NHL’s Seattle franchise will be the Kraken

SEATTLE — The name Seattle Kraken seems to have had an air of inevitability around it even during the earliest days of the NHL’s newest expansion franchise.

“The first time in our office, there’s only 10 of us in our office, and we put up our NHL Seattle sign on the front door. And the very next morning there was a Post-it on the door that said, ‘Release the Kraken,’” Heidi Dettmer, the franchise’s vice president of marketing, told The Associated Press. “So it’s definitely something that we’ve heard almost as a rallying cry.”

The franchise set to make its on-ice debut in the 2021-22 season — taking the NHL to 32 teams — made those early fans happy Thursday when it revealed the team would, indeed, be called the Kraken.

After starting with a list of roughly 1,200 names and suggestions — no matter how outlandish — Dettmer and Seattle’s front office whittled them down to a final group of five. Each was placed into its own silo, as they called it, and given thoughtful and independent consideration with an eye toward what would be the best brand for the franchise.

Ultimately, Seattle opted to unleash the sea creature from Scandinavian folklore on the rest of the NHL.

“I think that we felt like this is so authentic and noble and we hit all the main things that we really wanted, that we feel really strongly that this is the right choice,” Dettmer said. “I’ve totally fallen in love with this brand, and I think our fans will.”

Kraken was the winner over options that may have proven safer and possibly less polarizing. From the start, Sockeyes, Steelheads — even Metropolitans in a nod to Seattle’s hockey history — were among the fan favorites. There was even a push from some for the team to try to acquire the Thunderbirds name from the local junior team.

Those fans who loved Kraken, however, were loud and fervent.

“The Kraken is a name born of the fans. It was suggested and championed by the fans,” Seattle CEO Tod Leiweke said.

With that passion, the front office and its brand committee found an opportunity to be a bit unconventional. They opted for a name not everyone may like but one that everyone will talk about. It was edgy, different and sounded menacing.

The time it took to arrive at Thursday’s announcement had more to do with finalizing the logo and colors, with several delays thrown in. Seattle decided on Kraken around the first of the year, Dettmer said, and then came all the ancillary pieces.

The primary logo is a tentacle shaped into an “S” in the style of the old Seattle Metropolitans jersey and logo. The Metropolitans were the first American team to win the Stanley Cup in 1917. The primary colors are a deep dark blue — almost black — complemented by lighter shades of blue.