Seattle Kraken Hockey

[chris98251]

Can't believe the negativity here. I was for Kraken from the very start. I think it's a baddass name! And if nothing else, for the announcer on our home ice for player intros "RELEASE, THE KRAKEN!!!". I'll have goosebumps!!

Congrats, Krakhead. Will you be taking the krakpipe (highway 99 tunnel) to the krakhouse (Climate Pledge Arena) to listen to Krakrock during stoppages?

Yeah and SeaChickens and Seahags were what people were calling the Seahawks also along with making fun of our original Totem logo and saying there is no such thing as a Seahawk, remember all that, also we ripped off the Cowboys Uniforms.

Krakhead is MUCH worse. As if Seattle needs to be MORE associated with crack use.

Not so much Crack, more with Coffee, but you need to come out of the 90's to know that.

And if it's drugs Heroin is the new drug of choice anyway.

 

[Seahawk Sailor]

Eh, wasn't my first choice, but it'll grow on me. And I suspect on everyone else who'd rather have had a different name. At least Seattle has a team.

 

[Chawker]

I can only speak for myself, I'm so very disappointed that a small group of people that have no business naming their family pet, let alone a hockey team, could of come up with twelve worse names. I thought that they would of opened it up to the people from Washington for other names, krackins suck! After what Todd and crew did to our team it will be easy,for me to be a hater on those stupid hockey team.

It was the loggers of the P.N.W. that made things work in the early years of this land. NOT some made up kiddies monster. Thanks Todd for taking a big ol dump on the people and our grass roots Industry.

"Seattle Sawyers" And I can't forget our mascot. A bear named "Stihlman" like after the saw, a "Stihl"

I'm sick about this. ukeface: ukeface: ukeface: ukeface: ukeface: ukeface: ukeface: ukeface: ukeface: ukeface: ukeface: ukeface: ukeface: ukeface: ukeface: ukeface: ukeface: ukeface: ukeface: ukeface: ukeface: ukeface: ukeface: ukeface: ukeface: ukeface: ukeface:

 

[Chapow]

You're really into that Krakhead thing. That's not what I think of at all, and most won't either.

It was a foregone conclusion that if they named the team "The Kraken", that the fans would be known as krakheads and the arena would be called the krakhouse. NHL fans from all over have been saying this for months. At least as far back as January. It's not going to "wear out". It's not going to go "blow over". Seattle fans will forever be known as krakheads, the arena will forever be known as the krakhouse. This could have easily been avoided by naming the team literally anything else.

And if they're going to go ahead and name the team The Kraken anyway, they seriously couldn't come up with a better logo than a big baby blue S? C'mon man. Could've been such a cool logo, but they went with the most obvious, most boring logo possible for a Seattle team.

And yes, I realize I'm being a huge bitch about all this at this point. I was just really hoping for something I was going to be really stoked about. Especially the jerseys. Instead, the whole damn thing is just lame and boring.

 

[CPHawk]

A brain-breakingly stupid name. Every other option put forward was better (except maybe Metropolitans). Well, you lost a fan already. I will never be a ****ing krakhead. Go Canucks.

You would have been happier being named after our rivals food? The sockeye.

 

[Chapow]

For the record, I posted this in this very thread back in January.

While I personally don't mind Kraken, and I actually think it could make for a pretty cool logo, gear, etc., at this point I don't think it's a very good idea to name the team that. Do a quick Google search for Seattle Kraken and it's pretty clear that it's already being looked at as a huge joke with all the references to Krackheads, Krackhouse, Krackpipe, etc. Probably not a very good idea to kick off a brand new NHL franchise like that.

 

[Maulbert]

A brain-breakingly stupid name. Every other option put forward was better (except maybe Metropolitans). Well, you lost a fan already. I will never be a ****ing krakhead. Go Canucks.

You would have been happier being named after our rivals food? The sockeye.

Orcas eat squid more than salmon.

 

[Cyrus12]

From what I'm seeing everyone is all over referring to you guys as krakhead...krackshack...yada yada. Calamari is a good one too. Oh and some people state the team name is offensive and not politically correct.

 

[twisted_steel2]

A brain-breakingly stupid name. Every other option put forward was better (except maybe Metropolitans). Well, you lost a fan already. I will never be a ****ing krakhead. Go Canucks.

