Today, the NHL's Seattle hockey franchise finally announced their team name, logo and colors...The Seattle Kraken...Pretty much the worst kept secret in Seattle sports history...It's been the fan favorite and the most talked about name idea...Everyone saw it going this way...You can't offend anyone with a mythical creature...RIGHT? It's Seattle...City by the Sea...Bad-ass sea creature makes sense...You couldn't be in the same conference as the Sharks and be the fucking sea lions... Let's look at the Kraken...
The logo is rock solid...Old time "S" with a tentacle in it with a red eye...The secondary logo is the Seattle Space Needle morphed into an Anchor...
This is what has been show on their website as the Home sweater....Haven't seen away yet...The team shop site crashed minutes after the release... The colors are described as Deep Sea Blue, Ice Blue, Boundless Blue, Shadow Blue, and Red Alert. Seems like a lot of blues there...That's because the shades change for the secondary logo and the wordmark depending on if it is on the Deep Blue Sea background or the Ice Blue background...
I like it...But we all know they are going to beat the shit out of that "Release the Kraken" line and annoy the shit out of us eventually.
There is a picture of an often forgotten hockey team...The Seattle Metropolitans...and yes, in 1917 they won the Stanley Cup...And now hockey fans in the Pacific Northwest are excited about their new expansion NHL franchise, the Seattle ___________! Yes it's been two years since the announcement and the Seattle Hockey club still doesn't have a name...There have been many ideas...There was a fan vote which was blown off...There has been much legal back and forth over copyrights for multiple names and logos...And every time the hockey world thinks it's getting an announcement on the team name and logo...They announce that they are delaying... Many thought last November was going to be it...Announce and start selling merch for the holidays, and get the excitement building...But no such luck...I'm a huge hockey fan...I'm a huge fan of Seattle...I want to see this franchise do well...And I want to see some great looking gear... Luckily, design programs and video games have let people work up ideas...and some obviously have been worked up by firms....Many of these ideas have come across the desks of the people in charge of the the Seattle franchise...Thanks to the internet, many have floated out to us...So I'm going to show some of the best ones that are out there with the Team names that have been at the top of the list... You're going to see a lot of Green as Seattle is know as the "Emerald City" The Kraken: Kraken has been in the lead with a lot of people...The idea of a mythical creature seems appealing to many...
Green, Black, funky Red, and a Yellow-green...I don't like this look, with the exception of the alternate jersey throwing it back to the old Metropolitans days...
This one has the staple Seattle blue with green with a Kraken dick (looking like a "S") wrapped around the Seattle Space Needle...Simple, clean and colors resembling the Seahawks, Mariners and Sounders...
This one I like more...Green with gold...It's all in on the Kraken theme with the trident and the tentacle looking "S" and Seattle written in the "S" like the old school Metropolitans...Honoring the past but going into the future...
This is similar with Kraken written in the "S"...Going all in on blue...But this Blue and Green combo looks a lot like the Vancouver Canucks color scheme and why look like the team that is going to be your biggest geographical rival...
Totems: Is a name that has been used for in a number of lower level leagues...It has been one of the names and logos where there has been copyright arguments...There is also the question of if Native American tribes in the region will be okay with this...
This has been the standard idea for Totems Not a bad look, but the name falls flat with me. Sea Lions: The Canucks logo is an Orca...Orcas eat Sea Lions...Sharks eat Sea Lions...Sharks are in San Jose...That alone hurts this name...
I actually really like the logos and uniform design here...The top left logo, that Sea Lion looks fierce...
Evergreens: We get it, you got a lot of trees up there...You don't name a hockey team after a tree...
Very basic, simple, boring, dumb name...
Sawbucks: Somehow, some-way, people merged wood working and wildlife together and came up with a cool logo to go with a cool sounding name.... A sawbuck holds wood while cutting...A Sawbuck is also a Pokemon creature that looks like a member of the deer family...
Anyways....I think this logo looks great...The name sounds tough and cool...The uniform design is solid...I'm kinda rooting for this...
Metropolitans: Yes, it's always been on the list and many would like to see the history brought back...Personally I think it's a shitty name...But I understand and appreciate respecting the history....
This one went all in with the green...Two shades of green and white...Good striping...An alternate logo...The primary logo focusing on the Space Needle.
Sockeye: The longer this has dragged on, the more attention this name gets...I HATE it...I just can't get behind the name...
