An updated player nicknames list for the 2021 Colorado Avalanche

An old article deep in Mile High Hockey’s archives is revamped today

It’s been more than a week since the Avalanche had to shut down all team activities due to the NHL’s COVID safety protocol. With the Avs finally back on the ice, it’s time to get back into the swing of things. This includes the players getting back into their routine. One of the biggest traits of hockey players are the creative and not-so-creative nicknames they come up for one another.

When I first joined MHH back in October, it was brought to my attention by my dad that I should update an article made back in the 2016 season. Well, I will be doing my best today to update that list with as player nicknames from today’s 2021 roster that can be found.

Here’s the nicknames from the roster then that are still on the roster today:

Coach Jared Bednar

• Coach Conehead (from France) – A reference to the Coneheads’ characters and their alias.
• Bender – Referring to the lovable deviant robot from 90s cartoon Futurerama.
• JB, Jables, Blendar

Erik Johnson

• EJ or Edge – the first one seems the easiest and the latter is one of his actual nicknames.
• The Condor – because of the way he swoops through the rink, carrying the puck and generating an offensive chance from nothing.

Gabriel Landeskog

• Face – A-team reference.
• Landy/Lando/Gabe/Babe

Nathan MacKinnon

• Mac/MacK – because hockey players aren’t very creative
• Mack Daddy – I don’t know how this one came along, but sounds cool?
• Nate, Nate Dogg/The Dogg

Mikko Rantanen

• Rants
• Mikko Sauvé – Refers to 1990 song “Rico Sauvé” by Ecuadorian rapper Gerardo Mejia
• The Moose – Because of how big and strong he is, somewhat like a moose but with more pizazz on ice than an actual moose.

Everyone else on the roster today has come since the creation of the old article. Here are the rest of the nicknames for the squad:

Bowen Byram

• The Kid (2.0)
• Bo

Devon Toews

• Tazer

Cale Makar

• The Kid
• All Hail Cale

Matt Calvert

• Matty (C) –obviously very creative.
• Calvy, Denim Daddy

Valeri Nichushkin

• Big Val, Nuke

Sheldon Dries

• Driesy

Tyson Jost

• TJ, Josty

Brandon Saad

• The Saad Father

Conor Timmins

• Timmy

Logan O’ Connor

• LOC – it’s just a lot easier to say this acronym rather than his full name.

Ryan Graves

• Gravy/The Gravy Train

Adam Werner

• Werns

Philipp Grubauer

• Gru/Grubi

Jacob MacDonald

• Mac

J.T. Compher

• JT – again, obviously very creative.
• JTC, 1877-Goal-Now – from our very own Jackie, a solid nickname for a great guy
• Comphs

Pavel Francouz

• Frankie

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare

• P.E.B., P.E.
• Belly, Pebbles

Kiefer Sherwood

• Kiefers, Keefy – this originated from Altitude’s Kyle Keefe, it works out well with the similar names.

Samuel Girard

• Sammy G

Martin Kaut

• Marty

Joonas Donskoi

• Donny
• The Donkey – this has come along recently through Adrian Dater’s tweets during games.

Nazem Kadri

• Naz, Nazty

Andre Burakovsky

• Burky

Did I miss any nicknames? What’s your favorite nickname on the roster? Let us know in the comments! And remember, Avs hockey is back soon!