Yeet the Fish

As you watched stars of the game Daniel Sprong, Brandon Tanev and Martin Jones toss the salmon after Tuesday night's win over Buffalo, perhaps you noticed the fish flying through the air looked a little different than last season. Gone are the orange and green sockeye. Now silvery-blue pink salmon get "yeeted" from Kraken players to fans.
But there's more to this than just doing something differently for the sake of change. The salmon toss and the specific journey of each year's fish is deeply rooted in the Pacific Northwest and its history.

The History of the Toss

The Kraken's vice president of entertainment and production Lamont Buford remembers a meeting from long before a single Kraken skater took to the ice during which his team brainstormed ideas for the in-game experience. This included how to celebrate a game's top players after a win. Among the small group of people in the meeting was entertainment experience specialist, Nicole Shabaz, affectionately known as "Shabz."

"When it comes to naming three stars, you're normally handing a player a t-shirt, or there's some type of souvenir stick (to toss to a fan)," Buford said. "We were in a meeting throwing out ideas and one Shabz tossed out was 'wouldn't it be fun if we had players throw out fish at the end of the game?' We laughed, but at the same time, we started to really like it."
The idea inspired by fish thrown at the Public Market and the region's traditions stuck with the production group. As it started to feel like something that could be brought to life, a new priority was born: Ensuring any salmon involvement was handled properly.
"It was 'incredibly important to work with our indigenous communities to make sure we represented the salmon properly. " Shabaz said.
Enter Bristol Bay Native Corporation (BBNC)

The Kraken were already working with BBNC out of Alaska as a corporate partner. Bristol Bay is the largest wild Sockeye salmon fishery which has sustained native people for thousands of years. BBNC's fishery is around 150 years old and its "fish-first" mission has led to record-breaking harvests with a continued focus on sustainability.
Buford's team reached out to them for insight on how to make the salmon toss come to life the right way.
"Indigenous people have survived on wild salmon for forever," said Jason Metrokin, BBNC president and CEO. "It means a lot that (the Kraken) took the time to recognize not only the
commercial importance of the fishery, but the social importance, that cultural importance and the historical importance of the fishery to Alaskans in Bristol Bay, because it's a shared relationship."
BBNC recommended the first salmon be the sockeye. The entertainment and production crew got to work. The process to design the fish starts with pictures as reference. From that, a custom fish is created, and multiple prototypes go back and forth between the company that makes the fish, Stuffed Animal House, and the Kraken, checking for visual accuracy, size and yes, throwability.

Did the Kraken team test tossing distance on the prototypes? Yes, they did. After all, you need to know how far a salmon can go up into the stands.
"I'd look at if there was enough sand in there to make sure that we can throw it far enough," said Shabaz. "It has to be heavier than a normal plush - and it took about four months to be able to get the perfect salmon."
Ultimately, the Kraken, with BBNC's help, were able to finalize the fish. Now it was time for the players to bring the tradition to life.
After the Kraken's first win, it was Shabaz who was in the tunnel with the players. She handed a fish and a sharpie (to autograph the salmon) to Philipp Grubauer. He looked at her like she was crazy, Shabaz recalls, but she told him to sign it "and throw it as far as you can."
"The first time we got the fish and tossed it out, we were like 'why are we tossing fish?' but now it makes sense," Grubauer said. "We want to be a little bit different than other teams. And I think it's a nice memory for somebody who is catching the fish. They can say 'maybe we didn't catch the fish at Public Market, but we caught it at Climate Pledge (Arena).' "
Now, you can hear players in the tunnel post-game strategizing where and how they will throw the fish after a win.

THE NEXT WAVE

When it came time to plan for the 2022-23 season, BBNC had already educated the team on the various species of salmon. Inspiration struck again and the decision was made to go with a new fish for a new year.
"The pink salmon only come back on odd years," Shabaz explained. "It's going to be 2023 so we thought was a perfect year to do it."
The new fish has a few new features too. There's a hole in the mouth to hold it just like you would with a fish you caught. And, as always, the tag bears facts about the fish, its relationship to the Pacific Northwest and its native people.

"It's an anatomically correct fish which is a big deal for us," Metrokin said. "Everything about it is accurate. I know collectively the Kraken team and the BBNC team spent a lot of time on that and to have information on the fish that talks about the importance of the fishery, the indigenous perspective of the fishery, and the history of the importance of that fishery for the whole world. We're able to hopefully help educate and promote the importance of the fishery from our perspective, but also celebrate the history locally with Pike Place Market and the traditions of Seattle."
Kraken players have heard about the new fish, too, and they are decidedly invested. Grubauer kept asking to see it. And one of the newest Kraken, Oliver Bjorkstrand, immediately recognized the significance of the salmon, growing fond of the team's tradition. He's a big fan of having something that can get to fans in all different parts of Climate Pledge Arena.
"Sometimes, (tossing a stick) can be kind of awkward," Bjorkstrand said. "A lot of times, you try to give a stick to a kid right in front of the glass and somebody else grabs it. And you can't really give it to a kid halfway up (the stands).

"You can actually toss [the fish]. I also heard they made them a little heavier this year so you can actually throw [with] a little distance. I think [the salmon toss] is unique, and it fits home with Seattle."
And, so, the salmon may change, but the tradition lives on. Another Kraken colleague unintentionally added another layer last season when they started sharing the phrase "Yeet the fish!" on social media, ("Yeet" means to throw something in pop culture vernacular). Shabaz hopes that continues, too.
"I just hope fans enjoy [the salmon toss], because we put a lot of thought into it," Shabaz said. "We've tried to be very thoughtful and intentional of the things we do. And this is something very specific that we are very thoughtful and intentional about. I just want to make sure the fans get something perfect."