Last week, Eric Fehr met the media to update them on the injury that has keep him out of the lineup for most of the playoffs. After two minutes of optimism and indirect answers, the scrum was finished. The day’s routine necessity had been completed. As the rest of the media shuffled away from Fehr’s locker, I made an offhand comment that the F-16 was getting ready for flight.
“There are some bad nicknames out there,” he told me. “Of all the nicknames to have, that’s a pretty cool one.”
I asked what he thought of his other nickname, Fehrsie.
“See, that’s the thing: I hate those nicknames,” he said. “Anybody with a last name with a –y on the end would probably be the worst one. Spelling it –ie doesn’t change anything. You need to be creative. As a group we’ve tried to be more creative with guys. We tried to change it up a little bit.”
Inadvertently, I had just stumbled on a massive scoop. Over the next 10 minutes, Fehr revealed the other hidden nicknames of the Capitals locker room. Some you might know– others you don’t.
Tom Wilson, Whip
“Willy the Whip or just Whip. He’s Whip. His name’s Whip. I don’t know why. The Whip that’s just what we know him as. If you’ve seen this one Instagram, I think Latta put it on Instagram, where my daughter was saying the nicknames of those two. She’s like we’re going to Whiiiip and Steeeeam’s house.”
Michael Latta, Steam
“Yep, the Steamboat. See, you know, we just get creative.”
Dmitry Orlov, Snarls
“Snarls. Yeah, Snarls. That’s Orly! Orlov is Snarls. He just snarls at you all the time. He snarls.”
Mike Green, Murph
“Game Over Green. That’s not bad. It’s a little bit longer. You need something short, something catchy. Greenie’s just Murph. Look at Murphy. He’s just Murph. I don’t know.”
John Carlson, Jumbo
“Carly’s the Jumbo. Yeah, he’s the Jumbo Jet.”
Brooks Laich, Brooks
“That’s the most disappointing thing in all of hockey is that we’ve got two guys with the name Brooks and that’s all we call them: Brooks and Brooks. It’s frustrating to no end. We’ve tried to make new nicknames but with those two you can’t get them to stick.” [Ed. note: that hasn’t stopped them from trying.]
Brooks Orpik, B&O Railways
“Brooksy is B&O Railways. He’s a freight train out there so he runs guys over. He’s Brooks Orpik so his initials are B and O. But it’s tough to say so you just kinda stick with Brooks.”
Eric Fehr, Frank
“The only guy that calls me F-16 is Whip. I don’t know why. It’s not a real nickname. Petey [Justin Peters] would call me Frank. That’s my most known nickname. Some guys will call me Fehrsie, but usually it’s Frank. I don’t want Fehrsie. I’ve made it know I don’t want Fehrsie. Come up with anything else. My whole life people have called me Fehrsie. It’s just not creative enough.”
Andre Burakovsky, Burracuda
“Trotsy tried to get Burakovsky to be Burt. We all call him Burracuda. Everybody calls him Burracuda. Nobody calls him Burt. I haven’t heard one player call him Burt.”
Jason Chimera, the Ice Cheetah
“That’s pretty sweet.”
Marcus Johansson, MoJo
“Mojo would probably be the worst one. I don’t like the nickname MoJo. The fans call him Mojo because of Comcast because Locker calls him Mojo. That’s what it is. So he’s actually Jojo to us, Mojo to the fans.”
Jay Beagle, Beags
“He’s just Beags. That’s a good guy to be: just Beags.”
This interview has been condensed.