Seattle closing in on name for its NHL team

Here’s what we know: Seattle will become the location of the NHL’s 32nd franchise when they begin playing in 2021.

Here’s what we still don’t know (despite the fact there is no real rush): What the team’s name will be.

This has only been such a hot topic of discussion because of how keen this market is to enjoy the best professional hockey on the planet. Their season-ticket drive received 10,000 orders in only 12 minutes. Within the first hour, they had a jaw-dropping 25,000 orders.

With that kind of appetite, it’s understandable that fans want some answers on what their already-beloved club will be called. It was over a year ago that the 13 possible names for the squad were released. Now, it looks like that list is beginning to shrink, and fans are getting closer to the answer they’re after.

The topic came up during Gary Bettman’s visit to the city where he announced that Seattle will likely host both an NHL All-Star weekend and Draft within the first seven years of their franchise’s existence. While the commissioner of the NHL unsurprisingly decided to stay away from providing an opinion on the team’s name by reminding fans that the league has very little say in the matter, Tod Leiweke was more than willing to toss around a few hints.

In doing so, the franchise’s CEO made many references to a month-long ‘naming tournament’ the Seattle Times ran that received over 146,000 votes.

Although I’m a big fan of alliteration, it would have been a blast to have an entire arena yell ‘RELEASE THE KRAKEN’ before their team hit the ice for home games. Furthermore, it would have given Johnny Depp full-time work as the team’s mascot, Captain Jack Sparrow.

(With Jerry Bruckheimer, the producer of The Pirates of the Caribbean series, as part of your ownership group, I’m just going to assume that’s possible.)

According to Leiweke, they’ll make their decision somewhere in the middle of 2019.

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