Matty Beniers Fast Facts
Position: Center
DOB: 11/5/02 Hometown: Hingham, Mass. Height: 6-2 Weight: 181
How Acquired By Kraken: 1st round, 2021 draft
NHL Seasons as of 2025: 4
Previous NHL Teams: None
Career Bests: Goals-24 (2022-23), Assists-33 (2022-23), Points-57 (2022-23)
Notable: Won 2023 Calder Trophy with Kraken as rookie of the year
Matty Beniers was the first ever draft pick by the Kraken, chosen 2nd overall in 2021. In his first full season with the team in 2022-23, Beniers led all rookies with 24 goals and a plus/minus of +14. Despite averaging better than 17 minutes TOI over 80 games, he remarkably was whistled for just one minor penalty all season.
As a result, hockey writers voted Beniers the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year. Read our stories about it here and here. Before the start of the 2024-25 season, the Kraken rewarded Beniers with a seven year, $50 million contract. Read about that here and here.
What we should expect from Beniers during that seven year span we wrote about here. In a Feb., 2025 game against the Red Wings, we noted, “If Matty Beniers plays long and successfully enough to earn a statue outside Climate Pledge Arena someday, we know what pose they’ll use. It’ll be the signature Beniers from one knee, getting every ounce of power behind his shot. Fans at CPA got to see Matty display the real thing for his 12th of the season, on a pinpoint feed from Kaapo Kakko.”
Beniers spoke glowingly about his teammates in a Kraken Reaction video, and why it’s a vital ingredient to winning a championship. In fact, he did win a title in May, helping Team USA to the 2025 IIHF World championship. In a 5-0 victory over Denmark, Beniers scored twice.
Beniers, voted by his teammates as player of the game, worked hard for his first score. As seen in the above right image, he won a faceoff, fought through traffic on his way to the net, and while battling with onetime Kraken Alexander True, tipped home Team USA’s third goal. Matty then finished the scoring with a 3rd period laser.
In another video, he spoke about his strong second half of last season with the Kraken. Over the final 46 games, the 2023 Calder winner would score 16 times to finish with 20 on the season (a 38-goal pace over the full 82 games).