SEATTLE — Jared McCann remembered back to the first time he was supposed to meet Kraken owner David Bonderman after he was selected by the team in the NHL expansion draft during the summer of 2021.
It was to be at a team gathering, only for an obstacle to get in the way.
“The first time I met Mr. Bonderman was at the kind of the first-year team event. And actually the first one got canceled because of COVID,” McCann said on Thursday, another reminder of the tribulations the franchise faced in its inaugural season. “So, I guess it was technically the second one.”
Bonderman, the billionaire businessman who was the financial catalyst for the creation of Climate Pledge Arena and the expansion bid that brought the NHL and the Kraken to Seattle, died Wednesday at age 82.
A day later, the hockey team he helped bring to life and is now run by his daughter Samantha Holloway on a day-to-day basis took the ice to face the Boston Bruins for a matchup where the franchise honored one of, if not the most important figure in the infancy of the organization.
“He was awesome. He was such a good guy,” McCann said.
Perhaps there was some serendipity or synergy in the fact that the Kraken were facing a team from Boston, which happened to be the other city where Bonderman’s ties to sports were the strongest as a longtime minority investor in the NBA’s Celtics.
The matchup came a few hundred yards away from the Space Needle, the monument where Bonderman once worked as a security guard — a job he spoke about with great affinity along with his undergrad degree at UW. While his career — first in law and later as the co-founder of the alternative asset management firm TPG — took Bonderman elsewhere, his ties to Seattle were always strong and became forever wedded with the creation of the Kraken.
Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke spoke emotionally about Bonderman’s personal and professional influence on the team’s TV pregame show Thursday night, and did so again when a tribute to Bonderman was played on the two video boards of Climate Pledge Arena during a timeout in the first period.
“David Bonderman loved this community. He loved you,” Leiweke said to the crowd.
Leiweke noted that Holloway and the rest of the Bonderman family was in attendance, which drew a standing ovation from the crowd and stick taps from the benches of both teams.
And Bonderman was honored by the team he founded with the kind of performance he would have loved. The Kraken controlled the game with two early goals, received a great goaltending performance from Philipp Grubauer and scored three more times in the third period of a 5-1 victory over the Bruins.
It was Seattle’s fourth win in six games, and the Kraken have points in five of the last six.
“I’m going to dedicate that win to Mr. Bonderman because without him I don’t think we would be here. Sam, the Bonderman family, what they’ve done for the city and for us is incredible,” Grubauer said.
Kraken players’ jerseys had an added patch stitched on the chest that said “Bondo” imposed over the glaring red eye of the Kraken logo — the eye that Bonderman suggested to be added to the original logo design. A matching sticker was adhered to the back of their helmets.
Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn wrote a heartfelt message on social media on Wednesday night about Bonderman and expanded on those feelings after morning skate on Thursday.
His feelings were a mix of appreciation and gratefulness for the existence of the Kraken, and for Dunn personally the chance at a chapter to his career that happened only because the Kraken came to life.
“Like not to speak about myself, but in all honesty, he probably brought another life to my career. So without him, I’m not where I am in my career and the city isn’t the same without him bringing the Kraken here,” Dunn said. “I’m just so thankful to be part of this organization and kind of finding a new level to my game and finding the opportunity that I always saw myself. He gave me every bit of that. So I’m just really thankful for what he did for me personally.”
Dunn also spoke glowingly about Holloway’s influence on the franchise and how similar it is to her father.
“Didn’t ever hear anything bad about him. And I can see that in the same way Samantha carries herself. She’s obviously following in her father’s footsteps, and knowing her a little bit more than I did with him, since he wasn’t around as much, you can kind of see how great of a daughter he raised,” Dunn said. “Just an honor to know them both and be a part of a business with the both of them. It’s definitely really special.”
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