The Many Nicknames of Shakir Mukhamadullin

Shakir Mukhamadullin’s name is too long.

I asked a San Jose Sharks player on Friday, “Another guy that’s in your group, you haven’t played with him so much, is Mukhamadullin. What do you see from him?”

“Who?” a genuinely mystified Jan Rutta, who’s been in a training camp group with Mukahamadullin all week, wondered.

“Shakir Mukhamadullin, the big Russian defenseman with Vlasic.”

“Ohhhh. Muck. Muck,” he laughed. “Okay.”

The 21-year-old prospect has only been in the San Jose Sharks organization for seven months, coming last February from the New Jersey Devils in the Timo Meier trade. And already, Mukhamadullin has accumulated multiple monikers.

There’s “Muk”, pronounced “Muck” or “Mook”. GM Mike Grier called him “Shak” recently, pronounced “Shack”.

And none of those are even my favorite. I’ve also heard “Baby Shak”, which is clever on multiple levels, as a play on “Baby Shark” or “Baby Shaq”.

Like the young 6-foot-4 Mukhamadullin, I’m sure his list of nicknames is still growing.

It’s not just a San Jose Sharks thing. Go to Fanatics, set to become the NHL’s official jersey supplier in 2024-25, and try to order a custom Mukhamadullin jersey right now. Good luck, there’s a 12-character limit for jersey customization.

When Mukhamadullin and his 13 characters make his NHL debut, it looks like he’s going to have one of the longest names in league history. According to Bardown, John Brackenborough of the 1925-26 Boston Bruins and his 14-character last name is the longest unbroken last name in league history, apologies to Jonathan Audy-Marchessault or Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson or Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond.

Hopefully, Fanatics will be ready to make a Mukhamadullin jersey by then!