You would have been happier being named after our rivals food? The sockeye.

Orcas eat squid more than salmon.

This kraken is named more after a giant octopus, rather than a squid though.

 

[Maulbert]

A brain-breakingly stupid name. Every other option put forward was better (except maybe Metropolitans). Well, you lost a fan already. I will never be a ****ing krakhead. Go Canucks.

You would have been happier being named after our rivals food? The sockeye.

Orcas eat squid more than salmon.

This kraken is named more after a giant octopus, rather than a squid though.

You think they make a distinction? They eat more octopus than salmon, too.

 

[Chawker]

Seattle crap'em we'll be crappem our pants for a long time over this one. We can sling dirty diapers on the ice with every goal. And with a hat trick we can add a baby ruth.

 

[Thepeelsessions]

You're really into that Krakhead thing. That's not what I think of at all, and most won't either.

It was a foregone conclusion that if they named the team "The Kraken", that the fans would be known as krakheads and the arena would be called the krakhouse. NHL fans from all over have been saying this for months. At least as far back as January. It's not going to "wear out". It's not going to go "blow over". Seattle fans will forever be known as krakheads, the arena will forever be known as the krakhouse. This could have easily been avoided by naming the team literally anything else.

And if they're going to go ahead and name the team The Kraken anyway, they seriously couldn't come up with a better logo than a big baby blue S? C'mon man. Could've been such a cool logo, but they went with the most obvious, most boring logo possible for a Seattle team.

And yes, I realize I'm being a huge b!@ch about all this at this point. I was just really hoping for something I was going to be really stoked about. Especially the jerseys. Instead, the whole damn thing is just lame and boring.

I'm pretty sure this is the only thing you and I have ever agreed upon. This is a historic day here on .net!

I'm right there with you, Pow. You're not being a baby. This is awful. Truly awful. What pisses me off the most is how people are acting like Kraken has ties to the PNW. It absolutely does not. The Giant Pacific Octopus does, but that shouldn't be mistaken for what the "Kraken" is. The Giant Pacific Octopus doesn't terrorize sailors, or swallow boats. It doesn't dwell off the coast of Greenland or Scandinavia in Atlantic waters. It isn't a mythical creature of Scandinavian folklore.

It's funny how people are bringing up the fact that the neighborhood of Ballard is a Scandanavian community, and that the Kraken is well known there. Give me a break. What a pile. Ballard doesn't make up Seattle. I'm sure there's no drunken sailors sitting in Ballard bars exchanging near death experiences with the "Kraken" over cold ones in Ballard, or any other Washington bar, for that matter.

Kraken is bold for all the wrong reasons, and aside from living in an ocean, makes absolutely zero sense here. If they really wanted to name the team after the Pacific Giant, that's cool. Good luck finding a decent name with that one. But they totally turned a blind eye to the fact that one is real and one a myth.

The name sucks. The Tennessee Titan wannabe colors suck. The logo sucks. The arena name sucks.

I will GLADLY eat my crow and admit any Idiocracy if I do in fact ever follow this team, and in all honesty, but hope I do. I have wanted to get into hockey for a long, long time, and it's a damn shame I won't be rooting for the home team. And yes, I realize that is my choice. For now, go Canucks.

 

[DJrmb]

This Kraken is based on the giant (600 lbs) octopus that people believe lives under the narrows bridge in Tacoma. Known as King Octopus or as a Kraken, people have claimed to see it's giant tentacles reaching out of the waters for years. It even goes back as far as NW Native American tribal legends of a giant octopus monster.

Just like Bigfoot (or Sasquatch) legends exist all around the world. So do legends of giant Kraken-like creature that lurk in deep waters. Kraken is used as a title to describe a large tentacled Sea momster, not the name of one specific monster from one specific area in this case.

 

[Chawker]

What are we to do as fans ? Show our b u t t cracks after every goal. :229031_shrug:

 

[twisted_steel2]

You guys are gonna be ok, you'll eventually get used to it.

It's going to be fun! C'mon we got a NHL team, finally! We've waited forever! This is amazing, don't let the name turn you off completely.... give it some time before you shut them out permanently....

Just for some perspective of how long and hard the road was to get an NHL franchise, I'll post this. Its a long read, but worth it.

This article was originally published in the March-April 2006 issue of NW Hockey Report.

