 

[Galactico]

For some reason I thought Nick Suzuki was Japanese.

 

[Burkeocet]

Oh really? Didn't know that.

Yes, I know a few too. They may be Brayon

 

[troyerlaw]

Burakovsky, Barkov, Kaliyev, Galchenyuk. Figured all four were Russian.

Figured Virtanen was swedish or finnish, same with Heinen. Same for Niskanen when he first entered the league.

On a separate note, when Brodin was drafted in 2011, I remember thinking ‘Okay now they’re just making these names up.’ Seemed like made-up combination of Brodeur and Sedin.

Also, the last couple years it seems like there has been big jump in # of Finnish players. Getting hard for me to remember which one’s which. Kotkaniemi, Kuokkanen, Koskinen, Kaapo Kakko, Kasperi Kapanen, Rantanen, Ristolainen, Tolvanen, Teravainen,, Nutivaara, Jokiharju, Lehkonen, Lehtonen, Lankinen. Can be confusing as hell (and a mouthful for play-by-play guys).

Sabres having three Rasmuses on the roster strikes me as hilarious, as does the fact that there are two Sebastian Ahos. Would be a bummer to be the second one, the one who isn’t a star. Any other name and he’d feel like an absolute stud, just having made the NHL. Instead he’s forever “the other one,” the one who “sucks.”