SEATTLE — It's been a big week of Super Bowl hype, but fans of NHL Seattle did their best to hijack that hype with their reaction to a possible name for their new hockey team.
With respect to sports fans in general who are tired of hearing that overused phrase from "Clash of the Titans," I will not use the words "release" and "Kraken" in the same sentence in this story.
Truth is, I kinda like the name.
Sure, it's a little campy. Does it sound more like the name of a minor league baseball team? Probably. But it's still a far cry from the Lansing Lugnuts or the Savannah Sand Gnats or even the Vermont Lake Monsters.
I think back to 1993 when Anaheim was awarded an NHL expansion team. Disney owned the team and named it the Mighty Ducks after its hockey movie franchise.
Can you imagine if a name like that was being kicked around in Seattle? Fans here - including me - would lose their minds. When Disney sold the team 13 years later, the new owners dropped "Mighty," stuck with "Ducks," and in their first year with the new name won the franchise's only Stanley Cup Championship.
NHL Seattle is just starting to write its own history. The organization was ecstatic to hear all the hullabaloo when the name Kraken got releas … (whoa, almost said it) ... floated on social media.
Think of the merchandising possibilities. The proposed logos have been pretty creative and the marketing ideas would be endless.
The haters theorize the new arena will be known as "The Krak House" and the fans would be known as the "Krak Heads."
I doubt it.
Some prefer the nickname "Sockeyes" or "Steelheads" - two names that are already trademarked. The NHL doesn't want a similar conflict to the one Las Vegas had with the US Army. Team owners chose the Golden Knights, which has long been the name of the Army Parachute Team.
What about the Metropolitans, a throwback to to the city's first hockey team? Probably not.
The Jets? That would be fitting for Jet City, but Winnipeg has had a lock on that name since 1972.
Some of the sillier names I've heard for the team: Northwesterners and Cascades. Seriously? Come on folks. The name has to have some fight in it.
The Kraken is free for the taking. Do I think the NHL will go for it? Probably not.
Then again, how did "Senators" get approved in Ottawa and "Blue Jackets" in Columbus? What about "Wild" in Minnesota?
Throw in the fact the league has already tapped the oceans for Sharks and Penguins. Why not go right to the top of that food chain?
Call me a Lugnut, but I'm all in on Kraken.
