5 wildest New Jersey Devils nicknames for current players

4. Jonathan Kovacevic
"Kovatizer"

NHL nicknames tend to miss a lot of creativity. Many names just end a “y” or “ey” to the end of a shortened or full version of a player’s last name. Hughesy, Marky, and Pally are all well-known nicknames that the team uses. Sometimes teams will stretch it to make this work. Brenden Dillon is “Dilly,” Dougie Hamilton is probably “Hammy,” and Dawson Mercer feels like he would accept the nickname “Mercy.” 

So, when “Kovy” is right there waiting for Johnathan Kovacevic, which is his nickname actually “Kovatizer?” 

Well, when the Canadiens we’re given the opportunity to put their nicknames on the back of their warmup jersey, that’s where the Kovatizer name became popular. Kovacevic chose this name, while others had more traditional nicknames. Current Devils teammate had his moniker Jake the Snake, which has followed him from St. Louis. 

Through a little more research, we learned it came from former Canadiens center Sean Monahan. He apparently looked at Kovacevic’s nameplate and went with “Kovatizer,” and honestly, sure.