Citation: Obermeyer, Jeff. “Seattle and the NHL: So Close Yet So Far Away.” NW Hockey Report 4, no. 3 (2006): 8, 20.



Whenever I talk to fans in the Northwest about hockey one question is invariably asked: “Why isn’t there an NHL team in Seattle?” It’s a simple question with a long, complicated answer.

The Seattle-Tacoma region is the 12th largest television market in the United States according to figures published by Nielsen Market Research for the 2003-04 television season, making it the second largest market in the country without an NHL team (Houston is the other). The region has a long and proud hockey tradition, beginning with the Metropolitans in 1915 and continuing almost uninterrupted to the Thunderbirds of today. Seattle has hosted the Stanley Cup Finals twice (1917 and 1919), and the 1917 Metropolitans were the first U.S.-based team to win hockey’s greatest trophy. Professional, high-level amateur and junior league teams have drawn solid crowds in the city for decades, so why has the NHL stayed away?

Take 1

With the completion of the Coliseum in 1962 as part of the World’s Fair the city had a first-class sports venue. The Totems of the Western Hockey League played the first sporting event in the facility in the fall of 1964, hosting the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs in an exhibition, and quickly became a solid draw in their new home with crowds frequently in excess of 10,000. The Totems’ owners made no secret of their interest in acquiring an NHL franchise for the city.

In February of 1965 NHL President Clarence Campbell announced plans for a six-team expansion, doubling the size of the league. A number of cities were mentioned as prospects but Seattle and Portland, two of the largest draws in all of minor league hockey, were conspicuously absent from the list. The NHL felt that only cities of “major league status” should be considered and Seattle, lacking other major league sports franchises, didn’t qualify. Totem president Gene Walby was advised by Campbell not to waste his money on the application fee as Seattle did not merit serious consideration. In response to the snub the WHL and American Hockey League experimented with an interlocking schedule in hope of eventually merging the two circuits and declaring major league status to go head-to-head with the NHL. High travel costs and the reduction in lucrative rivalry games quickly ended the merger, leaving local fans to make due with the minors for the foreseeable future.

By the early 1970s the Totems were struggling at the gate. Three consecutive losing seasons caused the average attendance to drop to around 4,000 fans per game and the team was in dire financial straits. The Vancouver Canucks purchased a majority interest in the club in 1972 to rescue it from bankruptcy. Local owners Vince Abbey and Dr. Eldred Barnes retained a stake in the team and also held the right to buy out Vancouver’s should they be awarded an NHL franchise for Seattle in the future.

Fortunately Abbey and Barnes didn’t have to wait long. There was a hockey war brewing as the upstart World Hockey Association competed with the NHL to get teams into the best open markets as quickly as possible. The call came on June 12, 1974 when the NHL announced that the Seattle group headed by Abbey had been awarded an expansion team to begin play in the 1976-77 season. Abbey was now on the clock – a $180,000 deposit was due by the end of 1975 and the total franchise fee was a steep $6 million, plus he still had to repurchase the shares in the Totems held by the Canucks.

Abbey was confident, but he missed a number of deadlines and scrambled to secure financing. The NHL threatened to pull the franchise as there were a number of other suitors in the wings. Abbey allegedly passed on an opportunity to purchase a WHA team for $2 million during this period and he missed a golden opportunity to acquire an existing franchise when the Pittsburgh Penguins were sold in a bankruptcy auction for $4.4 million in June of 1975.

The NHL didn’t feel that Abbey could put together the financing. The Totems folded following the 1974-75 season and that summer the NHL pulled the expansion franchise from Seattle, leaving the city without hockey for the first time since 1954-55. However, Abbey wasn’t about to give up and in the fall of 1975 he filed suit against the NHL and the Canucks for anti-trust violations that he alleged prevented him from acquiring a team. The suit dragged on for over a decade before finally ending in a verdict in favor of the NHL in 1986.

Take 2

The conclusion of the lawsuit seemingly put an end of any hopes of bringing an NHL team to Seattle, but that changed in December of 1989 when the NHL announced a new round of expansion for the 1992-93 season. Two groups quickly established themselves as contenders for a Seattle franchise. The first was financed by Microsoft millionaire Chris Larson and led by former Seattle Totem Bill MacFarland. The other was headed by Bill Ackerley, son of Seattle Supersonics owner Barry Ackerley. Ackerley had already applied for a franchise and the two camps decided to pool their resources. While the $50 million expansion fee was much steeper than faced by Abbey 15 years earlier, the group had the money as well as additional funds to cover the necessary operating expenses for the first five seasons.

