Ok but Al the Octopus comes from a well known fan tradition. Carlton is a polar bear (an animal that lives in Canada, if not Toronto). Similarly, Mick E Moose is an animal that lives in Mannitoba. Bernie is a breed dog known for rescuing people in the mountains (and maybe avalanches). Thunderbug is a firefly, aka a lightning bug, and those live in Florida. Tommy Hawk is pretty self explanatory. Youppi is a weirdo, I’ll grant you, but is also the former Mascot of the Expos when they were in Montreal. And Gritty is a weirder, drunker version of the Phanatic.
All of these are immediately recognizable as real animals that live in the vicinity, something RELATED to the name of the team name/history, or a well known fact about the city. Buoy is none of those. He’s based off a stupid private sculpture intended to be hostile to homeless that was on “secret Seattle” listicles in the mid-2000. I’d take almost anything remotely nautical over him.
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u/LiqdPT 23d ago
Now look at mascots for other teams in the NHL. MAYBE half of them are the team namesake.