The return to action of the NHL has provided an opportunity for a number of prospects to earn an opportunity in a regular role. In the coming weeks we will be looking at those players in their NHL debuts in our “Prospects in the News” feature. This week Vince Gibbons takes a look at the rare NHL debut of a teenager on the blue line in Colorado’s Bowen Byram. Delivered a promising start as a key piece of an extremely exciting young defense group which includes a pair of 22-year old’s in Cale Makar and Samuel Girard already holding down a place in the line-up and thriving. 26-year-old Devon Toews completes what should be dominating back end for the Avalanche for the foreseeable future. Vince is our senior analyst for the WHL and has watched Byram develop over the years with many, many viewings. He knows his game very well and breaks down how he adapted in his first pro tests.
Matty Beniers has been rising up NHL Draft lists early in the year with an outstanding performance on an absolutely stacked Michigan team, featuring another high profile 2021 draft eligible expected to go high in Owen Powers (we will profile him in a future column). Ryan Wagman, our Director of Prospect Scouting, brings you up to speed on the power forward with the potential to crack the top five in the upcoming NHL Draft.
The McKeen’s team are scouting and writing about prospects all season long and provide in-depth reports on our website: www.mckeenshockey.com
Editor’s Note: The New York Islanders will face the Washington Capitals Tuesday on NBCSN starting at 6:30 pm ET. Livestream all the action here.
[[ad:athena]]
2021 NHL Draft Prospect
Burgeoning power forward Beniers starring on stacked Michigan team
By Ryan Wagman
Matthew Beniers
2020-21 USA, U20, WJC, 7GP-1G-2A-3PTS
2020-21 University of Michigan, NCAA, 14GP-4G-9A-13PTS
Whether you call him Matthew, Matt, or Matty, Beniers is a burgeoning power forward who has gone from playing above his age with the USNTDP to playing a starring role with Michigan as a true freshman in his draft year.
Every year there are a few players with the vaunted program who were born too late in the year to be draft-eligible with the bulk of his classmates. In the 2002 class, the other late birthdate was Hunter Strand, who went from a bottom six role with the USNTDP last year to a leading role with the Tri-City Storm of the USHL. Strand is a talented player, fleet of foot and energetic, who could hear his name called in the middle rounds this summer. But with all due respect to his future aspirations, he is no Matty Beniers.
Beniers could have similarly returned to the USHL for his draft year, as the Chicago Steel took a late round flier on him in the recent USHL Entry Draft, but a player of his ilk, who has already proven the ability to dominate at the USHL level (only San Jose second rounder Thomas Bordeleau outscored him among last year’s USNTDP U18 squad) had more to gain in terms of his development by going to college as soon as possible. And so Beniers finds himself as part of a stacked lineup with the Michigan Wolverines, competing with fellow 2021 eligible true freshmen Owen Power and Kent Johnson for the bragging rights among scouts and ranking services, with all three looking like top half of the first-round talents, with top 10 likely for at least two of them, including the person we are discussing here.
In normal seasons, I would likely have been up to see Beniers live in action a couple of times, as Michigan is in my territory for coverage. Due to the pandemic, I have to make do with video scouting, but I have seen Beniers live at least a dozen times in the previous two seasons and over a half-dozen viewings on tape so far this year. Before my first Michigan viewing of this year, I spoke to one NHL scout who had recently been to Ann Arbor about which of the big three freshmen would be his preference, and he did not hesitate to name Beniers. Despite Owen Power’s clear physical gifts (think Victor Hedman starter kit) and Kent Johnson’s current scoring lead for the Wolverines, I agree with this scout.
Beniers still needs to fill out his frame a bit more, but he has the type of figure that would not look out of place as a power winger once his physical maturity has completed. He also has the game to match. He likes to play down low in the offensive zone, below the faceoff circles and below the red line. He is strong, able to complete the cycle with a defender draped on his back.
A key player for the recent Gold Medal winning American squad at the Edmonton WJC, Beniers didn’t put up a lot of points, but his role was critical in a number of matches. He can show off great offensive abilities, such as in an end-to-end rush against the Czech Republic in the round robin, where he skated through every skater on the opposition, circled the net and then dished off to a trailing linemate. He has a quick shot release and can pick a spot through a crowd.
