Matty Beniers became the second overall selection in the NHL draft after a strong season at Michigan. (Michigan Photography)
In the end, the wait was a short one. The Seattle Kraken held the second overall selection in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft and made Matty Beniers the first player ever chosen by that expansion franchise.
“There’s so many words I could use to describe it,” Beniers said after he donned the cap of his, and the NHL’s, newest team. “Surreal. It’s honestly amazing, unbelievably excited, thankful. I could not be happier and I’m honestly at a loss for words thinking about what just happened.”
The journey to that early pick, however, comprised most of the Hingham, Mass., native’s life. If the NHL draft represented the latest chapter of a year in Beniers’ hockey life, then the final sentence was punctuated with an exclamation point.
