Get to know: Matthew Beniers

Beniers is, arguably, the top forward prospect of the 2021 draft class
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The National Hockey League is preparing for one of its most unique drafts this upcoming July.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the landscape of hockey was changed across the world with a number of prospects eligible for the 2021 NHL Draft not getting an opportunity to play a full season of hockey. That forced some prospects to find other leagues to play in to keep sharp with their games. However, there were others prospects who were not so fortunate, and could not find enough suitable ice-time to help improve their draft stock.

Leagues like the Canadian Hockey League were hit the hardest due to COVID-19, largely due to local and government restrictions in Canada. The Western Hockey League was only able to get in a small number of games this season, while the Ontario Hockey League did not even get a chance to start play.

For some prospects, they were lucky enough to get in a full season or a majority of their 2020-21 campaigns while playing in Europe or at the collegiate level. This allowed these players to get a leg-up on the rest of the draft class, and allowed them to get the attention needed from scouts and teams around the NHL.

The 2021 draft class is the first class in a while to feature no clear-cut, "sure fire" No. 1 prospect at the top of the group. While many of the prospects eligible for the 2021 NHL Draft have the potential to be high-caliber players at the NHL level, there is no player that stands out above everyone else.

Owen Power has been widely considered as the top prospect in this year's draft class. If not the top prospect, he's a popular choice as the top defensive prospect to come out of the 2021 NHL Draft.

The 18-year-old defenseman had a standout season as a freshman at the University of Michigan, but one of his teammates also emerged as a front-runner to lead the draft class with Round 1 quickly approaching on July 23.

Just before the start of the 2020-21 season, Matthew Beniers made the decision to decommit from playing hockey at Harvard University with the uncertainties surrounding their season due to COVID-19. Instead, he committed to the Wolverines, where he became an immediate impact player as a freshman.

In 24 games in Ann Arbor this season, the 18-year-old was able to produce at a point per-game rate with 10 goals and 14 assists for 24 points. Beniers quickly became one of Michigan's top offensive weapons, and a reliable player all around for head coach Mel Pearson.

In December, Beniers left Michigan for more than a month to take part in the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship with the United States, where he was selected as the youngest roster player for the Americans.

However, Beniers played nothing like a young draft eligible prospect in the tournament. He ended up garnering the attention and respect of many watching and following the World Juniors with his outstanding play. In his seven games played for the Americans, the native of Hingham, Massachusetts would score a goal and add two assists, while averaging 17:05 of ice-time and becoming a dependable top-two center for the U.S. He would help Team USA claim gold in Edmonton with a 2-0 win in the championship game against Canada.

While Michigan failed to win the Big Ten conference tournament, the Wolverines were able to earn an at-large bid into the 2021 Frozen Four tournament. However, the team was forced to pull out of the tournament just before their opening round matchup with Minnesota Duluth due to positive COVID-19 test results.

Luckily for Beniers, his season is not quite over, as he was added to the United States roster for the upcoming 2021 IIHF World Championship in Riga, Latvia. The tournament for the U.S. starts on Saturday against the defending champion, Finland at 9:15 a.m. ET.

There is a lot to like about Beniers' overall game at both ends of the ice. He's a complete two-way center with good offensive skill to put up points, while also being very reliable and smart to be an effective player every shift down the middle of the ice.

Here is what makes Beniers stand out as, arguably, the top prospect of the 2021 NHL Draft:

Skating:

One thing that stands out about Beniers is his overall speed and skating ability at the 200-foot level. The young center is a very solid, well-balanced skater who skates with a ton of confidence.

Without the puck, Beniers is always active and engaged in the play, keeping his feet moving while he reads the play develop in front of him. He's aggressive on the forecheck and backcheck, and he is relentless in his puck pursuit.

When the puck finds his stick, Beniers takes his game to a whole new level.

When presented some space, and it doesn't take much, Beniers can go from "zero to 100" in a matter of seconds. He hits his top speed quick, and takes advantage of any room left open ahead of him.

