The NHL will expand to 32 teams with the Seattle Kraken debuting in 2021-22 at the renovated Climate Pledge Arena, formerly known as the Key Arena.
The franchise in the port city on the banks of the Puget Sound is all-in on the nautical theme, following in the footsteps of Seattle's other pro sports teams, the Mariners and Seahawks.
The Kraken is a mythical aquatic beast that resembles a dragon. The franchise says the name was the clear frontrunner in 215,000 fan votes over the past two years since the NHL awarded the team to Seattle.
Seattle Kraken Primary Logo 2021 - Present
The primary logo is an old-English S (think Detroit Tigers). The team went with the S as the main logo to pay tribute to the Seattle Metropolitans hockey team—the first American team to win the Stanley Cup in 1917. The S is styled to resemble a dragon and contains a tentacle in the middle of it. The main color is Ice Blue, which is similar to Carolina blue used by the North Carolina Tarheels. The tentacle (and another main color) is Deep Sea Navy. In the top loop of the S is the Eye of the Beast – red-eye to represent the Kraken stalking its prey. The S itself is beveled with a different shade of the Ice Blue color.
The secondary logo is a beveled anchor in the same main colors that can also resemble looking at the head of the Kraken straight-on. The Kraken wordmark also follows a similar look.
So far, only the home jersey has been released. The main color is Deep Sea Navy with the primary logo in the middle of the sweater. The two shades of Ice Blue are ringed at the bottom and on the sleeve, and there is also red piping. The alternate logo sits on the shoulders, along with jersey numbers in Ice Blue.
Seattle Kraken Alternate Logo 2021 - Present
“When a player steps onto the ice, [the uniform] needs to have that sense of armor, and certain colors, while they look great under certain lights and in certain environments, they may not carry with it that weight that you're taking into a competition,” Nik Corbett, director of NHL relations for Adidas Hockey, said in a press release. “The blues that we selected, we think, provide that sense of confidence and reinforce the story of the Kraken.”
The Kraken's team will begin to unfold soon with the signing of a general manager and coaching staff. The expansion draft will take place after the 2020-21 season. Seattle, while poised for immediate success, does have a very high bar to clear if they want to make an impact like the last NHL expansion team, as the Vegas Golden Knights reached the Stanley Cup Final in their first year of existence in 2017 - 2018.
See the Seattle Kraken logo history and team history.