Kraken Blue

Lore & Background

The choice of a deep, almost-black blue as the franchise's primary color was a deliberate act of regional identity. Seattle sits on the edge of the Salish Sea; its weather is a perpetual indigo-gray. The Kraken Blue palette eschews the bright, saturated blues of older NHL franchises in favor of something that reads like the water at dusk — cold, deep, and slightly ominous. Paired with a cool gray and clean white, the scheme evokes the layered look of a Pacific storm rolling in over the Olympic Peninsula.

In the early days of the franchise, fans and local media quickly adopted the color as a shorthand for the team's personality: patient, lurking, and explosive when it strikes. The kraken itself, a multi-tentacled beast from Norse and maritime folklore, lent the blue a narrative weight that a simple 'team blue' never could. Merchandise lines, arena signage, and even the city's unofficial sports-merch shops leaned into the depth of the shade, selling everything from hoodies to water bottles in that particular navy.

The color also became a cultural touchstone for a city that had waited decades for a major-league hockey team. Kraken Blue on a jersey in a crowded bar on First Avenue, or a sea of it filling the lower bowl at Climate Pledge Arena, communicated something simple and powerful: this is our team, this is our color, and we are not going anywhere.

In Their Own Story

The fog had rolled in off Elliott Bay by the third period, thick enough to swallow the stadium lights into soft halos. Inside Climate Pledge Arena, the lower bowl was a single breathing organism — thousands of Kraken Blue jerseys shifting with the rhythm of the puck. A long faceoff. The crowd hushed. Then the captain dropped the puck, and the sound that rose from the stands was not a cheer but a low, resonant rumble, felt more in the sternum than heard in the ear. The Kraken Call. The glass vibrated. Somewhere in the upper deck, a kid in an oversized hoodie pressed her palms flat against the railing, feeling the whole building shudder, and for one suspended second the arena was less a stadium and more the inside of a living thing, all blue and breath and the deep, patient threat of the deep.

Reader's Guide

Climate Pledge Arena sits in the South Lake Union neighborhood, a modern glass-and-steel structure whose exterior glows with cool blue lighting on game nights. Inside, the seating bowl is wrapped in Kraken Blue and gray, with the ice surface framed by boards that carry the team's tentacled crest in silver and white. The sightlines are intimate; even the upper rows feel close to the action, and the acoustics are tuned so that crowd noise builds and sustains in a way that players report feeling in their skates.

The most distinctive tradition is the Kraken Call: at key moments — a power play, a late-game lead, a defensive stand — the crowd drops into a collective, low, resonant sound, more rumble than chant. It is not a song with words; it is a vibration, a shared exhalation that fans describe as 'the arena breathing.' Coaches and players have publicly noted its effect.

The fanbase is broad and distinctly Seattle: tech workers, maritime families, college hockey alumni, and first-generation NHL fans who discovered the sport through the Kraken. Local identity runs through the Pacific Northwest lens — the color scheme nods to the sea, the team's mythology draws on ocean folklore, and the community culture values the underdog, the patient, the thing lurking just below the surface. Kraken Blue is less a brand and more a shared dialect.

Did You Know?

• The Seattle Kraken entered the NHL as an expansion franchise, beginning play in the 2021–22 season, making them one of the youngest teams in the league.
• Climate Pledge Arena, the team's home, is located in the South Lake Union area of Seattle and features a roof design intended to emphasize sustainability.
• The Kraken's color palette of deep blue, gray, and white was chosen to reflect the Pacific Northwest's maritime and storm-light aesthetic rather than follow a traditional NHL team-color formula.
• The 'Kraken Call' crowd tradition is a wordless, collective low-frequency sound that fans produce in unison, and players have described it as physically felt through the ice.