It’s official. After years of speculation, Seattle has finally revealed the name of its hockey team. Announced earlier today via Twitter through a flashy video, Seattle will officially be releasing the “Kraken” for the 2021-2022 NHL season.
The name has been the topic of a heated debate for nearly two years. Team officials claim to have gone through nearly 1,200 different names before finally landing on Kraken as the moniker. Seattleites had long contemplated whether the name would pay homage to indeginous tribes, be something aquatic themed, or something else entirely. However, Kraken has been a popular choice since the beginning.
The Kraken is a mythical sea beast from Scandanavian folklore. Its popularity grew in the mid 1900’s through its inclusion in a few novels. It has since made its way to the big screen in multiple movies, most notably The Pirates of the Caribbean series produced by part owner of the Seattle NHL team, Jerry Bruckheimer.
Along with the team name came the reveal of the Kraken’s jerseys. With three different shades of blue and a dash of red to symbolize the Kraken’s eyes, the jerseys are admittedly pretty slick. The name reveal itself has also generated enough hype to have its own “Release the Kraken!” merch.
At the time of writing, I haven’t successfully reached the website once. Something tells me this clothing is gone.
Now, Seattle eagerly looks forward to October 2021. In the meantime, the city will wait patiently for the roster to be announced, the jerseys to launch (and inevitably immediately sell out), and to “krak” more jokes about their team name. So far Climate Pledge Arena has already been aptly renamed “The Krak House” or “The Krak Den” by locals, and I think it would be a missed opportunity to not sell cheese and “Krakers” at the games. I was going to end with a joke/potential idea about seeking sponsorship from the rum of the same name, but it seems I was too late.
