List of Seattle Kraken broadcasters

The Seattle Kraken are a professional ice hockey team based in Seattle. The Kraken compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and began play during the league's 2021–22 season, making them the newest team in the NHL. Throughout their history, Kraken games have been televised on Root Sports Northwest and radio broadcast primarily on KJR-FM.



Former Hartford Whalers and Carolina Hurricanes broadcaster John Forslund serves as the team's television play-by-play announcer. J. T. Brown is the Kraken's primary television color analyst. In August 2022, the team hired Eddie Olczyk to be a television analyst alongside Forslund and Brown. Olczyk would maintain his job at TNT as the lead color commentator and would call the Kraken's games as his schedule allowed. Alison Lukan is a studio analyst for Root Sports Northwest who filled in for Brown for a few games during the 2021–22 season and did the same for Olczyk and Piper Shaw for the 2022–23 season onward. Nick Olczyk joined her as a TV, radio, and mobile app contributor for the 2022–23 season. Everett Fitzhugh serves as the team's primary radio play-by-play announcer. He is the first Black full-time play-by-play announcer in NHL history. Former NHL player and Vancouver Canucks broadcaster Dave Tomlinson served as Fitzhugh's color analyst for the Kraken's first two seasons, before resigning in August 2023 to take a new broadcasting job in Canada. In 2021, Fitzhugh tested positive for COVID-19 prior to the Kraken's first-ever regular season road trip; on radio broadcasts, TV announcer John Forslund and veteran KJR broadcaster Ian Furness filled in on play-by-play duties. The telecast for the Kraken's February 17, 2022, game against the Winnipeg Jets had Fitzhugh on play-by-play and Brown on color commentary, comprising the first all-Black broadcast booth in NHL history.

Kraken games were televised regionally on Root Sports Northwest for the team's first three seasons. On April 25, 2024, the Kraken signed a deal with Tegna, owners of Seattle NBC affiliate KING-TV and independent KONG, to air their games throughout their territory, with streaming handled by Prime Video. For radio, Kraken games are broadcast on KJR-FM 93.3 and KJR 950 AM, the flagship stations of the Kraken Audio Network. During a schedule conflict, some games may be heard on 96.5 KJAQ.

Television


In their first season, the Kraken averaged a 0.96 Nielsen rating for games broadcast on Root Sports Northwest. By comparison, the Vegas Golden Knights averaged a 1.87 rating in their first season for games broadcast locally on AT&T SportsNet.

From the beginning of their second season through mid-January 2023, the Kraken averaged a 0.68 rating, in the lowest third of the 23 United States NHL markets for which Nielsen ratings were available, despite a much better record than their first season at the same point. The team launched a new show, entitled What's Kraken?, on the over-the-air station KCPQ, to broaden fan support during the 2022–23 season. Seattle's high percentage of "broadband only" homes, without cable or satellite TV service, and the unavailability of Root Sports Northwest on most over-the-top media services, contributed to the low ratings.

During their second and third seasons, the Kraken averaged a 0.7 rating for their October games on Root Sports Northwest. Shortly before the 2022–23 season, Comcast moved Root Sports Northwest to a higher-priced tier of service, due to the high cost and low demand for the channel.

Radio
The Kraken Audio Network also includes the following stations outside Seattle:


 * KTZN AM 550 Anchorage
 * KPUG AM 1170 / FM 97.9 Bellingham
 * KBDB-FM 96.7 Forks
 * KTKU FM 105.1 HD2 Juneau
 * KAPS AM 660 Mount Vernon
 * KONP AM 1450 Port Angeles
 * KPOJ AM 620 Portland
 * KALE AM 960 Richland
 * K257FX FM 99.3 Spokane
 * KUTI AM 1460 Yakima
 * KCRX FM 102.3 Astoria
 * KOFE AM 1240 St. Maries
 * KVOK FM 98.7 Kodiak Island
 * KIFW AM 1230 Sitka