SportsHockeyKraken

Hockey world reacts to Seattle Kraken’s terrifying new mascot

Adam Laskaris
Adam Laskaris
|
Oct 2 2022, 5:12 pm
Hockey world reacts to Seattle Kraken’s terrifying new mascot
Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

During last night’s preseason game against the Vancouver Canucks, the Seattle Kraken unveiled their first-ever mascot yesterday.

While some figured Seattle would go for a Kraken-like mascot, the NHL’s newest team opted for a troll-like figure affectionately named “Buoy.”

Floating to the ice via a cable, Buoy was introduced to the Kraken faithful at Climate Pledge Arena prior to their 4-0 drubbing of the Canucks.

“Buoy, naturally, is a blue sea troll (complete with hockey-fashion flow-style hair, wavy like the Puget Sound) living in the caverns of Climate Pledge Arena. He’s six feet tall —  hey, good size for a hockey player — and he happens to love the sport and people,” NHL.com’s Bob Condor wrote.

People, uh, had opinions about the new mascot.

The reaction wasn’t all negative, though, with Buoy getting some love from the fanbase as well.

Many people’s immediate reaction won’t necessarily be their final impression of Buoy, though.

Gritty, the Philadelphia Flyers’ mascot, was widely panned when introduced in September 2018, but is known as one of the sports’ most beloved mascots.

Only time will tell what everyone thinks of Buoy once we see him at a few more appearances, or if we’ll largely forget about him after we’ve moved on to the next weird internet trend. But for now, well, we’ll never get a chance for another first impression.

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