Seattle Kraken named NHL's 32nd franchise
Last week, the NHL’s Seattle-based expansion team revealed their franchise name and logo. The team will be called the Seattle Kraken, inspired by the mythical sea creature. The team’s main colors will be “deep sea blue” and “ice blue,” with “boundless blue,” “shadow blue” and “red alert” serving as accent colors.
The team released three logos last week: a tentacled “S” design that pays homage to the history of hockey in the city, an anchor designed to resemble the iconic Space Needle and a third logo with the “Seattle Kraken” name.
The mythical kraken is most known from the 1953 novel “The Kraken Wakes” by John Wyndham. The creature has also been seen in some Hollywood movies, including the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, which produced by one of the team’s owners, Jerry Bruckheimer.
“The Kraken is a name born of the fans,” said Tod Leiweke, the team’s president and CEO. When crafting the logo, the organization surveyed local residents to inform them on key decisions. Team officials have said that Seattle natives most wanted blue or green in the logo, as every team in Seattle has one of those colors.
“We considered everything ... many of the names had plusses and many had minuses. But at the end of the day, like an endearing friend, this name just kept hanging in there,” Leiweke said.
According to team officials, they had to overcome several hurdles before “releasing the Kraken.” The team had to work out trademark agreements for the name with several companies, including Kraken Rum, which has since agreed to become the official rum sponsor of the new team. Adidas’ hockey design director Matty Merrill said the company worked with NHL Seattle executives for almost a year, starting with a list of 1,200 names and narrowing it down to about three dozen before making the final decision. The Kraken was a name that the Seattle locals loved, and the franchise definitely took notice.
“It became very clear that Kraken wasn’t going away,” Merrill said. The initial reaction from fans has seemed to indicate huge success. According to Fanatics, the organization’s goal was to beat the expansion team merchandise sale record set by the Las Vegas Golden Knights in 2017. The Kraken achieved that goal very quickly, as merchandise sales were 50% higher than the Knights’ record.
The announcement was made at Climate Pledge Arena, the future home of the Kraken. Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos purchased the naming rights to the new arena, which was previously known as KeyArena, the home of the NBA’s Seattle SuperSonics. Bezos gave Climate Pledge Arena its name to promote environmental sustainability efforts that will be made there. The arena will also be home to Seattle’s WNBA franchise, the Seattle Storm. The Kraken is set to hit the ice there in the 2021-2022 NHL season.
Photo Courtesy of the Seattle Kraken
