Releasing the Kraken serious undertaking for Seattle expansion team

Release the Kraken.

It sounded cool when the Seattle NHL expansion team announced its name, colors and logo Thursday. It looked cool on the line of merchandise that went on sale immediately.

Imagine how cool it'll be if, when the Seattle Kraken begin play in 2021-22, the intro to games at Climate Pledge Arena includes the clip from "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," the movie produced by one of the owners, Jerry Bruckheimer.

"The Kraken!" Davy Jones growls, as he summons the mythical, mysterious, mighty beast from the briny deep.

But once the Kraken is released, what then? Where will this Kraken thing go?

RELATED: [Seattle Kraken reveal nickname for NHL expansion team]

A name should not come from a catchphrase; a catchphrase should come from a name. A name should have class, staying power, meaning. What will we think of the Seattle Kraken in years to come when we've heard the catchphrase far more than we already have?

The good news is, the Seattle folks thought long and hard about this, along with the folks from adidas.

CEO Tod Leiweke has had a long, distinguished career in professional sports. Every time he has taken over a team -- including launching the Minnesota Wild as an expansion team and reinvigorating the Tampa Bay Lightning as a franchise -- he has stressed authenticity, a sense of place and fan service.

"A great brand," Leiweke said shortly before the unveiling Thursday, "reflects who you are, where you are and ultimately the passion of your fans."

There is no question the Kraken name and shades-of-blue color scheme reflect Seattle's maritime heritage and fit in the city's sports family. Seattle has a Major League Baseball team named the Mariners, a National Football League team named the Seahawks, and a Major League Soccer team named the Sounders, after Puget Sound. (Leiweke was CEO of the Seahawks and launched the Sounders as an expansion team, by the way.)

And it's clear the Kraken was a popular choice, though, of course, like every time a team chooses a name, there are many opinions. The team solicited opinions in many ways -- in person and online.

"We ended up with a list of about 1,200 names," said Heidi Dettmer, vice president of marketing. "I can tell you we truthfully looked at every single one of those names, and as we listened to fans, there were names that rose to the top."

A committee narrowed the choices to five. Owners were involved. So was adidas. General manager Ron Francis, a Hockey Hall of Famer, also played a significant role.

From the beginning, the team wanted to harness Seattle's hockey history and have an Original Six feel. The "S" logo honors the logo of the Seattle Metropolitans of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, who became the first team from the United States to win the Stanley Cup when they defeated the Montreal Canadiens in 1917, months before the NHL was born.

"The name is really forward and really bold, and it was so important to us that it had kind of this nobility to it and it felt iconic and it felt hockey and players would be really proud to pull it on," Dettmer said. "We went with a more classic and iconic look to it for that reason. That was definitely a filter that we brought into the process."

Francis said it passed the test.

"In theory, it reflects the power and aggression in the game of hockey," Francis said. "We're hoping that's the kind of tenacity our players show every time they take the ice. So I'm excited by it."

The Kraken name is unique, which is no easy feat in an era with so many teams in so many sports at so many levels across North America and around the world. That's important not just for trademark reasons, but for identity. When you hear a name, when you see a logo, you want to know instantly what it represents.

Dettmer said the team did a lot of exercises in which they displayed their designs against not only the other logos in the NHL, but against the other logos in the Western Conference of the NHL in particular and in the sports scene of the Pacific Northwest.

"There were definitely exercises where we were like, 'OK, does this stand out? Does this feel like it fits?' " Dettmer said. "And then one thing that you'll hear adidas say a lot is that it was important that this name could feel like it's a good fit on the Cup, like, it needs to feel like a name that could be etched on the Cup and feel like it has that nobility."

The goal is for a great brand to represent a great organization, to release the Kraken on the ice so Seattle can ultimately engrave the Kraken in silver forever.