Sabres' Option: Matthew Beniers

[Hoss]

3 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Why did Patrice Bergeron last until the second round? Perceived lack of high ceiling?

Why can’t Beniers be Bergeron?

In retrospect, wouldn’t Bergeron have been a worthy 1st overall?

That draft is damn good so it’d be an interesting conversation about first overall. Ryan Getzlaf, Shea Weber, Joe Pavelski, Marc-Andre Fleury. Other guys that are just outside of that conversation: Eric Staal, Thomas Vanek, Ryan Suter, Jeff Carter, Zach Parise, Brent Burns, Ryan Kesler, Corey Perry, Dustin Brown, Dustin Byfuglien, Brent Seabrook. *****.

[dudacek]

4 minutes ago, Hoss said:

That draft is damn good so it’d be an interesting conversation about first overall. Ryan Getzlaf, Shea Weber, Joe Pavelski, Marc-Andre Fleury. Other guys that are just outside of that conversation: Eric Staal, Thomas Vanek, Ryan Suter, Jeff Carter, Zach Parise, Brent Burns, Ryan Kesler, Corey Perry, Dustin Brown, Dustin Byfuglien, Brent Seabrook. *****.

Well, that explains one reason why he slipped.

Sidebar, Staal is 50 career goals and points ahead of anyone else in that draft and has a cup. He might be number one.

 

[PerreaultForever]

15 minutes ago, Hoss said:

That draft is damn good so it’d be an interesting conversation about first overall. Ryan Getzlaf, Shea Weber, Joe Pavelski, Marc-Andre Fleury. Other guys that are just outside of that conversation: Eric Staal, Thomas Vanek, Ryan Suter, Jeff Carter, Zach Parise, Brent Burns, Ryan Kesler, Corey Perry, Dustin Brown, Dustin Byfuglien, Brent Seabrook. *****.

That was a good draft, and when you look at the order you see quite a few mistakes too. I mean Getzlaf went 19th and Perry went 28th. You know the Ducks will be hard pressed to ever equal that draft again.  Boston actually muffed the first round when they took Mark Stuart but could have had Perry, Kessler, Richards, all of whom would have fit that big bad Bruins model. 

Drafts are funny guessing games. Lot of luck and hindsight is 20/20. Vanek was a good hockey player, but Getzlaf might have actually gotten us a cup. 

[LGR4GM]

53 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Why did Patrice Bergeron last until the second round? Perceived lack of high ceiling?

Why can’t Beniers be Bergeron?

In retrospect, wouldn’t Bergeron have been a worthy 1st overall?

Idk why but if I had to guess, he wasn't flashy and had good but not great production. 

Beniers could be Bergeron but it's always risky projecting prospects out to top players. 

He was worthy but as others noted, it's a crazy draft. 

[pi2000]

3 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Idk why but if I had to guess, he wasn't flashy and had good but not great production. 

Beniers could be Bergeron but it's always risky projecting prospects out to top players. 

He was worthy but as others noted, it's a crazy draft. 

He played in the Q, didn't have great numbers and wasn't a very good skater IIRC.   

[Hoss]

1 hour ago, pi2000 said:

He played in the Q, didn't have great numbers and wasn't a very good skater IIRC.   

And they didn’t even get his name right (in fact, they still don’t. His name isn’t Patrice Bergeron)

[pi2000]

3 minutes ago, Hoss said:

And they didn’t even get his name right (in fact, they still don’t. His name isn’t Patrice Bergeron)

what is it?

[Hoss]

5 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

what is it?

To be fair it’s not that far off. It’s Patrice Bergeron-Cleary. He wanted it corrected but said it got too far. At some point in his younger years in official paperwork a team or league official forgot to add the Cleary portion. I believe he said he asked the NHL to fix it early on in his career and it never happened so he just ditched the effort.

[Buffalonill]

5 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Beniers gets criticized for not being flashy but his attention to detail is phenomenal. There are so many little things he executes to perfection and it's why I think he's the best player in this draft. His game will translate well and those small area skills he's excellent at will only become more valuable over time. If he improves an already decent shot he's going to surprise a lot of people. 

