Were the Kraken basking in the glow of victory Saturday? Not quite. They fell in overtime for the second straight game against the New York Rangers.
As for their glow-in-the-dark third jersey debut, there wasn’t much emitting from ice level.
The Kraken’s brand-new thirds, mostly black instead of their usual navy blue, were striking against the white ice. But it never got dark enough in Climate Pledge Arena for the glow-in-the-dark stitching to come to life. It was noticeable as the team came down the tunnel, which was shown on the twin Jumbotrons, but that was about it.
The fans in the stands who scooped up the jerseys before they ever saw game action radiated joy, but little blue-green light.
The stitching along the ‘S’ logo, numbers and Muckleshoot Indian Tribe patch on the jerseys — plus the Amazon logo on the matte black helmet — glow in the dark after they’re “charged” under a UV light. The Kraken paired theirs with black pants.
According to the team, the design is inspired by bioluminescence found in Pacific Northwest waters. The inner collar has a pattern that doubles as the coordinates of Climate Pledge Arena and wavy stripes on the sleeves and socks represent sonar pings.
So far the team has opted against a full-bodied Kraken logo, preferring to keep its image mysterious. These new jerseys are no exception, though on Saturday they magnified the red dot that serves as the eye of the monster in the Kraken logo. Red stripes are on the sleeves and hem of the new jerseys and the lighting scheme of Climate Pledge Arena was red-heavy.
“It makes us look a little bit more mean and tough,” Kraken captain Jordan Eberle said after he checked out the black-and-red jerseys for the first time this summer. “Not saying we aren’t, but (they’re different from) the colors that we were normally wearing.”
Kraken rookies Ryan Winterton and Berkly Catton said they’d hardly seen the new threads since a brief peek in training camp. So even to their models, seeing the third jerseys skating around during warmups was new and fun.
“I love them. I think they’re pretty cool,” Winterton said, with Catton nodding in agreement. “Hopefully we get a couple wins in them.”
That’s the true test. The Kraken haven’t fared well in alternate jerseys, and while that’s mostly due to chance with a dash of influence from the schedule-makers, hockey players are a superstitious lot.
The Kraken went 0-3-1 while wearing in their adidas Reverse Retro jerseys during the 2022-2023 season. They memorably beat the Vegas Golden Knights while wearing their Winter Classic throwback jerseys, but lost badly the next two times they wore them — 5-2 against the Minnesota Wild on Feb. 24, 2024, and 5-1 against the Montreal Canadiens a month later.
A poor record wasn’t the reason either jersey was shuffled off. The league moves some out of the rotation as others move in, and both of those retro jerseys were made by Adidas. Fanatics became the league’s outfitter last season.
In total the Kraken will wear their third jerseys 12 times during the 2025-26 season. The next game is Wednesday against the San Jose Sharks.
“When you wear your thirds, no matter what team you’re on, you always have a little extra oomph in your tank,” Eberle said. “You feel a little bit flashier.
“You look good, you feel good. You feel good, you play good.”
The Vegas Golden Knights took this technology for a spin already, making their reverse retro jersey glow in the dark in 2022. They said it was inspired by the neon lights of the 1990s Vegas strip.