Since the departure of the Seattle SuperSonics in 2008, there has often been talk of replacing them with another sports team. In recent years the talk has been about a hockey team.

Early last October, the mayor of Seattle, Jenny Durkan, and Seattle Hockey Partners met in New York with the executive board of the National Hockey League (NHL) to pitch Seattle as a city for an expansion team to call home.  NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told reporter Chris Daniels and King 5 the board’s response to the meeting was unanimously, “let’s do this.”

Daniels also reported Francesco Aquilini, owner of the Vancouver Canucks, said, “We want a team in Seattle, it’s great for Vancouver, great for the league, eventually it’s going to happen.”

As of right now, the team will most likely end up in Seattle. Another matter of topic has been the team name. There have been many different suggestions, but the most popular are the: Metropolitans, Steelheads, Totems, Sasquatch, Sockeyes and the Seattle Kraken.

Ethan Yamamoto (‘20) is a student here at Bothell High School. He plays hockey on the Seattle Jr. Thunderbirds AAA in the North American Prospects Hockey League (NAPHL). This gives Ethan the chance to play in places like Iowa, Detroit, California and even Boston. Many weekends he will drive up to Canada to play in a game.

Ethan said, “Of course I’d like to see a team in Seattle, that would be dope.” before going on to explain that, “It would bring more attention to the sport of hockey here in Washington state and create a new excitement for sports here in Seattle.”

When asked about what he would like the team to be named he responded with the Metropolitans. The Metropolitans were a hockey team in Seattle between 1915 and 1924 and in 1917 became the first team to ever win the Stanley Cup. Ethan thinks it would be cool to bring back the name.