Unpacking Matty Beniers’ sophomore season with Kraken – and what comes next

SEATTLE – Matty Beniers’ entry-level days are done. He needs a new contract this summer.

It was an uneven season , a learning season. The Kraken’s top-line center would like to work on staying even-keeled when things aren’t going well. That wasn’t a problem previously, when goals were falling and the team never slumped for long.

The reigning NHL rookie of the year did not have a strong offensive follow-up in 2023-24, an issue exacerbated by the fact that the Kraken sorely needed it.

“It’s a game of momentum and confidence,” Beniers, 21, said. “When you don’t have it, you have to work extra hard to get it back. When you do, it seems like you’re not working at all.”

Perhaps he’ll grow and expand in the offensive zone, and next season will swing back in a favorable direction, in the traditional sense. Or maybe that’s not the player Beniers will become. The 2021 second-overall pick might tuck himself into different company, among NHL defensive forwards, along the lines of Florida’s Aleksander Barkov and Vegas’ Mark Stone. He’s fast and knows where to be, chasing down pucks and moving them forward cleanly and efficiently.

The Kraken will need to look elsewhere for buckets of goals, which is theoretically fine.

“A lot of guys at that age, they look at their offensive numbers. Matty’s actually the opposite,” linemate Jordan Eberle said. “He works a lot on his game (defensively), and you don’t see that a lot at that age.”

Eberle said Beniers looks up to players such as Patrice Bergeron, a career Boston Bruin. Bergeron debuted in Hingham, Massachusetts, Beniers’ home state, the year after Beniers was born and played there until he retired last year. Bergeron was known and valued for his responsible two-way play. He was nominated for the Frank J. Selke Trophy, for “the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game,” 12 times and won it six. Both are the most in NHL history.

“That’s one guy that I’m sure he’d love to emulate his game,” Eberle said.

Coming out of Michigan, Beniers set a high standard during his first full NHL season in 2022-23. He was a favorite for the Calder Trophy from Day 1. His 24 goals and 57 points through 80 games were a driving force behind his nomination and eventual win.

They couldn’t hide him this year in matchups, Kraken coach Dave Hakstol warned him early on. Opponents were aware and had plenty of tape on him now, and it took time to adjust to that. Beniers drew greater attention and immediately his 2023-24 season took on a different look. He’d net goals in back-to-back games or have a good week, but never enjoyed a period of familiar, consistent production. He dropped nine goals (15) and 20 points (37) from his rookie year. The back half of the schedule was better – nine of the 15 goals came after the All-Star break.

“He had a tough stretch last season, but it happened more in the middle of the season. This season it happened right out of the gate,” Kraken General Manager Ron Francis said. “He went 13 games and he didn’t score, and that weighs on him as a young kid.”

His faceoff percentage went up between his freshman and sophomore seasons, from 42.2% efficiency to 47.4%. Much of what he did this year helping out the Kraken’s defense, which allowed an average of 2.83 goals per game (T-8th least), is hard to quantify.

Beniers is on the ice a lot. At the end of the season, he led active Kraken forwards in average time on ice at 17 minutes, 57 seconds per game. Everyone, including him, wanted more bang for that buck. But he busied himself elsewhere, which he suggested was part of the problem.

Last season when his plus-minus was the worst on the team, he noticed and it irked him. Early in his sophomore season, Beniers again got scored on a few too many times for his taste.

“So I might have (focused) a little too defensive,” Beniers said. “Gotta play defense before you play offense. That’s what my dad always said.”

Defense wasn’t the problem on this year’s squad, and neither was goaltending. Their even-strength scoring plummeted.

While disappearing on defense is often a good thing, being invisible in the offensive zone is not, and that happened at times – not uncommon for a young player, but uncommon for Beniers. Halfway through the season, Hakstol said the need for scoring out of Beniers “was not news to him.” They never really got it, from him or anyone else.

“Obviously on ice, it didn’t go as well for him. He’s one of those guys whose shooting percentage wasn’t as great,” Hakstol said. It was 11.3%, down from 16.2%.

He was far from alone there, teammate Jaden Schwartz said.

“None of us really had good offensive years, top to bottom,” Schwartz said.

Not a great time, financially, for his entry-level contract to expire. He’s a restricted free agent this summer, meaning rights still belong to the Kraken and they have levels of protection while dealing. Negotiations are due to start soon.

“I have no concerns about Matty’s game, long term,” Francis said. “He’ll be a big part of this organization for a lot of years moving forward.”

Beniers said: “I love it here in Seattle. We’ll see. I think we’ll get something done.”

Panthers captain Barkov is the Selke favorite this season. In the prime of his career and in Year 2 of an eight-year, $80 million contract, he paired sturdy defensive play with a 23-goal, 80-point season.

If Beniers were producing points at that level, he might command a higher number. As it stands, he could land more in the $6-8 million range. It’s been speculated that his camp might prefer a bridge deal, a contract with a shorter length that would give him a few years to get his numbers up and secure a bigger payday.

While comparisons were being thrown around, Hakstol referred to the development of the Detroit Red Wings’ Dylan Larkin, also a strong two-way player coming off a disappointing season. It’s been an up-and-down nine statistical NHL seasons for Larkin. Progress isn’t always linear.

Hakstol also referenced former top overall pick Nathan MacKinnon, who grew up with the Colorado Avalanche. It took him four years of average offensive numbers before he took off, becoming the 51-goal, 140-point scorer he was this season at 28 years old.

“This is a hard league to become an everyday, dominant player (in),” Hakstol said.

“Very seldomly does that happen in the first two, three years of a player’s career that’s in Matty’s situation. We’re asking him to do an awful lot, you guys, as a young player.”

Beniers plans to stay near Boston this summer as usual.

He’s still figuring out his own off-ice routine, taking notes from veteran teammates who have crafted theirs through the years. Nutrition is a major focus.

He’s had trouble putting weight on and keeping it on.

He’s taken a few stretches to reflect on his confidence. He was feeling good and was having fun.

“As much as this year didn’t necessarily go as well as I’d planned … I think I did grow a lot,” Beniers said. “I learned a lot about myself and my game.”