Introducing Kraken Hockey Network 

The Kraken‘s major roster upgrades, from big-name free-agent signings to contract extensions for star players to a new Stanley Cup-winning head coach, represent just the start for fans this season. The team introduced the groundbreaking Kraken Hockey Network (KHN) Monday with the promise that 96 percent of fans in Washington, Oregon and Alaska will be able to watch at no additional costs through their existing basic cable and Prime streaming services.

The new network will broadcast games on KING 5, KONG and select TEGNA, Gray, Cox and Morgan Murphy TV stations, plus Prime to afford multiple options for local fans on a range of devices. The games will be carried over-the-air in the Seattle region on TEGNA’s KONG with approximately 15 games simulcast on TEGNA’s NBC affiliate KING 5.

For fans outside of the Seattle region, Kraken partner TEGNA, which owns and operates the local stations, will air games on KGW in Portland and KREM in Spokane, totaling nearly 4 million households in Seattle/Portland/Spokane. KHN has added affiliates in Juneau (KYEX) and Anchorage (KAUU) along with one in Yakima (KAPP-KVEW, ABC affiliate) and another in Eugene (KEVU-KLSR) to bolster the three-state access for the Kraken faithful.

Prime, of course, is available everywhere in Washington, Alaska and Oregon. The aim is to super-size fan access to games and eliminate subscription costs across the Pacific Northwest. It should be noted that ten games will be nationally televised on ESPN, TNT or ABC. The Kraken are the first NHL team to partner directly with the streamer.

If radio is your jam and/or you can’t be near a screen during Kraken action, anchor station Sports Radio KJR 93.3 FM and iHeart Radio have garnered 26 affiliate stations (seven in Alaska alone) across the three states plus parts of Idaho and Montana that are in the teams NHL-approved broadcast region. That affiliate total is the third highest in the league; only Pittsburgh and Minnesota, both long-time franchises, have more.

Who’s on the KHN Airwaves

Fan favorites John Forslund, Eddie Olczyk, JT Brown and Piper Shaw will continue as KHN on-air talent during gameplay, plus the popular analyst Alison Lukan returns for pre-and post-game and intermission commentary. Shaw will host a weekly podcast, and KING is planning a weekly 30-minute Kraken show featuring sports anchor Paul Silvi to tell a broad swatch of stories about the players and franchise. On the radio call, Everett Fitzhugh and Al Kinisky are back in the KJR booth.

Joining all of this highly-regarded talent (the Kraken again ranked top-two in the NHL in the most recent The Athletic fan survey) will be Ian Furness as the primary host for the so-called shoulder programming pre-game, post-game and between periods. Furness, of course, is a well-known personality on KJR and Q13 television with a fervent love of hockey, evident to any of us who have listened to his on-air work, podcasts or Western Hockey League games for ROOT Sports from 2009 through 2016.

Furness said he will be thinking about his late father when the season begins in October. Milt Furness was a long-time TV news anchor and reporter for three Seattle stations.  He’s grateful and excited to follow in his dad’s footsteps, albeit in sports instead of news.

"The first time I sit at my anchor desk at Climate Pledge Arena, I'll think of him," Furness said of his late father, Milt, for years a TV news anchor and reporter primarily at KOMO but also KING and KIRO. "And my (former semi-pro hockey player) grandfather. I'll think of him, too."

Hall of Famer Cohn to Join on Set

Local fans will no doubt recognize the name and be thrilled to know Linda Cohn will be appearing as a special host for approximately 15 games during the season. Cohn, a National Sports Media Association Hall of Fame broadcaster, has been a beloved anchor on ESPN SportsCenter since 1992 and will stay in that role. Her work has always featured a mix of deep knowledge of all sports (hockey at the top of the list) along with a wry, laugh-out-loud sense of humor.

Cohn’s work with the Kraken this season is a return to the PNW. Beginning in October 1989, Cohn worked on local television as a weekend sports anchor and full-time reporter. Some years before that, Cohn played on the boy’s ice hockey team at her Newfield (NY) high school and went to tend the net in college for SUNY Oswego women’s ice hockey team.

“Besides the fact that the Kraken are an amazing organization and there’s so much promise with this team, it’s personal for me to be back in Seattle," said Cohn,. “It’s a city that I’ll always love forever because it’s a family connection [her daughter, Sammy, was born here]. It's just very personal and I’m thrilled for this opportunity.”

Broadcast Innovations for the Fans

With the Kraken broadcasts now in-house with the team, fans can anticipate even more innovative ways to watch the sport. What will be the biggest regional production in the NHL will feature 13 operated cameras, including five robotic cameras for multiple looks on every key play of the game. Four replay operators with five different SloMo camera angles will delight fans with visuals to accompany in-the-moment analysis from former NHLers Olczyk and Brown.

The robocams for every home game will feature (literally) ice-level views of faceoffs, corner scrums, save and let’s-see-that-again shots on goal. There are also plans for in-game interviews with new coach Dan Bylsma via headset during the preseason, and fans will hear from assistant coaches Dave Lowry, Jessica Campbell and Bob Woods on-air at intermission and/or end of game for select regular season games.

Shaw will keep bringing lively interviews with Kraken players during warmups, intermissions and end-of-games. The broadcast team equally anticipates nightly profiles of Kraken players’ life experiences on and off the ice plus will always look for ways to inform fans of all knowledge levels about how hockey is played and how games are won in the best league in the world. Best of all, all of these innovations will be available to viewers/listeners in the Pacific Northwest.

The next chapter of Kraken hockey starts now, be part of it. Season Ticket Memberships are available.