More Years for Beniers

In August, the Kraken announced that they agreed to terms with Matty Beniers on his next contract worth $50 MM over seven years. That’s a deal that doesn’t just keep the 2023 rookie of the year in the Pacific Northwest, it ensures that Seattle stays strong in the middle of the ice with a player who has already proven in his first two full NHL seasons that he can get on the scoresheet, but also be a significant defensive contributor.

What are the special aspects of how Beniers plays?

Let’s dig in.

After a 10-game test run at the end of the 2021-22 season, Beniers proved himself to be ready to play full-time in the NHL. Over the next two seasons, the 2021 second-overall draft pick has played in 157 games and, in total, put up 103 regular season points (42-61-103).

That’s a .62-point per-game pace, and it’s a pretty good start, especially compared to Beniers’ draft-class peers.

Only Dallas’ Wyatt Johnson has put up more total goals and points (56-50-106), and thus far he and Beniers are the only two 2021 draftees to pass 100 NHL points in their career.

Notably, of Beniers’ 42 goals, 12 have come on the power play (only San Jose’s William Eklund has more (13) among 2021 draftees), and five have been game-winners.

Who can forget Beniers’ gritty play against the Islanders that kept him on the ice after taking a big hit to then score a goal.

And then there’s the game-winner in Vancouver last season, where he put himself in the most dangerous area of the ice to score the deciding goal against the Canucks, (Beniers had a 66.3% success rate for slot shots last season).

But beyond counting stats, there’s a lot of good underlying work happening in how Beniers plays.

First, there’s been improvement on the faceoff dot for the Hingham, MA local. After hovering around a 41-percent win rate his first two NHL seasons (5-on-5 play according to EvolvingHockey.com), he bumped that up to 48-percent last season. And on the power play, his win percentage jumped just over 50-percent after sitting at 39-percent during time with the extra skater in the 2022-23 campaign.

Beniers hasn’t just gotten better at winning first battles for possession, he’s translated that tenacity to other areas of the ice.

Looking at loose puck recoveries (5-on-5, per Sportlogiq), last season only Alex Wennberg and Tye Kartye had higher win percentages when it came to gaining possession of loose pucks against an opponent (contested). In total, contested or not, Beniers averaged just over 56.6 won loose pucks per 60 minutes of 5-on-5 play. That was tied with Yanni Gourde for second-best among Kraken forwards last year.

Beniers put that ability to read plays and use his body and stick to get to pucks to good use in both ends of the ice.

Once he gained the puck, the 21-year-old was able to create a high rate of possession driving plays (6.5 per 20 minutes of play, all situations), including passes to the slot (1.2 per 20). His intelligence was easily applied in terms of setting up his teammates for success if he wasn’t shooting on his own.

Watch these two plays.

In the first, Beniers shows his willingness to enter a board battle and fight for possession. Once he has the puck on his stick, he feeds it north to teammates while heading net front to provide a possible screen or target for a rebound shot attempt.

In the second play, we see Beniers again have full awareness of the puck position, gain possession and instantly send it to the slot for a scoring chance for Jared McCann.

Equally important, Beniers doesn’t just do the work in the offensive zone. As a center, he’s responsible for play all over the ice and he has shown he has the skating chops to get to where he needs to be.

When he gets back to support the Kraken’s defensive efforts, his work there is also valuable. The center allowed just 1.7 inner slot shots against per 20 minutes of play last year. That’s due in part to his ability to shut down chances against before they can be created by taking away the puck. Just as Beniers gains possession of loose pucks, he does the same defensively. He’s one of the most effective forwards in the league in terms of loose puck recoveries in the defensive zone (8.9 per 20 minutes of play per Sportlogiq), and if a puck isn’t already loose, he’s jarring it so with his 3.4 blocked passes per 20 minutes of play.

Here we see Beniers go in against Edmonton’s Zach Hyman (EDM18) and after that pressure, the Kraken center gets body positioning on Connor McDavid to stop the Oilers’ possession. When Edmonton battles back, Beniers has stayed in support of the play and ultimately gets the clear.

But what’s perhaps most impressive is Beniers’ entire body of work as a whole. Playing as a defensively stout center who challenges for loose pucks and battles for position often puts you right in the middle of things – and that’s where officials watch for clean play. Somehow, Beniers leverages his skill to come away with clean play more often than not.

In two full seasons of NHL hockey, Beniers has only been called for eleven penalties. That’s the lowest penalty total of any skater from his draft class who has played at least 40 NHL games in the last two years. It’s also tied for tenth lowest among forwards who’ve played at least 1000 minutes over the past two seasons. Beniers’ plus-30 penalty differential ties him with Vegas’ Jack Eichel for twelfth fewest since the start of the 2022 season.

Just two full years into his NHL career, Matty Beniers is sizing up to be a solid two-way center who can contribute not just offensively but defensively through his intelligence and skill. With a new seven-year commitment on the books, he and the Kraken can now both be focused on building a successful future together.

The next chapter of Kraken hockey starts now, be part of it. Season Ticket Memberships are available.