Fitzhugh joins the team after stints with the ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones and USHL Youngstown PhantomsEVERETT FITZHUGH
The Kraken have made Everett Fitzhugh the “first Black team broadcaster in NHL history" and the “only Black broadcaster at any professional level of North American hockey," according to Ryan Clark of THE ATHLETIC. Fitzhugh joins the team after serving as radio play-by-play announcer for the ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones. His role is unclear, as he “could become Seattle’s play-by-play radio announcer or serve in another broadcasting role” when the team debuts in '21. But the plan is for Fitzhugh to be "one of the faces -- and voices -- of the Kraken" (THEATHLETIC.com, 8/7). In Seattle, Geoff Baker noted Fitzhugh prior to his five seasons with the Cyclones called radio for the Youngstown Phantoms of the junior USHL and his alma matter, Bowling Green. He "will certainly do radio, possibly as a play-by-play commentator, and perhaps some television once the expansion team takes the ice" in October '21. Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke in February sent a "surprise email" to Fitzugh and later "heard from a few more people about Fitzhugh, including 'a glowing recommendation'" from NBC's Mike Emrick. Leiweke: “We loved his fire, his passion for the game. .. But it was his tapes that got him hired. His passion for the game and his body of work.” Baker wrote the "pioneering hire made big waves around the NHL in the midst of the Stanley Cup Playoffs" (SEATTLE TIMES, 8/8).
RINGING ENDORSEMENT: SBJ/SBD Publisher & Exec Editor Abe Madkour in this week's SBJ writes, "I will say it now: The Seattle Kraken will be the most successful sports team launch ever." Leiweke is "among the most accomplished and astute team executives in sports, and if I were starting a team, he’d easily be my first pick to run it." He "understands the Seattle market so well from his time with the Seahawks and the Sounders; he knows the NHL culture thoroughly from his stints with the Minnesota Wild and Tampa Bay Lightning." Leiweke has been "successful at every team stop along the way and this will be a career capper." Madkour: "Hockey in Seattle already is a smash hit and the team doesn’t drop the puck until late next year" (SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL, 8/10 issue).
