Some more recent clubs allowed fans to vote for team names such as the Minnesota Wild and Nashville Predators. Although it is unoriginal, I kind of like the idea. It is quite diplomatic of them.
The Florida Panther was in the running for the Tampa Bay baseball team, but instead chosen by president Bill Torrey for the second Florida hockey team. The Florida Panthers are an endangered species. Torrey told reporters, "A panther, for your information, is the quickest striking of all cats. Hopefully, that's how we will be on the ice."---Unfortunately the team has not lived up to the high expectations behind the name and has never won a Stanley Cup. But as we've seen every year a team can completely 180 in a year for the good or bad.
The city of Atlanta, Georgia has had no luck with hockey teams. Twice NHL teams have transitioned from Atlanta to Canada. In 1980 the Atlanta Flames moved to Calgary. Again, in 2011 the Atlanta Thrashers moved to Winnipeg and transformed into what is now known as the Winnipeg Jets. Interestingly enough, Calgary kept the name Flames, a reference to the burning of Atlanta during the Civil War.
The Vancouver Canucks is quite an interesting story. The name originally came from Johnny Canuck a political cartoon then turned comic book hero who battled Adolf Hitler during World War II. It is also noted that Canuck is slang for Canadian making it the international equivalent to the New York Yankees.
Another interesting one is the Boston Bruins. Grocery store tycoon Charles Adams hired former hockey player Art Ross to serve as GM. He charged Ross with coming up with the team name under the conditions that they use the colors of his grocery store, brown and yellow. Ross chose bruins.
Those aren't all the team names, but the lovely site I found these explanations on can fill you in on the rest if you're intersted: NHL Name Origins.
As always keep calm, stay strong if you're team is doing wrong, and hockey on.
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