As speculation mounts that Seattle will be awarded the 32nd NHL franchise some point soon after the area situation in the city was worked out, the needle next moves to potential divisional re-alignment as well as possible team names. And thanks to the enterprising folks at Detroithockey.net, some of the potential names for the team have been revealed as domain names were registered.
According to Clark Rasmussen (who was ahead of this curve with Vegas as well), 38 domains representing 13 different team names under the name of Christina Song, who according to her LinkedIn page is with the Oak View Group, who won the re-development bid for Key Arena.
Here are the 13 possibilities according to the filing:
Seattle Cougars
Seattle Eagles
Seattle Emeralds
Seattle Evergreens
Seattle Firebirds
Seattle Kraken
Seattle Rainiers
Seattle Renegades
Seattle Sea Lions
Seattle Seals
Seattle Sockeyes
Seattle Totems
Seattle Whales
Plenty of these nicknames are references to Seattle’s hockey history as well as the NHL’s history too. The Seattle Totems were a team in the old WHL and CHL that was close to joining the league in 1976 but failed due to ownership issues. The Rainiers, while also a reference to the geography of the area, are a reference to the minor league baseball team that made way for the Mariners. The “Seals” were the old name of the California Golden Seals, one of the 1967 expansion teams, Cougars was the original name of the Detroit Red Wings and is a reference to the Victoria Cougars, and Eagles was the name of the relocated Ottawa Senators who moves to St. Louis in 1935.
Other unusual names include Firebirds, which is the name of the OHL’s Flint Firebirds, Kraken, Renegades, and Evergreens. Sadly, the names do not include Seattle Easter Eggs or Sasquatch, which will make a particular segment of hockey fandom quite sad.
This could end up being nothing, as once this story was reported, the domain names were all switched to proxy registrations, but could be an indication of what a potential future NHL team in Seattle might be named, eventually.
