The Letter
Hockey has a piece of iconography no other sport uses the same way: a single letter stitched onto the chest. A C or an A is not decorative. It is a room's decision about who speaks. Players who have worn one tend to remember the season they got it more precisely than they remember most of their goals.
It is also, conveniently, one character long.
One character is a real option
The shortest engraving tier runs from one to three characters, and hockey is the sport where a single character earns its place. A C. An A. A number. Cut into the back of the plate, where only the person wearing it knows.
Longer engravings — four to ten characters — take a name, a date, or a short phrase. If you are buying for a captain, the year they got the letter is usually a better engraving than the letter itself, because it fixes the moment rather than the title.
Superstition is a feature
Hockey is comfortable with ritual in a way other sports are not. Tape jobs that never change, the same route to the rink, the order things go on. A piece worn on the same wrist for a whole season fits that logic without anyone needing to explain it.
Bracelets are the more common choice here for that reason. They are adjustable — a 15 cm base with a 5 cm extender, so they fit around 95 percent of wrists — with a secure lobster clasp and a flat bar for the engraving.
Durability, honestly
316L stainless steel, waterproof, sweat and tarnish resistant, in polished steel or 18K gold PVD. It will survive a dressing room and a season of being pulled on and off over gloves.
What it is not is protective equipment. Anything worn on the ice is worn at the player's own judgement, and most leagues have their own rules about jewellery in play. Off the ice, it is built to keep up.