The big thing with the Sockeye ideas is they seem to all move away from the green idea and the "Seattle Blue".....This top one is boring...
I give this one a lot of credit...Unique design and color scheme...Going bold with both...I hate the name, but I like the effort on this design...But I wouldn't buy this jersey...
Emeralds: Seattle as I mentioned earlier is known as "The Emerald City"...But that's no reason to name your team after a gemstone...Emeralds is as bad as Evergreens....
I appreciate this design reaching back and using the old Seattle Super Sonics basketball team colors...It's a quality design just a shit name... What are your thoughts...What should Seattle name their hockey team? What colors? When the hell are they going to figure it out already?
As I posted Wednesday afternoon HERE the NHL has decided to totally screw up overtime...That whole think makes me nuts...3-on-3 overtime play can totally tilt the ice...And again the league is out there doing their best to kill Defense...Then the media dolts will start bashing goalies as their Goals Against Averages will start climbing over 3.00, and then closer to 4.00...Sometimes you just need to leave things alone, and enjoy them for the beauty they have...There is just as much beauty to playing great defense as there is in some fancy finesse goal scoring...It's just that the average Joe...The casual fan is too damn lazy to look and watch those little nuanced details...
But now to the other NHL news that broke late Wednesday afternoon...
The NHL has confirmed that they are open to expansion and will begin vetting expansion applications...
It's official...They're nuts...First, you have a team that right now, doesn't have a home arena...Yep, Arizona...If nothing else you look to move them where they'll be treated better (by city officials) and have a stable fanbase...The Coyotes have a wealth of young talent coming up, and have the potential to be a player within the next couple years...Get them some stability...Since this franchise had been ripped from Winnipeg, it's had hot and cold spells with it's fanbase...It's also had some bad ownership in the past, to the point where the NHL had to take control of the franchise in 2009 after then owner Jerry Moyles filed for bankruptcy...
Then you have the Florida Panthers...1. Florida does not need, or deserve 2 NHL Franchises...Tampa Bay has won a Stanley Cup, and made a great run through the Finals this year before losing to Chicago...They have a wealth of talent and are run well...You gotta leave them alone...(side note, the Cup winning Lightning team didn't get a chance to defend their title and build on their momentum, becase the following season was killed by a lockout)....But the Panthers, suck...They don't draw well...2012 was the first time they made the playoffs in 12 years...They had a run to the Stanley Cup finals in 1996, before they were swept by a much more talented Patrick Roy and Colorado Avalanche...But seriously, they make bad draft picks...Bad free-agency signings...and they don't draw...It's fucking Florida, how much damn hockey can that state really support!?!
So, you move these two franchise...In the last decade there have been too many NHL franchises that have struggled...Atlanta struggled horribly...What did they do...They moved them...got a team back to the good people of Winnipeg...Ottawa, and Buffalo are just getting back on track after some serious financial scares...And those are fucking hockey towns...
Now before anyone says Las Vegas...Fucking shut up...Please stop saying a franchise in Vegas would be great...It wouldn't...It would put players at a higher risk of getting into trouble...Both the home team and players visiting...What the fuck are you going to do on an off day in Vegas? Do some gambling, rack up huge debt...Get a couple hookers...They lace your 9th drink with something, post your little dick on Instagram while you're past out...Maybe they try to blackmail you, you snap take a swing at her phone, her face gets in the way...You're fucking locked up, and your team releases you when the news breaks...
Besides all those sweet ass possibilities, a franchise in Vegas would just flat-out fail...It will have a quick fling, and then pass...
Kansas City, OKC, Milwaukee are all talked about...Won't work in any of those cities...The great people of Milwaukee can't afford a NBA team and a NHL team...Kansas City is great to the Chiefs and Royals, but I don't think the have the NHL in them...
Quebec...Yeah, that could work...It makes perfectly good sense to get another team in Canada...You know it will be supported...
The other big one is Seattle...Seattle as a city can afford to slap up a state-of-the-art arena...The city's economy is great...And they people are starved for another major league franchise...They need to fill that gap between the Seahawks and Mariners...If you have time checkout this video about the Seattle Sounders fans...That's the MLS team...It's an incredible atmosphere...
The NHL expanding is a foolish money-grab move...Moving to a couple stronger markets is the right move...This expansion shit is stupid....
