They upset the Avalanche in seven games, becoming the first team to win their inaugural playoff series against the defending Stanley Cup champion.

From 2012 on as the NHL's interest in Seattle as a market rose, the city was positioned as a locale for expansion or a relocating team pending a viable arena.

Multiple reports suggested Chicago Wolves owner and businessman Don Levin had expressed interest in building a new arena in nearby Bellevue that could host an NHL team.

An investment group, headed by hedge fund manager Chris Hansen, proposed the arena seeking a return of the SuperSonics and was interested in possibly having an NHL team as well.

When Greg Jamison was unable to meet a deadline to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes on January 31, 2013, speculation began that the team would be relocated to Seattle.

[7] On June 16, 2013, it was confirmed that the Phoenix Coyotes would be moving to Seattle if an arena deal between the team and the city of Glendale was not reached.

Ray Bartozek and Anthony Lanza would purchase the franchise for US$220 million and immediately begin operations in Seattle for the following season.

[9] A 2013 study by statistician Nate Silver concluded that Seattle had the largest number of avid ice hockey fans of any U.S. media market that did not have an NHL team.

[13] Exactly a year after the memorandum of understanding, the NHL Board of Governors voted unanimously to approve a Seattle expansion team being added to the league.

[17] Nine months later, on April 30, 2021, the franchise paid the final installment of the US$650 million expansion fee, officially making the Seattle Kraken the 32nd team of the NHL.

[26][27] On July 28, 2021, the Kraken started their inaugural free agency strongly, signing forwards Alexander Wennberg[28] and Jaden Schwartz,[29] and goaltender Philipp Grubauer.

[34] The Kraken played their first regular season game the next day, a 4–3 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights,[35] where Ryan Donato scored the first goal in team history.

[37] The Kraken played their first home game at Climate Pledge Arena (formerly KeyArena) on October 23 in what would be a 4–2 loss to the fellow Pacific Northwest team Vancouver Canucks.

[38] Prior to the game, the team retired jersey number 32, in recognition of the franchise being the 32nd to join the NHL and in honor of the 32,000 fans who placed deposits for tickets on the first possible day.

[53] In December and January, following an eight-game skid, goaltender Joey Daccord started in eight out of nine games of a franchise record nine-game win streak.

The franchise's promotional materials state that the team's "Kraken" name was adopted to honor the maritime culture of Seattle.

[76] The Pacific Northwest region also has a history of Scandinavian immigrants and ancestry, further connecting Seattle to the Nordic origin of the "Kraken" mythology.

The design was a callback to the Seattle Ironmen, a defunct Pacific Coast Hockey League (PCHL) team that existed in the 1940s.

[79] For the 2024 Winter Classic, the Kraken wore a uniform inspired by the Seattle Metropolitans, a former Stanley Cup-competing team which won the championship in 1917.

The deep sea blue uniform features a red "S" similar to the Metropolitans' crest, but shaped to the current "S" logo of the Kraken, with the team name written inside.

[80] The uniform was officially unveiled on November 22, 2023,[81] but was leaked four days earlier when players from the National Basketball Association's Utah Jazz walked into their home arena wearing it.

[85] Kraken games are televised through the Kraken Hockey Network (KHN), which includes over-the-air television stations in Seattle (KING-TV and KONG), Spokane (KREM and KSKN), and Yakima (KAPP and KVEW), Washington; Eugene (KEVU and KLSR-TV) and Portland (KGW), Oregon; Anchorage (KAUU) and Juneau (KYEX-LD), Alaska; and Boise (KTVB) and Twin Falls (KTFT), Idaho.

[87] Former Hartford Whalers and Carolina Hurricanes broadcaster John Forslund serves as the team's television play-by-play announcer.

The Coachella Valley Firebirds, the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the Kraken, are based in Thousand Palms, California.

[99] After the Kraken were approved into the NHL by the Board of Governors, the team's ownership group began making plans for acquiring a minor league affiliate in the AHL.

[101] Delays associated with the construction of an arena in the Palm Springs area caused the team's debut to be pushed back to the 2022–23 season.

On November 5, 2021, the new team revealed its name, the Coachella Valley Firebirds, as well as its logos and colors, at a ceremony held on the construction site of their new arena.

The Kraken are owned by Seattle Hockey Partners, an organization led by Jerry Bruckheimer, Tod Leiweke, and Samantha Holloway, daughter of original team founder David Bonderman.

[127] *  – current Kraken player Key: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points Statistics complete as of the end of the 2023–24 season