While Beniers has yet to grow into his body just yet at just 6-foot-1 and 174 pounds, he protects the puck very well with his strength and speed. He's constantly moving with the puck in-hand, and is often looking for the puck to go through him on a shift, though he is in no way a "puck hog".

With his speed, Beniers is able to hit those open holes and be quick and aggressive on the attack. However, he's also very patient with the puck and will take his time to slow down, if need be, to let something develop in front of him.

Hockey sense:

While Beniers is able to fly around the ice at top speed, he's also got his head up and able to read plays develop on the fly. He has exceptional vision with or without the puck, and can either find ways to take the puck to the net himself, or get into open ice and in position to attack.

Beniers is quite good at controlling the pace of play on offense. He's good and quick with his decision making, whether he accelerates to quickly get into the offensive zone, or he waits for those openings to develop and then take his next course of action.

His transitional game is also very good, utilizing his speed and vision to move very efficiently from defense-to-offense, or coming back the other way from offense-to-defense.

In the neutral zone, Beniers is very effective with his reads, making those quick decisions and utilizing the space that's given to him.

Meanwhile, he's capable of positioning himself most anywhere in the offensive zone and being a threat. He can park himself in front of the net, he plays effectively in the slot, or he can control things while back at the point.

Shot:

While Beniers does not have a powerful shot, he does possess a quick release that can certainly catch a netminder off guard in a split-second. His wrist shot is his most-effective shot, and he has the capability of getting chances up in a hurry, and also in-close.

Beniers can certainly add to his shooting repertoire with some more work in practice or other workouts.

Physicality:

As I mentioned, Beniers has more room to grow into his 6-foot-1 frame as he continues to prepare for his career in the NHL. If he can add some more strength and muscle and be a bit more stable, it will only make him that much better.

With that being said, Beniers showed off this past season just how strong he can be on the puck in all three zones. He is willing to be engaging in battles along the boards, he's very aggressive when it comes to puck pursuit, and he's capable of throwing his body around and laying the lumber on the opposition.

While Beniers is quite strong on the puck already, adding more strength will help him down the road, as he does tend to get knocked off the puck from time-to-time, especially playing at the collegiate level.

Along with being willing to make a hit and not being afraid of the extra physicality, Beniers is willing to take a beating too, as he accepts the challenge to get to the net and be a presence in front of the opposing goaltender.

Reliability:

As the season progressed for Michigan, Beniers was relied upon more and more to be a go-to player in all sorts of situations on the ice. Same could be said during Beniers' time playing for the United States at the World Juniors.

Beniers was a staple on the power play with not only his skill set, but also his versatility to play all different roles on the man advantage.

On the penalty kill, Beniers defended well with an active stick and aggressive forecheck, putting pressure on the players along the boards and the point.

Meanwhile, Beniers was also called upon to either close out a game in the dying minutes to preserve a lead, or go on the attack to generate some scoring chances late.

Where Beniers could work more to improve his game is in the faceoff dot. While his faceoff statistics did improve as the season went on, he can still put some extra work into perfecting his ability to be that much more reliable for his team.

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The 2021 NHL Draft class is composed of a lot of players who will likely not make an immediate impact at the NHL level when 2021-22 season starts this October. While this may seem unordinary, many of the players at the top of the class are well on their way of developing into very good NHL players down the road.

Perhaps it's possible that Beniers would be capable of stepping into a NHL lineup starting Day 1 next season or be an impact player at the American Hockey League level, but like his teammate in Power, another year of college hockey would do wonders for the youngster.

With Power and Beniers (and a couple more prospects in this draft class) back at Michigan to start the 2021-22 season, the Wolverines would certainly be a favorite to not only return to the NCAA Tournament in 2022, but also win the Big Ten conference and win national title.

Beniers is on track to be the best two-way center in the 2021 draft class, and perhaps the best forward and overall prospect this year when it's all said and done.

***Photo: Michigan Photography

Featured Image Photo Credit: Michigan Photography