Seattle Kraken 'troll' fans with new mascot, 'Buoy'

"Buoy's hair is a nod to hockey flow and the waves of Puget Sound," read a description of Buoy from Emerald City Hockey. "You'll notice there is a removable tooth just like a hockey player, an anchor earring for our secondary mark, and then a mysterious tentacle indicating an encounter with the Kraken." 

Several teams have gone outside the box when choosing a mascot. However, after the reveal of Buoy, the question has to be asked. Why didn't the Kraken go with ... a kraken? 

"Many people would have said, 'Well, it's obvious it would just be a kraken,'" Kraken chief marketing officer Katie Townsend told NHL.com's Nicholas J. Cotsonika. "We believe the Kraken lives in the theater of the mind. One of the brand values is its mystery. We don't want to be a cartoon brand and to have a cartoon kraken represent us." 

So far, the reactions to Buoy from the Kraken faithful have been mixed, to say the least.