[pi2000]

3 hours ago, Hoss said:

To be fair it’s not that far off. It’s Patrice Bergeron-Cleary. He wanted it corrected but said it got too far. At some point in his younger years in official paperwork a team or league official forgot to add the Cleary portion. I believe he said he asked the NHL to fix it early on in his career and it never happened so he just ditched the effort.

sooooo... he's a quiter? smh

[LGR4GM]

I went and rewatched Beniers u20 highlights and there's so much to like there. I don't get the same impression from Power. Beniers is an offensive and defensive catalyst and I think there's more pop and skill than is often noted. For an 18yr old at the u20, he's doing a lot of things at speed and with confidence. 

 

[Eleven]

One person's analytics deep-dive supporting Beniers:  https://www.scouching.ca/the-blog/scouchings-post-nhl-draft-lottery-rankings

[WildCard]

1 minute ago, Eleven said:

One person's analytics deep-dive supporting Beniers:  https://www.scouching.ca/the-blog/scouchings-post-nhl-draft-lottery-rankings

Beniers is #1 on this list, Power is in Tier 2 of 8.

[LGR4GM]

https://www.scouching.ca/the-blog/scouchings-post-nhl-draft-lottery-rankings

Quote

The Buffalo Sabres have a goal scoring weapon in Jeff Skinner for example, and Matty Beniers could be a great piece to at least try to get pucks onto his stick so he can explode them into a net somewhere. Prefer Victor Olofsson? Same goes for him too.

 

[steveoath]

Thanks for the link. Good read. On his podcast he was definitely high on Beniers. Nice to read about the lower level prospects. 

[pi2000]

4 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

I went and rewatched Beniers u20 highlights and there's so much to like there. I don't get the same impression from Power. Beniers is an offensive and defensive catalyst and I think there's more pop and skill than is often noted. For an 18yr old at the u20, he's doing a lot of things at speed and with confidence. 

 

Beniers looked very good against U20's, he's a nice prospect for sure, wouldn't be upset if he's the pick at #1. 

[LGR4GM]

14 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

Beniers looked very good against U20's, he's a nice prospect for sure, wouldn't be upset if he's the pick at #1. 

[bob_sauve28]

3 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

https://www.scouching.ca/the-blog/scouchings-post-nhl-draft-lottery-rankings

 

I thought that was a strange reference. 

[Brawndo]

1 hour ago, pi2000 said:

Beniers looked very good against U20's, he's a nice prospect for sure, wouldn't be upset if he's the pick at #1. 

 

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

Alright who hacked Pi’s Account? 

[pi2000]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Power > Beniers tho 🙂

[bob_sauve28]

Won’t complain at all if they take him. He looks like a well above average player

[LGR4GM]

Let's talk about Beniers: https://eprinkside.com/2021/02/12/film-room-an-examination-of-matthew-beniers-mature-two-way-game-and-what-it-offers-at-the-2021-draft

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This '02-born centre brings one borderline elite quality to the table, and that’s his speed. He wields it in a variety of ways; it's the backbone of his game. Standing 6-foot-1 and weighing 174 pounds, he has yet to fill out, a fact which only makes the power he generates all that much more impressive.

His stride checks off nearly every box mechanically. His knee sits over the laces of his skates; he extends fully and completely without sacrificing power by splaying out too wide; he employs a crossover heavy regimen - especially through the neutral zone while in transition and maintaining possession. This allows him to set up his dekes more efficiently and to cause defensive schemes’ fits. He is one of the better transitional forwards in this group thanks to those abilities.

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It’s not just the speed, smarts, and confidence with Beniers. He has a long track record of playing up in age groups and a large part of that owes to his polished two-way game. Despite his mid-sized stature, the Massachusettes-native boasts a very strong stick. Players will often go into the corner with position on him and find themselves chasing him out a moment later.

Quote

In the play above, Beniers is the lead forechecker on the Michigan penalty kill. He manages to gain possession down low before turning back, maintaining control while being hounded throughout the neutral zone, swopping around for another loop, and finally passing it back to his defender.

Here is one where you can see Power accelerate into the zone, get into some trouble, and Beniers is able to grab the puck for a nice assist. 

 

[LGR4GM]

Here is this from hockey prospecting. I would welcome a Logan Couture on this team. 

[LGR4GM]

Newhook and Halloway (DY+1) are the only comparable players in the last 2 years to have a higher P1/e60. Brisson and Beniers are almost even. 

Note this is only DY and DY+1 players since 2020 (because that's where the data stops). 

Beniers: 2.7251

Johnson: 1.758

[LGR4GM]

Adam Kimelman was on WGR and while he did talk a bunch about Power, he also compared Beniers to Jonathan Toews. Just found that interesting.