Kraken’s Matty Beniers embraces expanded leadership role after 1st NHL fight last season

SEATTLE (AP) — From his first steps on the ice with the Seattle Kraken , forward Matty Beniers generally has been regarded as the face of the franchise.

The 2023 NHL Rookie of the Year helped lift the Kraken to its lone playoff appearance and has compiled three seasons of 20 or more goals and two with 30 or more assists. He's the one Kraken player fans probably know in arenas from Detroit to Dallas to Denver.

Add this to the list: One of their undisputed leaders.

The alternate captain the last two seasons, he's not afraid to speak up when the occasion calls for it. This summer, he defended the organization after Dallas’ Jason Robertson nixed a sign-and-trade deal with Seattle. “If you don’t want to be here, we don’t want you anyway,” Beniers said in an interview with The Athletic.

But if there’s one moment that's cemented his leadership status it might be his first — and only — NHL fight.

It happened last March 10 in a 4-2 home loss to Nashville. Teammate Jared McCann was cross-checked hard into the boards by Justin Barron. The referee’s arm was already up to call the penalty.

Beniers, whose skating momentum was carrying him past the altercation, stopped on a dime, turned, went up to Barron with some pushing and shoving, then dropped his gloves and started punching.

“It’s unbelievable to see that,” defenseman Adam Larsson said afterward. “He’s such a big part of this team — that was huge.”

Added forward Jordan Eberle, “I love that. In a situation in a game like that where we’re right in it and he steps up like that is just awesome. It shows leadership on his part.”

Beniers, with just 59 penalty minutes in 331 games over four-plus seasons, mostly shrugged it off during postgame interviews.

“That was the first one,” he said when asked about previous fights at any level.

The heat is on the Kraken to step it up after missing the playoffs for a third straight season, including a 7-17-2 post-Olympics crash a year ago.

“That falls on our leaders, myself included," said Beniers, whose team opens the season Thursday in Calgary. "It’s not that you need to put the team on your back. But you need to steer the ship in the right direction, and we might not have done a good enough job of that.”

At 23, Beniers is by far the youngest member of Seattle’s five-man leadership group, which includes 36-year-old captain Eberle and fellow alternate captains Larsson (33), Brandon Montour (32) and Vince Dunn (29).

But it was made clear he fits right in with them.

“You don’t have to be loud to be a leader. Matty is doing it mostly with his play, and that kind of speaks for itself and how he carries himself and what he brings out there,” Larsson said. “He has been evolving as a person when it comes to being a voice in here, too, and I think that comes with maturity.”

A sentiment echoed by Montour: "For a younger kid to come in and be part of a leadership group, that speaks volumes.”

It didn’t take long for second-year coach Lane Lambert to see some of those traits — being more vocal and a leader by example — taking place on the ice.

“Matty is a confident guy," Lambert said. "It’s a really endearing quality and it’s a character trait that he has.”

Beniers said his style is simply absorbing it all, on and off the ice.

“It’s being able to read a room," he said. "Having those relationships with your teammates where they know that you’re just trying to help them, no matter what it is you’re coming to them with.”

Sometimes, that even means dropping the gloves.

“That’s a little bit of a rite of passage, your first NHL fight,” Beniers said. “When it’s your turn, it’s your turn — and it was my turn.”

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