More impressive than his offense during the tournament though was his mature two-way play. The gritty Beniers can be absolutely suffocating, with a relentless forecheck and fantastic stickwork, both of which combined to force a multitude of turnovers. He tracks very closely to whichever opponent he is defending and will make him pay for even the tiniest slipup.
Whichever order the three Wolverines go in the first round, Beniers has clearly demonstrated that his game is mature for his age, and that he can play in whatever role his future team needs, with top six offensive chops, and bottom six determination, energy, and reliability.
Editor’s Note: Drafting is only half the battle! Get an edge on your competition all season long with rankings, projections, trade evaluator, lineup adviser and much more with our NHL Season Tools. Click here to learn more!
Prospects in the News – Colorado’s Bowen Byram makes his NHL debut as a teenager
By Vince Gibbons
2019-20 Vancouver Giants, WHL, 50GP-14G-38A-52PTS
2020-21 Canada U20, WJC, 7GP-1G-4A-5PTS
2020-21 Colorado Avalanche, NHL, 3GP-0G-1A-1PTS
A couple of WHL alumni from the 2019 draft have already made their NHL debuts but this weekend Bowen Byram was at the head of the class. The fourth overall selection for the Colorado Avalanche, joined World Junior teammates Kirby Dach and Dylan Cozens playing in the best league in the world at 19. What makes Byram stand out versus those two is that rarely do defensemen, even the most elite play NHL hockey in their teen years. That Byram has done so on a team loaded with offensive talent is a testament to the dynamism of his game.
The skinny on Byram as a junior player is that he is a great skater, always looking to join the rush, while pushing the pace of play in the neutral zone with his feet and his passing. He is a superb passer who can open lanes with his footwork, he leads guys exceptionally well and consistently is able to move the puck out of his own zone. He is also a blue line shooter, not a just heavy shot, but also a shifty change the angle and throw it on net type of player. Byram has a lethal arsenal once he steps in from the blueline with feigns and dekes that opponents are forced to bite on. He is so versatile offensively that if you take away his shot, he can make a pass or carry past you, if you take away the pass, he can fill the net from distance. He is a work horse too and has logged big minutes on every blue line he has played on, including most recently at the World Juniors.
His defensive game is very good at the Junior level because of his skating and ability to read the play. He manages his gaps well and can keep a tighter gap than most because of his excellent recovery speed. He is not a small defender but he isn’t an overtly physical player either, very much the modern defender where stick checks and position create turnovers rather than physically separating his man from the puck.
So how did the top defender from the 2019 draft fair in his first weekend of play? Honestly some mixed results but positive progress after each game for sure. Colorado did him no favors in his debut, dressing seven defensemen and making it tough to get a regular shift leaving him with only 11 minutes of total ice time in his debut. He took a penalty on his second shift as he fought off a strong net drive from Anze Kopitar, but after that settled in and made some very effective plays, particularly with his feet.
Against the Kings and the following games against the Ducks he showed a willingness to carry the puck in from the blue line and made a few great dekes and feigns to open up space for himself. He consistently was able to beat his marker down the boards from the left point while carrying the puck. It led to a couple great net drives with a good shot on net, and also led to his first point as he displayed his great vision to setup Rantanen coming in on the back door pass. Byram completing the pass through a tight lane.
His edges in tight spaces along the wall provide him a mobility advantage as few wingers are used to defending his pace. In his third game he earned his first powerplay minutes of his career, impressive considering Toews, Girard and Makar are all such well-established powerplay quarterbacks. One of the most important things to see was confidence to play with the puck at the pro level and he showed that was growing over the three games. Byram also looked to jump into the rush to provide a trailer option on a number of rushes. He also showed a willingness to shoot the puck, moving back and forth along the blue line to create the right shooting lane. Defensively he had a big crease clearing play that surely saved a goal and settled in after a rough couple of shifts. This is the area that coaching can have the big influence and a smart player like Byram will be ironing out those details on the fly. He will need to work on his positioning along the wall and making sure he moves the puck quickly as he got caught in possession a couple times in his own zone but overall, there was a lot to like about his games this week.
