Cohn Of Silence
When Seattle Kraken TV left cable’s ROOT Sports in 2024, they wanted to make a big splash to introduce Kraken Hockey Network. What better way to energize viewers than by joining forces with a famous ESPN anchor? In fact, how about an ESPN anchor who used to be a local Seattle TV sportscaster?
Enter Linda Cohn. She’d already surpassed 5,000 appearance on ESPN’s signature show, SportsCenter, more than anyone else. Early in her career, Cohn had been a weekend sports anchor and reporter at KIRO-7. A lifelong hockey fan – and goalie – she agreed to commute from Los Angeles to host studio coverage of selected Kraken telecasts. Cohn was pumped enough to use her off-days and vacation time to make it work.
Yet when KHN signed on for the 2025-26 season, Linda Cohn was nowhere to be found. Among the causes, ESPN for budgetary reasons was closing its L.A. studio. That’s where Cohn had anchored 10 pm PT sportscasts. If she wanted to continue with the network (she did), Cohn would have to make more cross-country trips to ESPN’s Bristol, Conn. headquarters.
Even without this complication, it’s unclear if the Kraken would have asked her back. She had split KHN hosting duties with KJR radio’s Ian Furness. “The decision to go exclusively with Ian as host,” a team spokesperson told the Seattle Times, “was to build on last year and bring a more consistent on-air group to our KHN broadcasts.”
Kraken Diver Ran Out Of Air Time
One social media poster said he looked like a Ghostbuster. Indeed, the retro deep-sea diver mascot who briefly surfaced during the 2024-25 season was wearing a metallic scuba suit with a hose.
Even Buoy wouldn’t be caught dead in that thing.
The helmet in the above image is the antique style, with its predecessor first used in the early 1800s. The U.S. Navy used helmets like these until the mid-1980s.
As for the Kraken, they tried their human diver mascot walking along the ice with flares. Then they tried the diver mascot emerging from the stands with something that looked like a ram’s horn. Then they stopped trying the diver mascot all together. Maybe he went down to the abyss to sew those 2025-26 3rd jerseys.
Earlier Kraken:
— Kraken, Bobby McMann Contract Talks Ongoing
