The Seattle Kraken are the NHL’s newest franchise. After months of speculation, the NHL’s 32nd franchise has announced their team name and revealed their logo in a press conference perfectly in-line with the return of sports.

In a press conference at the building site of Seattle’s Hockey Facility and Arena, in front of the workers on site, Tim Leiweke would credit the fans of Seattle for proving that they could support an NHL team worthy of expansion. He’d also specify the team’s brand being an homage to Seattle’s maritime heritage while using a color-scheme unique to the NHL but authentic to their heritage.

He’d then hand off the honor of discussing the team’s name to Heidi Dettmer who would talk about the brand following a short video reveal.

The S logo would be an homage to Seattle Metropolitans, a professional ice hockey team that played in the PCHA from 1915 to 1924. They’d also win the Stanley Cup in 1917, 11 years before the New York Rangers became the NHL’s first American Franchise to officially win the Cup in 1928.

Kraken Will Call Climate Pledge Arena Home

When the Kraken do take to the ice for the first time in what is expected to be Oct. 2021, they’ll do so in the Climate Pledge Arena, previously known as KeyArena in Seattle.

The naming rights for the building were secured by Jeff Bezos and Amazon and rather than naming it after Amazon specifically, the decision was made for the name to hold more significance and importance.

“We’ve secured naming rights to the historic arena previously known as KeyArena,” Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said. ” Instead of naming it after Amazon, we’re calling it Climate Pledge Arena as a regular reminder of the importance of fighting climate change. We look forward to working together with Oak View Group, a new Climate Pledge signatory, and NHL Seattle to inspire global climate action.”

This arena also plans on being the first arena to ban single-use plastic and have functional zero waste, make rink ice from rainwater and refrigerants with zero greenhouse gas emissions while using electric zambonis to clean the ice surface.

The Kraken will also be releasing a Release The Kraken clothing brand with 100 percent of the proceeds being donated to YouthCare, an organization that works to help kids facing homelessness.ReleaseTheKraken YouthCare, kids facing homelessness.

Bright Future for the Kraken

While expansion teams may have once been thought of as long-term projects with little short-term upside as far as winning potential in the NHL, that stigma has now changed.

The Vegas Golden Knights would prove to the world that an expansion team can immediately step into the NHL and be a contender if they execute the Expansion and Entry-Draft processes correctly.

For the Kraken, following in the Golden Knights footsteps would be a tremendous, albeit lofty goal. Still, they also don’t have to play in the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season to be a successful franchise from the get-go.

Instead, the team has already proven to be successful off the ice throughout the process of making their facilities so unique and beneficial to the planet while also doing so much work and research to ensure that the brand was so authentic to the city of Seattle.

If the team can continue to build off of this immediate success and general manager Ron Francis turn it into tangible success on the ice, then fans of the Kraken could be in store for a very exciting franchise from day one.

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