25 Of Your Favorite NHL Players' Names You've Been Saying Wrong (Photos)

I love the NBA and NFL as much as the next sports fan, college sports too, but as I've discovered in recent years, there's nothing like the excitement of the NHL.

Professional hockey is fast-paced, intricate and most importantly, unimpeded by officials and commercials every other minute.

Face it, kids, there's a flag thrown or a whistle blown on almost every play nowadays.

And as much as I love my hometown team, who can really watch an entire regular-season baseball game in one sitting?

Sure, soccer is uninterrupted by breaks, but you do have to watch some players flopping about like a fish out of water in an effort to get a call from the referee.

Nope, the league that combines the best players, fans, refs, action and postseason is undoubtedly the NHL.

But, if you're a new fan of the game, or didn't major in linguistics in college, you probably have no idea how to pronounce the names of some of the best players in the world.

It's not your fault, the NHL boasts names from Canada to Russia, and everywhere in between.

We've got you covered, though. Because whether you're trying to impress your friends or significant other, or just not sound like an idiot, this pronunciation guide is sure to make you look like a life-long NHL fan.

Zbynek Michalek

Zdeno Chara

Nicolas Deslauriers

Rasmus Ristolainen

Niklas Hjalmarsson

Francois Beauchemin

Tyler Seguin

Pavel Datsyuk

Jakub Kindl

Leon Draisaitl

Benoit Pouliot

Casey Cizikas

Henrik Lundqvist

Mark Borowiecki

Patrick Wiercioch

Sean Couturier

Pascal Dupuis

Paul Stastny

Ondrej Palat

Nazem Kadri

Dan Hamhuis

Henrik Sedin

Brooks Laich

Dustin Byfuglien

Mathieu Perreault