Things appeared to be proceeding smoothly through the summer and into the fall of 1990. Larson and MacFarland met with the NHL Board of Directors in October and the Seattle group gave a great presentation. The directors loved the fact that a Microsoft millionaire was bankrolling the project and that a new state-of-the-art arena was under discussion with the city. Pat Quinn, who had played under MacFarland on the 1966-67 WHL championship Seattle Totems squad, was particularly helpful and told his former coach that Seattle was a “lock” for a team in the first round of expansion.

The presentation to the Board of Governors took place on December 5. The Seattle contingent consisted of four representatives: MacFarland, Larson, Barry Ackerley, and Bill Lear, a financial advisor for Ackerley. They met for breakfast and discussed their strategy, then adjourned to a room to await their turn to present.

Gil Stein, Vice President and General Counsel of the NHL, came to escort the group to the meeting. Ackerley then made a strange request. He asked if he and Lear could speak to the Board first in private before the others did their portion of the presentation. It was a complete surprise – they had not discussed this over breakfast, but MacFarland and Larson reluctantly agreed. After all, the application was in Ackerley’s name, so he had the final say. Ackerley and Lear proceeded to the meeting room with Stein while the others waited nervously for their turn. Ten minutes later Stein returned with a strange story. Apparently Ackerley introduced himself to the Board and informed them that the Seattle group was withdrawing its application. No reason was given. Ackerley and Lear then left the room through another exit.

MacFarland and Larson were stunned. The failure to get an application in their names had proven to be a fatal flaw and gave Ackerley the opportunity to pull the rug out from under them. The pair were allowed to make their pitch anyway, but they left Florida highly discouraged by the turn of events. Franchises were eventually awarded to Ottawa and Tampa Bay, though neither group was ever able to come up with the full $50,000,000 fee, a fee the Seattle group was prepared to pay in full.

Today

The Coliseum underwent an estimated $100 million remodel following the abortive attempt to get an NHL team. Completed in 1995, the newly renamed Key Arena was a palace for basketball with 17,000 seats and over 50 luxury boxes. Unfortunately the remodel reduced the building’s seating capacity for hockey, leaving it with only around 10,000 unrestricted view seats. MacFarland has stated that he believes this was part of Ackerley’s plan all along – prevent the city from getting an NHL team that would compete with the Supersonics and then remodel the Coliseum to ensure his team remained the building’s key tenant. There is no word as to whether or not the new $220 million Key Arena remodel proposed to the legislature by the Sonics the Spring would expand seating for hockey, and the lack of a suitable facility will continue to prevent the NHL from considering Seattle in the future.

Coincidences? You be the judge…

Old article.... doesn't even have the attempt to grab the Arizona Coyotes in 2013. That could be Take 3. https://www.sbnation.com/nhl/2014/10/7/ ... relocation

 

[notyou]

Horrible name for the team & even worse name for the arena.
Glad I'm not a hockey fan.

 

[TwistedHusky]

Call me a Krak Head.

I am stoked.

I am laughing a bit when people assert 'the Kraken has no connection to the PNW'.

Apparently none of you worked the docks or boats here? Check Ballard, we have a huge maritime tradition that stems from a large amount of Norwegian/Scandinavian immigrants. Our entire industrial maritime history is rife with them. Not just Ballard either, but a large # of the boats that worked here.

It pays homage to that history and it is so full of possibility in terms of logos and graphics for branding and fan experience. Seattle's maritime history goes much farther back than our aviation history. This city was built to what it was because of our ports.

I'm going to buy a stuffed Cthulhu and bring it to games. (It basically looks like a Kraken anyway. )The Mets would have been a stupid name, much worse. And so would Sockeye - ick. At least there is some promise with this one and it keeps with Seattle's connection to the sea and work on the sea.

 

[KitsapGuy]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/AvishSood/status/1286436677536358400[/tweet]

https://twitter.com/AvishSood/status/12 ... 7536358400

 

[Cyrus12]

another good one I saw... When someone hits the goal post it will be referred to as hitting the krackpipe.

 

[Bobblehead]

Krackers.. not sure how politically correct that will be.