'The Right Way'

Ten games do not make an NHL career. Wise hockey heads, new-generation or old-school, will universally vouch for that statement. The full-weight, 82-game NHL season is a grind, and then there's playoff hockey, a steep test of wills and skills and months-long pressurizing of the human condition.
Yet the first 10 games of Kraken center Matty Beniers were undeniably splendid and impressive by anyone's measure. He scored three goals and added six assists, missing only one game without a point. He won more puck battles than expected for a 19-year-old, way more and veteran players like Yanni Gourde offered that analysis. Plus, he forechecked, backchecked and blocked shots.

Beniers logged significant minutes on the power play and, by the end of those 10 games, he was feeling it. Within a game or three, he was unafraid to take the puck up ice from his team's zone through neutral ice and into the offensive zone to create scoring chances for linemates Jordan Eberle and Ryan Donato, a defenseman joining the play or himself. Any fan watching this spring's NHL playoffs know all teams need that sort of skill and confidence.
Quietly and respectfully, Beniers was accomplishing something even more important: Winning the trust and acceptance of his NHL-tested teammates and the coaching staff. He was welcomed with proper warmth - receiving texts from multiple Kraken players ­­as soon as his contract signing was announced - and inserted into the lineup on a Tuesday night just days after his illustrious NCAA career ended at the Frozen Four.
But where Beniers made his biggest mark over the 10-game span was walking into the Kraken dressing room with confidence and humility in equal parts, ready to work and learn and fit in at every game, practice and morning skate. He scored his first NHL goal before high-decibel Kraken fans at Climate Pledge Arena, earning ovations, No. 1 star of the game and the team's Davy Jones hat to be worn by the recipient after a win, then passed on to teammate after the next victory.
When the next win came, there were goal scorers who could easily have earned the Pirates of the Caribbean-style hat. Beniers acknowledged those teammates, then announced he was picking alternate captain and rock-solid defenseman Adam Larsson for his night of hard checks on opponents. Fellow D-men Jamie Oleksiak and Vince Dunn, sitting alongside Larsson, were grinning ear to ear at Larsson donning the hat. A look at the score sheet showed, sure enough, Larsson led Seattle that night in both hits and blocked shots.
"Matty plays the game the right way," says Robert Kron, the franchise's director of amateur scouting who has been evaluating young players as a front-office professional since 2002 when his 771-game NHL career ended. "It comes naturally to him. He's a very honest kid and loves to play hockey.
"There's a right way and a less right way to come in [to an NHL locker room]. A sense of entitlement is one thing some young players bring. Matty doesn't have that. He knows being part of the team is something to be earned, not to be given. He respects the game."

Christine and Bob Beniers, the young center's parents, are clearly pleased their son is fitting in so snugly to the Kraken future. For Christine Beniers, it's hard to point to just one reason why.
"So many things come to mind," she says during a recent lively conversation by phone. "He's the youngest of three [to brother Bobby and sister Gianna], we can start with that. In that upbringing, you know where you are in the pecking order. He is respectful of that and will always understand it.
"He has a high emotional intelligence. He's a very kind person, very inclusive, tends to roll with punches. He's always been able to fit into a lot of different situations. Even as a little kid, his heart was in the right place. None of it is false or put on."
Two examples:
"Matty is very approachable," says Christine Beniers. "As a little guy at the rink he ran up and down talking to everyone from teammates to the rink owner to the lovely people who worked at the snack bar, engaging with them. It's a personality trait, making connections with new people, getting on their level.
"On the ice, he just loves to play and wants to win and be a member of the team. His thought process is 'we all rise together.' He wants to do well and others to do well."
One thing Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol noticed about Beniers starting from the first night of the 10-game NHL debut was the 2021 first-round draft choice's "poise" during every moment, shift and plane ride. Beniers' dad, Bob, says his son has adjusted to playing his game and being himself in whatever hockey spotlight shines his way. For Beniers, it equated to playing for three Team USA teams in the last 12 months plus a Frozen Four season with Michigan and double-digit Kraken games.
"His whole life, he has played in a lot of tournaments, even at a young age he played in Canada," says Bob Beniers on the phone line with his wife. "He's also played big games in Russia and Czechia with the U.S. National Team Development Program, plus international tournaments and big tournaments, stressful games.

"Fortunately, he was on the ice for three-on-three overtimes and shootouts and all situations. It's been just an accumulation of those moments, growth through his teen years. He earned the playing time. Through it all, we always said the same thing: "Be Matty, just be Matty.' "
Two instances to support Dad's point:
Christine Beniers is particularly fond of that melodic moment. She is a former Broadway actress (18 months as Bebe in "A Chorus Line" among her credits) who subsequently earned an engineering degree at Cornell (Bob's alma mater too, he played football there) and then completed a law degree at Boston College. Now an attorney, she directed school musicals when her three kids were growing up. Her youngest son appeared in performances that featured show tunes from "Jersey Boys" (incidentally Kraken assistant general manager Ricky Olczyk's favorite musical) and "The Sound of Music."
"Matty was not always a willing participant in the beginning, but once I pushed him through the stage door, he always seemed to really enjoy it," said Christine. "For me it was part of my life and wanted our kids to experience it. Plus, I needed boys in those musical snippets and scenes. I would tell Matty you need to be Nathan Detroit ["Guys and Dolls"], come on, take the script.' "
When the Beniers family gathered in Seattle for Matty's first game and the magical No. 1 Star night, the dinner conversation got Bob Beniers thinking about what was not said over all those years of driving to hockey practices and games plus countless days and nights on the frozen pond behind the Beniers house outside Boston.
"Matty and I had an interesting conversation at dinner in Seattle," says Bob Beniers, "that we never talked to him about playing in the NHL. We always talked about college, finding a good place to go to school, get the education and have a great hockey experience.
"At dinner, Matty said he gets asked [by the media and fans] all the time, 'Is this something you've dreamed of since you were five years old?' He said, 'Of course I did but it was never the focus. It was always about being a good kid and getting good grades.' "