The Seattle Kraken will hit the ice late next year after the NHL expansion franchise took advantage of a fearsome and mythical sea creature by its catchy name on Thursday.
Seattle received the 32nd NHL franchise in late 2018, and team officials said they analyzed some 1,200 suggestions before choosing the squid monster from Scandinavian folklore, which terrorized sailors in the North Atlantic.
The team starts playing in the 2021-22 season, playing home games at Climate Pledge Arena.
“We know that the past few months have presented an unprecedented change in our lives with many exciting moments,” Kraken’s majority owner David Bonderman said in a statement. “Despite everything, we have been on a long journey to name our team and design the logo with input from our fans, our leadership team and partners.”
Without having played a single period of hockey, the team already has a known and battle-tested cry: “Release the kraken!”
In the 2010 movie “Clash of the Titans,” Liam Neeson’s Zeus yells, “Free the Kraken!” The key phrase, which appeared in the trailer for the film, became an instant hit for pop culture.
The Kraken became one of the first favorites of Seattle hockey fans, who put relentless pressure on the team.
“I think it was a great decision for the team,” sports logo fan Chris Creamer told NBC News. “They really listened to their fans, studied social media, and it was very refreshing to see how much they wanted to choose a name for the fans.”
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Creamer, founder and publisher of the online museum SportsLogos.net, said the nickname “unique and unusual” is different from any other in major professional sports and that it will help the expansion franchise stand out.
“If someone says ‘Seattle Kraken’, you will know exactly what they are talking about,” said Creamer, author of “Fabric of the Game: The Stories Behind the NHL Names, Logos, and Uniforms.”
