The biggest lingering question facing the Seattle Kraken and general manager Ron Francis this offseason was answered Tuesday. Restricted free agent and 2023 Calder Trophy winner Matty Beniers signed a new seven-year contract with the organization at an average annual value of $7.14 million.
“Matty has been a core part of our team since making his NHL debut, not only on the ice, but in his commitment to our community and our fans,” Francis said. “Signing Matty to a new contract was a top priority for our offseason, and we are excited to have it done. We’re looking forward to seeing Matty take the next steps as a player and watching him contribute to many more memorable moments for our franchise.”
Beniers, a 21-year-old, top-line center who was the first draft pick in franchise history at No. 2 overall in 2021, burst onto the NHL scene late in Seattle’s inaugural season when he scored three goals and added nine assists in 10 games after making the difficult jump straight from the NCAA. He followed that up with 24 goals and 33 assists in his first full season, earning him rookie-of-the-year honors and elevating expectations.
One could argue Beniers took a step back in 2023-24, when the league seemed to figure out how to defend him and when his teammates also struggled to produce for long swaths of the season. But even with extended scoring droughts and what was widely considered a disappointing campaign for the youngster, he still managed a respectable 15 goals and 22 assists and played a key role throughout.
The future remains bright for the Hingham, Mass., native, who has now solidified himself as one of the core members of the organization for the foreseeable future. The deal keeps Beniers in Seattle through the 2030-31 season and buys out two years of his unrestricted free agent eligibility.
No real drama, deal done
RFA’s generally don’t have much leverage, other than when things start to come down to the wire with training camp and the start of the season. The uneasiness of negotiations dragging out to a point where team activities are missed creates urgency on both sides but can corner a team into upping its offer. In this case, the start of training camp was beginning to creep up, but the deal got done with plenty of time to spare.
Francis had made no bones about his desire to sign Beniers long-term, and now he gets his guy.
Analysis
This is about where we expected Beniers to land with this contract. If he had matched his 2022-23 stats this past season, he likely could have gotten a higher AAV, but his 2023-24 performance simply did not warrant a significantly bigger number. It’s a fair deal for both sides at present, and the hope is that he continues to develop into a star player, which will turn it into a steal of deal for the Kraken in a couple years.
It’s hard to get a full salary cap picture right now, because it depends on how many extras the Kraken will want to keep around and who they keep after training camp. But, if we plug in John Hayden and Ryan Winterton as extra forwards and Josh Mahura as a seventh defenseman (obviously some big assumptions there, but that would fill out a 23-man roster), that puts Seattle about $1.5 million over the cap. So, there could still be a salary-shedding move or two coming.
We will have more analysis on this new deal on soundofhockey.com and the Sound Of Hockey Podcast in the coming days, so stay tuned.
Darren Brown
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at soundofhockey.com and the host of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is a member of the PHWA and is also usually SOH’s Twitter intern (but please pretend you don’t know that). Follow him @DarrenFunBrown and @sound_hockey or email darren@soundofhockey.com.