Kraken Broadcast Voted Second Best In Recent 'The Athletic' Rankings

The Athletic released their annual broadcast rankings that the fans voted on, and the Seattle Kraken were voted the second best in the NHL.

The Athletic described how they made this list saying:

"We ask fans to rate their favorite teams’ broadcasts on a scale from 1 to 5 and invite them to rate as many other local broadcasts as they wish. This year we got roughly 7,000 responses from fans wanting an opportunity to critique and provide feedback. We then used your grades and input to rank the regional broadcasts of all 32 NHL teams. In terms of our methodology, we average out the results of the survey to provide each broadcast with a local and national score. Teams are then assigned a national and local rank, which is averaged into a composite score."

The Kraken's broadcast team includes John Forslund, Eddie Olczyk, J.T. Brown, Nick Olczyk and Alison Lukan. The only team to rank higher than the Kraken's crew was the Detroit Red Wings.

The Kraken finished as the number-one ranked broadcast crew in the 2023 season.

Many of the fans who voted in this poll had high remarks for the crew according to The Athletic.

"John Forslund is one of a kind,” explained a Kraken fan. “His phrasing and play-by-play descriptions are very unique and entirely original. He’s easily the least ‘cliched’ announcer in the business. And, he is very funny — again, using humor that’s original and unlike anything you will hear elsewhere."

"The one thing that separates the Kraken from the rest is Alison,” said a Seattle fan. “I have three daughters and my oldest has commented several times that Alison helps her understand the sport in a way just watching the games can’t teach."

The Athletic mentioned that the one factor that lowered the Kraken in the rankings was the accessibility of ROOT Sports’ broadcast and the expensive cable package it requires. With the Kraken announcing just over a month ago that a new partnership with Tenga and Amazon Prime Video , fans won't have to worry about that as all locally televised games will be for free over the air.