Is Matty Beniers The New David Legwand?

[DitchMarner]

Obviously the parallels are that both were 6'2 centres drafted second overall by expansion franchises.

Beniers had an impressive rookie season and won the Calder but has declined in terms of offensive production since. Is he destined to be a similar player to Legwand (solid two-way centre who doesn't put up big numbers very often but makes decent offensive contributions years after year) or can he be closer to a Ryan O'Reilly?

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[Rcknrollkillnmachine]

Adjust his game I guess.

Is he a smart player or more athletic ability?

Honestly curious to hear from a Kraken fan.

 

[BKarchitect]

I still belive in him as a winning top six center. There seem to be some chemistry problems especially on the PP. Seattle’s once again has a lot of “guys” but not a lot of “dudes”. Beniers has 1 PPG and 3 PP points so he’s not getting the bump a lot of guys with his usage do. His even strength production is still top 90-100ish so squarely good second line production and he leads all Kraken players in +/- by a significant amount.

Those aren’t like amazing benchmarks or anything but prior to last game he was on a 4 game, 5 point streak that seemed to coincide with Kakko playing on his wing so hopefully some chemistry can be developed.

He seems to be in the Lafreniere zone (their statistical lines are almost identical right now) - very useful top six player with size and versatile ability and solid even strength metrics but perhaps lacking that explosiveness to be a real offensive star. I find Beniers a more engaged player though.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

He’s definitely a top 6 center. The Kraken aren’t a very strong offensive team though. Goaltending is another major problem for them with Grubauer being stinky most of the time.

I’d be surprised if Beniers isn’t a regular 60-70 point guy with a strong defensive game when he’s in his prime.

 

[Warh1ppy]

How has nobody from Vancouver not come here offering Hoglander Desharnais and a green man suit for him?

 

[57special]

I would hope that he is the next Ryan Kesler, or Joel Ericksson-Ek, at least. I liked him during his draft year more than Power, and still think he can be really good.

 

[Kevin27NYI]

Another guy I didn't understand getting a second contract. So many 7 million dollar deals post ELC.

 

[Bubbles]

It's funny because when he was drafted, the whole profile of him reminded me of Legwand.