2022 NHL Offseason Thread

[DoctorWhom]

Just now, DEAD! said:

Oooh Buoy!

 

 

And here I thought Kracky the Kraken wrote itself. 

 

But yeah Kraken =  Troll. Makes perfect sense.

[Ridleylash]

22 minutes ago, DoctorWhom said:

But yeah Kraken =  Troll. Makes perfect sense.

Eh, I get why they didn't; they've put so much stock in the brand around the mystique and looming threat of the kraken that making a cutesy mascot out of it would kinda run against that whole "menace lurking in the deep" idea. Plus, I mean, there's probably a good reason Detroit never made an Al the Octopus mascot costume lol

 

Honestly, I think it's fine. Cute enough to appeal to kids, won't look weird posing with other mascots at league events, it hits all the essentials of any good mascot. Not every mascot can be a Gritty.

[DoctorWhom]

I'm just struggling to understand the troll connection. 

Because he's "trolling" the visiting team? IDK

[DG_ThenNowForever]

There's a famous troll sculpture in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood:

 

 

 

[LMU]

3 hours ago, DoctorWhom said:

But yeah Kraken =  Troll. Makes perfect sense.

Just as  Diamondback = Bobcat

or Maple Leaf = Polar Bear

or Jet = Moose

or Mariner = Moose

or Sun = Gorilla

or Giant = Seal

or Golden Knight = Gila Monster

or Canuck = Orca

or Clipper = Condor

or Hurricane = Pig

or Rocky= Triceratops 

or Chief = Wolf

or Titan = Raccoon

or Islander = Dragon

or “Insert Team Here” = Amorphous Blob

[DoctorWhom]

11 minutes ago, LMU said:

Just as  Diamondback = Bobcat

or Maple Leaf = Polar Bear

or Jet = Moose

or Mariner = Moose

or Sun = Gorilla

or Giant = Seal

or Golden Knight = Gila Monster

or Canuck = Orca

or Clipper = Condor

or Hurricane = Pig

or Rocky= Triceratops 

or Chief = Wolf

or Titan = Raccoon

or Islander = Dragon

or “Insert Team Here” = Amorphous Blob

I mean, most of those at least have a relation to the area, so I can see where they are coming from. 

 

2 hours ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

There's a famous troll sculpture in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood:

 

 

 

Is that it? 

Makes as much sense as Cleveland "Guardians" I guess.  

Still dumb, but whatever.  

[CaliforniaGlowin]

I like him.  Plus he wears number zero!

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Based on a casual read of local media, everyone hates Buoy.

 

And I can't blame them. It's a really unappealing figure. The Mariners have a moose, the Seahawks have a roided hawk, and the Sonics had Sasquatch. Those are/were all nicer and more approachable than a focus-tested "sea troll" with a stupid blue nose.

[Ridleylash]

See, the thing is that literally everybody also hated Gritty at first; it's only after he threatened to murder another mascot in cold blood and promptly became a meme that opinions really turned on Gritty for the positive, but when they actually showed him it was a dunkfest. People dumped on Chance, too, it's just kind of a thing that people dump on new mascots for not being what they wanted.

 

I feel like people put too much stock in the idea of a kraken as the mascot when it was pretty unlikely to happen right from the beginning of the brand's reveal. You don't put a bunch of effort in building your brand around the unknowable terror of the kraken lurking within the deep...only to a year later introduce a goofy cartoon kraken mascot that dances with kids and gets up to silly antics.

 

And making it purposefully ugly and anti-mascot would've just made people joke about it being a bootleg Gritty.

[mcj882000]

For me the reason why I don't like the mascot is simple: the sole reason they named the team the Kraken was for the "release the Kraken" meme, and now the first big chance they have to really lean in on it by releasing a kraken mascot, they instead pivot to something entirely off-brand. Stupid decision from bad creative.

[Shumway]

Obviously, a literal kraken would've been better, but I think he could be more troll-y, like kinda leaning towards an ogre. I thought it was supposed to be some sort of weird looking lion when I first saw it. 

 

[DEAD!]

1 hour ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

Based on a casual read of local media, everyone hates Buoy.

 

And I can't blame them. It's a really unappealing figure. The Mariners have a moose, the Seahawks have a roided hawk, and the Sonics had Sasquatch. Those are/were all nicer and more approachable than a focus-tested "sea troll" with a stupid blue nose.

...and an anchor for an earring... which of course is meant to sink.

[spartacat_12]

On 10/1/2022 at 10:14 PM, DG_ThenNowForever said:

There's a famous troll sculpture in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood:

 

 

 

 

It's interesting that a team that's made their progressiveness a point of pride decided to base their mascot off a sculpture that was designed for the purpose of keeping homeless people from sleeping under a bridge.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

If people actually care about homelessness, there are no shortage of no other public places in Seattle for camping, RV parking, and other unhoused activities.

 

Seattle's dealing with the same challenges every other fair-weather west coast city is, and it's exacerbated over the last five years.

[Kevin W.]

On 10/2/2022 at 10:31 AM, Ridleylash said:

See, the thing is that literally everybody also hated Gritty at first

Some people still hate Gritty, myself included.