The Vancouver Canucks officially have a legitimate geographical rival, and their name is the Seattle Kraken.
Full logo set pic.twitter.com/Emq6oKvzOV
— Tyler Horsfall (@TheFlopFish) July 23, 2020
Seattle was set to announce their team name a few months back but decided to delay the announcement thanks to Covid-19 and the NHL suspending play.
They released this video on Twitter, which left hockey fans speculating what their team name could be:
07.23.2020 – 9:00am PT
The 32nd franchise comes to life. pic.twitter.com/4J8k0UTEn3
— NHL Seattle (@NHLSeattle_) July 23, 2020
The Kraken almost instantly become rivals with the Canucks, and these teams will certainly see their fair share of one another for years to come. It’ll take some time and some mean spirited affairs for the rivalry to reach the level of intensity of the Battle of Alberta, but hey, at least the Canucks finally have a real rival.
That rivalry may very well indeed with Seattle snagging one of the Canucks’ goaltenders as it seems as though they will likely have to leave one of Jacob Markstrom or Thatcher Demko unprotected when the expansion draft takes place after the 2020-21 season.
What are we to call this rivalry? The Battle of the Border? The Rain City Ruckus? Credit to Thomas Drance of The Athletic for that last one.