The wait is over. Our long national concern about Matty Beniers is over. He’s here for the long haul.
The Kraken announced that they have signed forward Matty Beniers to a 7 year contract coming out of his ELC worth $50 million USD, with a $7.14 Million AAV against the Salary Cap.
After this signing, the Kraken have, according to Puckpedia and Cap…a grand total of $4,286 in cap space. They could in theory go get a project Honda CRX on Facebook Marketplace and save up some money to trick it out if they wanted to.
I shouldn’t have to give you a run-down of who Matty is; he’s arguably the reason anyone stuck around to feel hope after the Inaugural season. He was the Calder Memorial Trophy winner in 2022-23, and a defensive stalwart that has been getting all sorts of plaudits for how his two-way game is evolving while also being a major part of the Kraken offense through the last year or so. He had a bit of a down year offensively (who didn’t), but otherwise remained a perfectly cromulent player.
I personally have no issue with the contract. He’s the guy, even if he and Shane might end up sharing that title over time. While it is a helluva contract, it’s pretty low for how much top 6 centers in the league are going for these days that aren’t on Entry Level deals; he gets plenty of time to make a name for himself, work out the kinks of whatever Sophomore Slump was bothering him last year, and blossom into the player he was maybe always meant to be under a new coach and a new-ish look team. He gave this team hope when hope was in short supply in the past, and I’m sure he’s gonna do just the same this year.
Let’s all welcome back Matty to seven years of Seattle living!