It's not every day you see an NHL mascot have a run-in with a fully-grown grizzly bear, but Buoy, the mascot for the Seattle Kraken, had an encounter on June 25th. Buoy was part of a video shoot at Katami National Park in Alaska, fly fishing in the river when a grizzly bear entered the picture.
In the video, you can hear Hayden saying, "We got a bear," and the camera angled toward the bear walking into the river. The guide next to Hayden said, "Oh, I got to break you off now," referring to the fly fishing rod and net Hayden had on him.
The crew waded down the river and the bear followed, growling occasionally. As Buoy slightly trailed the crew, the bear broke into a sprint, in the direction of the Kraken's mascot. It took only a few steps as Buoy's brisk walk transformed into a jog while he turned and kept track of where it was heading.
But the bear turned and shuffled off in the other direction, letting Hayden, Buoy, and the rest of the crew to escape the encounter unscathed. Afterward, Hayden joked, "I want to blame it on Buoy, They were pretty interested in his look."
This one will add a chapter to Seattle Kraken lore
Starting play in 2021-22, the Seattle Kraken are one of the NHL's newest franchises, and were the newest until the Utah Mammoth (who the NHL considers an expansion team) joined as the Utah Hockey Club in 2024-25, with players and personnel from the former Arizona Coyotes.
That said, the Kraken now have another chapter in their young history that their fans will remember 50 years from today. You can also expect a trivia question like this to pop up at some point: Who was the player with Buoy in Alaska when a grizzly bear ran at him back in 2025?
The answer to that one will be John Hayden, who signed with the Kraken in 2022 following a stint with the Buffalo Sabres. Definitely a frightening encounter, but one of those moments you don't forget once you read about it.
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