When the Kraken’s 2021 2nd-overall NHL Draft pick Matty Beniers signed a contract in the spring of 2022 after wrapping up his final season at the University of Michigan, he burned the first year of that three-year, entry-level deal. (It was part of the arrangement, and by playing ten games that spring, he also eclipsed the threshold needed to move him one year closer to waiver eligibility and arbitration rights.)
Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks did the same thing coming out of the same school by signing an NHL contract in the spring of 2019, although he only played five games.
If Beniers hadn’t signed early, this coming season would be the third year of that contract, giving the Kraken another full campaign to assess where the player fits and just how much value he brings.
Instead, Seattle needs to sign the restricted free agent (RFA) before this next season. Beniers is a 21-year-old with no arbitration rights and the team ultimately controlling his destiny. He has no negotiating leverage other than “holding out” into and through training camp, something his agent Pat Brisson isn’t afraid to do if it comes down to it. He did it with Hughes coming out of his entry-level in the fall of 2021.
Kraken Cap
So what does he deserve and what does he get? Beniers suffered a “sophomore slump” last season after winning the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie-of-the-year the season before. That makes the assessment more difficult.
He went from 57 points to 37.
The last Calder Trophy winner to have burned the first year of his entry-level was Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche, who played ten playoff games for that club in the spring of 2019 coming out of the University of Massachusetts. But we’re talking about a different animal here. Makar has since gone on to win the Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenseman and the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP when the Av’s won the Stanley Cup in 2022.
A better financial comparison might be Jonathan Huberdeau, who slumped a bit and took awhile to get started for the Florida Panthers after being picked 3rd-overall in 2011 out of major juniors. His modest 31 points, then 28 points, then 54 points over his first three seasons earned him a two-year deal worth $3.2-million per season.
Huberdeau’s first three seasons were all under an entry-level deal. He made the most of the third. Beniers and the Kraken don’t have that luxury or opportunity.
A decade later, expect Beniers to see similar term-wise. Again, although the club is desperate for centers, there’s no reason to over-commit. And money-wise, they should be looking at something in the ‘mid to high 5’s’ ($million). Kraken GM Ron Francis might want to save a bit of his $6.3-million in cap space for some flexibility in adding more depth along the blueline. Or elsewhere.
Tick tock goes the clock. One way or another, Brisson, a no-nonsense negotiator with more than $1-billion in contracts in his office, will once again be knocking on the door.
