Hockey locker rooms are rife with nicknames. The Washington Capitals are no different and some of those custom monikers come with great backstories.
Prospects Ilya Protas and Eriks Mateiko sat down to talk with Caps Radio’s Katie Florio during the team’s development camp at the start of July. The pair revealed the origins of their unique call signs “Hammer” and “Moose” on an episode of “The Line Change” released on Thursday.
Protas, the younger brother of Caps winger Aliaksei, described the moment in 2023 when one of his Des Moines Buccaneers coaches gave him the “Hammer” nickname during a USHL game. In June, he told RMNB he quickly approved of the alias.
“I remember how I get this nickname,” he recalled. “I was on the bench, it was the game against – in the USHL against the Fargo [Force]. It was the start of the year and the coach called me like Ilya or Pro or Protas and I said, ‘No, I don’t like it.’ [The coach asked,] ‘Do you have a nickname?’ I said, ‘Just Pro, Ilya, just the name.’ He said, ‘No, I call you Hammer, you will be Hammer.’ I’m like, ‘Okay, Hammer then.'”
Protas said it didn’t take long for that name to stick amongst the rest of his teammates.
“A couple of boys heard it and they started calling me Hammer and then it catches on and [everyone] started calling me Hammer as well,” he continued.
Protas, selected 75th overall by the Capitals in the 2024 NHL Draft, logged 51 points (14g, 37a) in his single season with the Buccaneers. He played the 2024-25 regular season with the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires (124p in 61 games) before being called up for the Hershey Bears’ Calder Cup playoff run. He led the Spitfires in goals (50) and assists (74) during the regular season and could return to Hershey for the 2025-26 campaign.
Mateiko’s “Moose” label came about when the then-17-year-old Latvian arrived to the QMJHL’s St. John Seadogs in 2022. His coaches wanted something simple and recognizable to identify Mateiko since he was still an early learner of English. Incidentally, the nickname gave the European forward an informative lesson in the North American woodland species.
“It’s a funny story actually, like I didn’t have any nicknames or anything and the first meeting I had with [my coaches they were] like, ‘Well, we need a nickname for you,'” Mateiko explained. “They were like, ‘You’re Little Moose.’ So I’m like, ‘I have no clue what is moose or anything,’ and for half an hour they were showing me pictures of moose and laughing at it, while I’m just sitting there thinking like, ‘What am I doing here?'”
Mateiko accrued 98 points (53g, 45a) in 134 career games for the Seadogs before he was traded to the Rimouski Océanic during the 2024-25 season. He mentioned his teammates would tack on clever modifiers to his nickname depending on his performances.
“The first year was Little Moose, the second year was like, every time I get a penalty it was Criminal Moose. And then last year it was just Moose,” he told Florio with a grin on his face.
Mateiko earned 64 PIMs during his QMJHL tenure but will now be looking to stay out of hockey jail as he adjusts to the pro hockey lifestyle. Mateiko signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Capitals in 2024 and is expected to see his pro career begin with the AHL’s Hershey Bears this fall.
