Seattle Kraken make history with Matthew Beniers pick

The Seattle Kraken started to piece together their immediate future on Wednesday night in the NHL expansion draft.

On Friday they started to put together their future when they selected University of Michigan center Matty Beniers the No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 NHL draft, making him their first ever entry draft pick.

It is also a historic pick for the University of Michigan as they are the first NCAA team to ever have the top-two picks in the same draft.

Beniers’ teammate, defenseman Owen Power, was selected first overall by the Buffalo Sabres.

Here is what our Ryan Wagman had to say about Beniers in his latest Mock Draft, where he had the Kraken selecting him:

Beniers is known for his two-way game more than his skills, but his skill set is impressive as well. When he played for the USNTDP, he was one of the team’s top scorers, even while being younger than practically the rest of his team. He also managed to score at a point-per-game clip as a freshman in the NCAA, while taking time out mid-season to represent his country at the WJC – where he worked his way up from the fourth line role, to a first line winger between the first game and their gold medal winning finale.

In 24 games for the University of Michigan during the 2020-21 season he scored 10 goals to go with 14 assists (point per game average)

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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at [e-mail] or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.