Seattle Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol has confirmed that Matty Beniers will not be made available for the team’s games against Calgary and Columbus this weekend.
There’s no word as to whether or not he’ll still participate in the NHL all-star game next weekend as the lone Kraken representative.
Beniers was banged up after Vancouver Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers took a run at him without either player having control of the puck.
After the game, coach Dave Hakstol called the play “garbage,” but liked how his team reacted.
“I didn’t like it,” Hakstol told radio outlet 93.3 KJR. “Didn’t like it at all. Love what (Jamie Oleksiak) did. He did what he needed to do right away. Like I said after the game, there’s going to be different stuff that’s
going to happen during a hockey game once the score gets stretched out. That’s something our group is going to be comfortable with. Hey, that’s all part of it."
This will be the first game action missed by Beniers this season, his first in the NHL. He’s the frontrunner to win the Calder Trophy with 17 goals and 36 points in 47 games. Beniers also had nine points in a 10-game stint last year, a season that saw him finish as the Big 10 scoring champion, league champion, Hobey Baker finalist and even a spot on USA’s Olympic team.
Beniers is typically the No. 1 center for the Kraken, but Ryan Donato is expected to fill his role in the meantime.
The Kraken have exceeded all expectations as a second-year team, sitting first in the Pacific Division with a 28-14-5 record. The team is 7-2-1 in the past 10 games, but are tied with Vegas with 49 points with two games in hand. A strong weekend would be big in helping the team build a bit of a gap heading into the all-star break.
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