With one full season left before joining the National Hockey League, Seattle's expansion franchise finally has a name.
In a social media video release on Thursday, the franchise revealed their identity as the Seattle Kraken. The Kraken will become the league's 32nd member prior to the 2021-2022 season.
Next summer, a league-wide expansion draft will take place for the first time since 2017, when the Vegas Golden Knights selected talents such as Marc-Andre Fleury, William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault en route to a Stanley Cup Final appearance in their inaugural season of 2017-2018.
Seattle's entrance to the Pacific Division/Western Conference will give each division eight teams and each league 16 teams. With Seattle joining the Pacific Division, the Arizona Coyotes will move to the Central Division.
While the Kraken have yet to name a head coach, they do have a notable general manager in Ron Francis, who served in the same role for the Carolina Hurricanes from 2014-2018.
The team is set to play their home games at Climate Pledge Arena (formerly KeyArena) in downtown Seattle. The arena, which is currently under redevelopment, was home to the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics prior to their departure for Oklahoma City in 2008.
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