SEATTLE NHL TEAM SURFACES
Kraken set to start playing fall 2021
OK, Seattle, let’s get TORONTO Kraken.
To the applause of construction workers at the city’s renovated Climate Pledge Arena, the name of the league’s 32nd franchise was unveiled on Thursday — the mythical sea beast that was a front-runner from the day the franchise was granted in December 2018.
To an accompanying video of the stormy seas and the city skyline, the name and a stylized ‘S’ like a serpent with a red eye was unveiled by vice-president of marketing Heidi Dettmer. The team colours are sea blue with grey, red and white trim.
“Seattle is a city built by the sea and on Puget Sound, notorious for its deep waters,” said Seattle native Dettmer. “As a child growing up here, my grandfathers would entertain me with sea voyages and tales of the deep. The largest octopus on earth lives right here in our waters.”
The Kraken are set to start playing in October 2021. Amazon bought the naming rights to the rink and intends to feature green initiatives, such as using rainwater around the building and in the ice-making process. The city averages 37.5 inches of precipitation a year, hardly any of it in the form of snow. Amazon intends to be a fully carbon neutral company by 2040.
The next step for the Kraken will be to hire a head coach at some point this calendar year, likely waiting until the 24-team NHL playoff tournament ends in case a big name becomes available.
While team colours are similar to the blue and green aquatic worn by the NFL’S Seattle Seahawks, a closer copy of that would clash with the Vancouver Canucks, who have worn those colours off and on for 50 years. At just under 200 kilometres to the north, they will be the Kraken’s closest rivals.
Seattle will also finally balance the NHL’S East and West conferences with 16 teams each.
Earlier this summer, CEO Tod Leiweke told the Seattle Times newspaper the team had looked at several logo designs in previous months, while dealing with a tangled net of trademark restrictions. The Seattle Metropolitans, the last non-nhl Stanley Cup champion before the latter league was created, was also considered.
The announcement of the name was hoped for around the 2020 NHL all-star break, but COVID -19 and then civil unrest in Seattle prompted by the death of George Floyd pushed it back.
Kraken caused a social media storm the moment the franchise was awarded, with fans for and against the fictitious sea creature.
A Kraken was featured in some of club owner Jerry Bruckheimer’s movies, though its roots are on the other side of the world in Norse mythology. While there are squid, octopus and related sea life around Puget Sound toward the Pacific Ocean, Times readers chose Sockeyes during a 2019 survey, recognizing the red Pacific salmon, the name of many West Coast sports’ teams through the years.
With Seattle also known as the Emerald City, that was also in the mix.