Kraken Name and Identity Unveiled 2020

Lore & Background

The Kraken of Norse and Scandinavian folklore is a colossal sea creature said to dwell in the deep waters off the coast of Norway, its tentacles capable of dragging ships beneath the waves. For a city on the Puget Sound, surrounded by water and steeped in maritime history, the name felt almost inevitable. The Seattle Kraken brand drew directly on that legend, positioning the team as something ancient, powerful, and slightly terrifying — a force of nature that the Pacific Northwest could finally call its own.

The visual identity was designed to be bold and modern while honoring that mythic weight. The primary color, a vivid teal, evokes the deep green-blue of Pacific waters and the bioluminescent glow of deep-sea creatures. Black provides contrast and menace, while white keeps the palette clean and readable on ice. The logo — a coiled, stylized tentacle — was crafted to work at every scale, from a jumbotron to a jersey shoulder patch, and to feel both organic and geometric.

The naming process itself became a community event. Throughout 2019 and into 2020, the ownership group held town halls, online polls, and social-media campaigns that turned the naming of a hockey team into a shared civic project. When the name dropped in August 2020, the response was immediate and electric: a city that had long chafed at the absence of an NHL franchise now had a totem, a story, and a color to rally behind.

In Their Own Story

The screen in Climate Pledge Arena was pitch-black. Ten thousand fans sat in the dark, the low hum of the PA system the only sound. Then a single tendril of teal light crawled up from the floor, winding across the ice like something alive. The crowd exhaled as one. The tentacle coiled, uncoiled, and struck the center of the ice with a deep, resonant thud that you felt in your chest through the skates. The word KRAKEN flashed in white, then the full crest bloomed — teal, black, that unmistakable curl. Someone in the third row started screaming. Then everyone did. The sound rolled off the rafters and into the rain-soaked night outside, where the Sound was black and endless and, for one moment, felt like it was holding its breath.

Reader's Guide

June 1, 2018 — The NHL officially announces Seattle as the 32nd expansion franchise, ending years of speculation and igniting a citywide celebration.

2019 — The ownership group, led by local investors, begins a months-long community engagement process. Town halls, online forums, and social-media votes invite fans to shape the team's name and visual direction.

August 10, 2020 — The name, logo, and color palette are unveiled simultaneously. Teal, black, and white. The Kraken crest. The reaction is immediate: a city that had waited decades for a top-tier hockey team now has a name to shout.

July 2021 — The NHL expansion draft selects the Kraken's initial roster. The team's identity, already cemented in the fanbase, now has players attached to it.

October 2021 — The 2021–22 season opens in Climate Pledge Arena. The teal wave in the stands becomes an instant visual signature, and the Kraken name is spoken for the first time over a live broadcast.

The brand's evolution from a blank expansion slot to a recognized NHL identity happened in roughly three years — but the mythology behind the name is thousands of years old.

Did You Know?

• The Kraken is a creature from Norse and Scandinavian maritime folklore, described as a giant cephalopod-like beast that could drag ships under the sea — a fitting namesake for a city on the Puget Sound.
• The team's primary teal color was chosen partly to evoke the deep-water hues of the Pacific and to stand out distinctly from every other NHL franchise's palette.
• The naming and branding process involved extensive fan input through town halls and online engagement, making the identity feel collectively owned by the Seattle community before the first puck was ever dropped.
• The Kraken crest's tentacle design was engineered to remain legible at every scale, from a massive arena jumbotron down to a small embroidered patch on a player's helmet.