Early in November 2019, Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston reported that the NHL’s upcoming 32nd franchise team in Seattle would make an announcement on their name prior to the All-Star Break. With the break come and gone for many NHL teams, hockey fans have been wondering when that announcement might happen.

On Wednesday, John Hoven of mayorsmanor.com, joined SXM NHL Network Radio and reported that a name has allegedly been decided on: Seattle Kraken.

“From everything that I’ve heard, it looks like Seattle Kraken is going to be the name,” Hoven said on the broadcast. “Which is quite surprising, actually, when I was given that information just a couple of days ago. I was a little bit in shock personally, just because we had been told several times previously that that was not the name that they were going for. It looked like they were leaning toward Sockeyes. And then now, I guess it’s come out that that was a name that’s been used in a book by an author. Maybe it was a fantasy novel, I’m not exactly sure, I haven’t done the research on what the book series was about. But it’s been out there I guess now for about five years or so.

“That just then creates one of those legal issues that the NHL tends to try to shy away from, trying to secure the rights and that sort of stuff. It’s one of the reasons why they’ve been so reluctant to use names of the past teams and things like that. And the AHL, they experienced that as well, putting a team in San Diego. They had to buy the Gulls’ name, which had been through about seven different leagues and was actually owned by a local junior team in San Diego. So they had to buy the logos, and the trademarks, and the names, and all that stuff. It’s just yet another process that complicates an already complicated situation trying to get an expansion franchise off the [ground and] get it up and running.”

The best-selling Seattle Sockeyes book series is by Jami Davenport and are romance novels. Davenport lives in Western Washington state.

“I’d love for Seattle to get an NHL team … and I have built this brand around the Seattle Sockeyes over the last three or four years,” Jami Davenport said to ESPN Seattle in January 2018. “I got a logo, t-shirts, jerseys. I make a good amount of money off it, and I know how closely the NHL guards its own brand and its trademarks… I’m not trying to profit off this or stop anybody from using that name, I’m just trying to protect my business.”

Hoven also spoke about the brand colors.

“It looks like it’s a red, and there’s like a, what I call a teal-ish color,” he said. “It’s a lighter teal-ish color, and black. Those seem to be the primary colors they’re going to be going with.”

The name was expected to be released in late January so the official announcement, Hoven believes, has to be coming soon. He also had a warning.

“I do just want to say, in one of these situations like this, I’m always a little reluctant if there’s somebody trying to do the ultimate swerve and misleak information,” Hoven said. “I was told by a source that’s very connected to the situation that it is the Kraken. I believe that it’s the Kraken. But save your tweets if they end up doing a giant swerve on everybody and going with something completely different like the Totems, or the Seattle Swarm, or whatever one of the million other names are out there.”

While the official NHL Seattle account did not confirm or deny Hoven’s report, they did drop a cryptic tweet in response.

While we’re aware of some fishy rumors surrounding our team name, please rest assured we’re doing our due diligence by scouring the depths of the ocean, the tallest mountains, and the densest parts of the forest to find the right name for our great, green city.

— NHL Seattle (@NHLSeattle_) January 29, 2020

They also provided a further “no comment” to NHL to Seattle’s Andy Eide.

A statement from NHL Seattle: “At NHL Seattle, we are thrilled by the growing excitement about our team—and we can’t wait to share every detail with our fans. However, we will not be commenting on any rumors. Please check our social channels for more updates.”

— Andy Eide (@AndyEide) January 29, 2020

Headline photo and illustration via Pixabay