Last October, the Ottawa Senators produced one of the greatest selection moments in the history of the National Hockey League Entry Draft.

With the help of the late Alex Trebek, who appeared via video from his familiar perch on the set of Jeopardy, the Canadian icon read the question: "With the third pick in the 2020 NHL Draft the Ottawa Senators chose this player. The answer: Who is Tim Stuetzle?"

The next question should have been: And how exactly do you spell that, Alex?

Not since the Senators selected Mark Borowiecki in the fifth round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft has the spelling of the last name on the Senators roster created so much confusion (we’ll leave the pronunciation of Borowiecki’s name for another day).

A quick Internet search shows that the 18-year-old German forward has had his name spelled three different ways on a regular basis and, just like the lyrics from the famous Sesame Street song, one of these things is not like the others.

The common spellings you find when you search his name are Stützle, Stuetzle, and Stutzle.

There was even one sports betting website that listed Tim Stuetzle at 20-to-1 odds to win the 2021 Calder Trophy for the NHL’s top rookie. Right below that they had Tim Stutzle at 22-to-1. The website has since changed it to just Tim Stutzle at 20-to-1 odds.

Stützle is the common German spelling with an umlaut, the two little dots over the u. Stuetzle is the English version, and the last one, Stutzle, breaks all the rules.

For the Sens prospect the answer is quite simple.

"It’s because you don’t have the umlaut in Canada or the U.S. I don’t really care if it’s u or ue," said Stuetzle, while laughing at how much attention the spelling has garnered. "In German the ue is like the same with umlaut. In the end it doesn’t really matter for me."

"The only way I would simply not recommend, as some do as a third way, and you simply skip the umlaut," said Szymon Szemberg, managing director for the Alliance of European Hockey Clubs who was in charge of ushering in the IIHF’s current version of its pronunciation and spelling guide. "You do Stützle like it is and you don’t do the umlaut, and this is wrong because it’s a lazy way and there are two ways which are better."

Don’t know how to make an umlaut? You aren’t alone, says Szemberg.

"Since the Internet came in and different keyboards and so on, even Germans have sometimes problems with the umlauts," he said. "Some keyboards have it and some don’t."

In the German alphabet, umlauts can be used above the a, o and u to change the pronunciation. To put it simply, for ü think of an "oo" sound like cool. SCHTOOTZ-le

Seventeen days after the draft the Senators sent out a tweet officially confirming the number Stuetzle had chosen and that he would be using the English spelling of his name.

Stuetzle has gotten used to being asked about his last name, saying it was quickly a topic of conversation during his pre-draft meetings with NHL organizations.

"Mostly, the first question was how to spell my last name and how to say it," said Stuetzle. "That was kind of funny. Every time I say it to them and after they were trying to say it the right way. I think that’s kind of nice, too, that they try it. Sometimes it was a good try."

For now, the young forward is trying to make the Ottawa roster. He will have to sign his first NHL contract before that happens, but how will he sign his last name?

"With ue, probably. With ue or the u. I like the umlaut, so yeah. It kind of makes no difference," said Stuetzle. "My signature right now is with ue."

When Stuetzle eventually makes his NHL debut for the Senators it will be the first time in his life that he will have his named spelled "Stuetzle" on the back of his uniform.

"In the end, I just want to play in the NHL," he said. "I don’t really care if there is a ue on it or an umlaut."

Sens fans are anxious to see him play, tü.