Matty Beniers's preseason derails the Owen Power for Calder train

Matty Beniers' performances for Seattle in preseason has many NHL fans reassessing their picks for rookie of the year, which largely had Buffalo's Owen Power winning the Calder Trophy.

Video Transcript

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Let's start with a rookie of the year pick from everybody. I think with guys like Owen Power, and Matty Beniers is doing their thing this year, we could be in for some really good rookies. We know Mortiz Seider won last year. I'm going to start off just easily saying Matty Beniers maybe changed my mind for the rookie of the year pick.

I was very much on the Owen Power train. I really wanted him to come out of 2022 with an Olympic gold medal, a World Junior gold medal. I think he was in the Frozen Four this year. He's playing in college with Michigan. Like, dude could have-- he won a world championship already. This is a dude who could be winning all this different hardware and hasn't really made that much of an impact in the NHL yet. And he could very well win the Calder Trophy.

And I was ready to give him that until I watched Matty Beniers play pre-season with Seattle. That dude can skate. He can score. And he looks like a guy the Kraken should be building their franchise around for the next how many years. This is a guy who's ready to play at the National Hockey League level. He's ready to produce at a high level.

And as someone who now has to watch more games in the Pacific division, I am looking forward to watching Matty Beniers how many games out of the year. I'm picking him for rookie of the year. Like, I think he's going to be that good. Owen Power might be second, and it is very hard for a defensive to win anyway, but Matty Beniers is going to be my pick for rookie of the year.

Trust me, we're going to see highlights from him at some point this year, and you all are going to be like, man, I wished I watched him play a little bit more. Well actually, maybe Omar might be the only person on this panel who might do that because we are all on the West Coast. But Matty Beniers is my pick. Avry, who is your pick for rookie of the year?

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Julian, I will co-sign with you Matty Beniers, again. As people have watched him in the preseason, you know, you're right. His skating is marvelous. His shot's great. And he's playing on a cracking team that's improved quite a bit last year. Seattle had a good offseason, so you surround him with guys like Burakovsky, Oliver Bjorkstrand, and I think the Kraken might give Beniers a good chance to win the Calder.

We saw him last year in his 10 games. He had 9 points in 10 games last year. And Beniers has a strong future as a offensive juggernaut for the Kraken. I'm going to go Beniers as well, Julian.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You used the J word there, Juggernaut. We've got to be careful about the usage of that word around these parts.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Why is that? Why is that?

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Did you not listen to Chris Johnston?

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Chris Hughton-- I'm joking.

[LAUGHTER]

I know. I'm just playing. I'm just playing, Chris. Don't hurt me.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: All right. Sam, who is your pick for rookie of the year?

SAM CHANG: I laughed when you said Matty Beniers because that was my pick.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Of course you vote the Michigan person.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Of course she does.

SAM CHANG: They're all Michigan players.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: That's true.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: That's true.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: That's actually true. That's actually true. They're stacked--

SAM CHANG: Yeah.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: --because-- between--

SAM CHANG: Matty Beniers.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yes, Matty Beniers would be it. So Omar, are you going to make this unanimous?

- No, I'm going to go on the Owen Power train, and for one point and one point only. Listen to me, friends, as I speak.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Here we go, people. It's time. It's time. It is time. Omar is going to go on a long tirade--

- Yes, go get you popcorn ready and get your drinks ready.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: --for about four or five minutes. Get yourself food.

- Maybe not four. I'd say like--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Get yourself props. Enjoy yourselves for the next few minutes. Put yourself on mute because Omar has something to say.

- I'm going to hold myself to, like, two minutes tops here. So you all have mentioned some amazing points, right, as it pertains to Maddie Beniers, fast skater, skill, can obviously produce at the NHL level, given what he's been doing in the preseason. There is one fact that you are forgetting, though. Matty Beniers will play the Toronto Maple Leafs once, twice, maybe. But Owen Power is in the same--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: What? What does this have to do with anything?

- Listen to me. Owen Power is in the same division as the Leafs. In Owen Power's first NHL game against the Leafs, I saw some things that were concerning. I saw a 29-year-old body, or a 29-year-old skill maturity, in a 21-year-old frame. Like, Owen Power, the maturity that he has, like, how quick he was able to acclimatize himself to the NHL, how it seemed as if like everything was kind of, like, focused and drawn around him-- and again when you're playing in the east against teams like the Leafs-- that rhymed-- there's going to be a lot of hype around that.

So I'm just-- so on one point, just to kind of be, again, different from the rest of the crowd because we have three Matty Beniers people, I'll see Owen Power. Again, yes, the Leafs angle is kind of a joke, but I do think he's going to be relied upon a lot in Buffalo even though Rasmus Dahlin is there. I don't think it'll take long for Owen Power to kind of transcend himself as the number one on that team.

And then when you have the skilled players that Buffalo is going to have up front, especially if they can get their power play going, like, they may be a team that'll have to win games like 7-5 or like eight 8 to 6 or whatever. And that would be a lot of production opportunity for Owen Powers. So that's how I'm kind of going with there.