Kraken Sign Beniers to Seven-Year Deal

The Seattle Kraken have locked up their future. After his entry-level deal expired at the end of last season, all eyes were on Matty Beniers and whether or not he would be returning to Seattle. In what could be the last piece to the Stanley Cup playoff puzzle, today, the news broke that he would be staying.

But, for how long and how much?

Did Kraken Make the Right Decision?

With an Average Annual Value of $7.142 million, Beniers has jumped to being one of the highest-paid players on this team. He only sits behind defenseman Vince Dunn and is now tied with newly acquired Brandon Montour for who makes the most money per season.

I am asking this fully knowing that the Kraken made the right decision in retaining Beniers as a cornerstone of the future, but did they make the right choice financially? Has he made enough of an impression to earn the second-highest annual salary?

After the deal, the Kraken currently have a little over $4,000 left in salary. But, with only 21 active members on the roster, stay tuned to some more moves being made over the next couple of weeks to complete the team.

You can make the case that Dunn deserves his deal as the team's best D-man, that is obvious. And for Montour, bringing a pedigree of winning the Stanley Cup automatically adds a few extra bucks. But what has Beniers shown, outside of his single good year in that magical season of 2022-23, in which he won the Calder Trophy?

It hasn't been much yet, and he now has a new set of expectations and pressures to succeed. Apart from Shane Wright, who was a lot closer when his contract wasn't revealed to be this massive, Beniers already had the most amount to pressure to succeed on this roster. Last season was a massive step back for him, and he will have to hit career highs next season to make this deal make sense.

Did the Kraken get it right in signing Beniers to this big of a contract?