Release the Kraken.
Seattle’s NHL team released its name, logo and color scheme Thursday afternoon and is officially the league’s 32nd team. The Seattle Kraken will make its debut in the 2021-2022 season (if everything goes well health-wise, of course).
The NHL named Seattle as its 32nd team back in 2018 for a $650 million expansion fee. The color scheme is perhaps the most eye-catching part of the new franchise with its navy and icy blue with sharp red accents.
According to the Associated Press, the front office started the process with a list of 1,200 names and suggestions. Over time, Heidi Dettmer, the organization’s vice president of marketing, and the front office narrowed the list down to five names. Each was placed into their individual envelopes and put in a time capsule inside the Seattle Space Needle that will be revealed in 2062, its 100th anniversary.
What is unique about the franchise’s name is how it was chosen: the front office launched an interactive portal in May 2019 for fans to offer name suggestions. According to Kraken president Tod Leiweke, the fans felt strongly about the name since it surfaced across social media platforms. Other names included the Steelheads and even Metropolitans to honor Seattle’s hockey history (the Metropolitans were the first American team to win the Stanley Cup in 1917).
Of course, it is not a coincidence that director Jerry Bruckheimer is one of the team’s owners. He did direct “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” where Davy Jones summons the Kraken beast from the deep sea.
When revealing a new franchise in any industry, especially in sports, it is important to have a solid brand to make them stand out against their competition. How does one accomplish this? By drawing and designing up a powerful, memorable logo.
The logo’s body features a tentacle shaped like an “S” for its primary mark, which is an homage to the Seattle Metropolitans’ uniforms. The old team out of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association defeated the Montreal Canadiens months before the NHL was established.
The NHL's newest team is the Seattle Kraken.
Grade the logo and look. pic.twitter.com/weMqI0owvV
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) July 23, 2020
With the help of Adidas, the Kraken designed the color scheme, highlighting its purpose and symbolism. 16 NHL teams have a shade of blue in their logos, but the team’s primary colors are a deep dark blue that is close to black, complemented by light blue to symbolize Puget Sound’s ice caps. Since Seattle’s geographic location is surrounded by the sea and marine life, it makes sense to highlight various shades of blue.
There is also no white in the logo, so the blues will stand out.
According to the franchise’s Twitter page, the red eye represents the Kraken’s “swift and devastating” attack as it exits and re-enters the deep blue, mysterious sea.
The Seattle Kraken will play in the new, Amazon-owned Climate Pledge Arena, along with the WNBA’s Seattle Storm. It is trying to become the first arena in the world to earn net zero carbon certification. It is currently under construction on the Seattle Center campus, the former home of the NBA’s Seattle SuperSonics.
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