The owners of the NHL’s 32nd franchise are receiving universal praise for the way the team name was unveiled yesterday. Standing at will eventually be center ice inside Climate Pledge Arena, team CEO Tod Leiweke introduced a video that declared the team would be named the Seattle Kraken.
Kraken certainly isn’t a common nickname. The team will be named after a mythical sea creature that pulls ships below the ocean’s surface. It’s a perfect name for a team from a city like Seattle, which was built on the fishing and shipping industries.
The local media seems really into the name. Personalities from both Seattle sports radio stations weighed in with positive reviews.
ESPN’s Mina Kimes may be the best known fan of Seattle sports. She has never hidden her love of the Seahawks, and judging by her reaction on Twitter, Mina won’t be hiding her Kraken fandom either.
Kimes’s ESPN colleague Peter Burns also had praise for the name.
Clay Travis of Outkick.com and FOX Sports Radio offered the city a backhanded compliment, saying the name and the rollout was “something finally positive to come out of Seattle.”
The team won’t start playing until the 2021-22 season. That means we are likely a ways off from knowing the names of the men and women that will be the team’s broadcasters.
Seattle has never had an NHL franchise. The Seattle Metropolitans of the Pacific Coast Hockey League were the first American team to win the Stanley Cup though. That title came in 1917. They won it a second time in 1919, tying with the Montreal Canadians after a resurgence of the 1918 flu pandemic canceled the Stanley Cup Finals.
