Canadian left winger Tyler Benson, 26, has signed on to play the remainder of the current season with MoDo, the SHL club announced on Friday.
“Tyler is a hard-working, 60-meter (200-foot) player with good character,” said MoDo sports director Henrik Gradin. “He scored a lot of points in his younger years, but that’s not why we’re bringing him in, even though it would obviously be a positive side effect.”
A native of Edmonton, Benson played five years of junior hockey for the WHL’s Vancouver Giants, serving three years as captain, and was drafted by his hometown Oilers in the second round, 32nd overall, of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.
Between 2018 and 2023, Benson played 38 NHL games for Edmonton, scoring once and adding two assists and 18 penalty minutes. He spent the majority of those years, however, playing for the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors.
Benson had 19 points in 15 games for the GCK Lions – farm team of the ZSC Lions – in Switzerland’s second-tier pro league in the 2020-21 season while North American leagues were shut down by pandemic restrictions. He played the 2023-24 season for the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights, the AHL farm team of the Vegas Golden Knights.
“He takes a lot of pride in working hard in all parts of the ice and being responsible both offensively and defensively,” Gradin continued. “We believe and hope that he will be a good addition to our group.”
A famous club that has developed Swedish stars Anders Hedberg, Peter Forsberg, Markus Näslund, Henrik and Daniel Sedin and Victor Hedman, among others, MoDo is nonetheless located in the small town of Örnsköldsvik and operates on a limited budget. This past offseason, the club held a public fundraiser to sign native son Mattias Norlinder, who is currently playing for Sweden in the Karjala Cup.
MoDo currently sits last in the SHL standings with just two regulation wins in 16 games.
MoDo’s announcement states that Benson is still in Canada but is expected to arrive in Ornskoldsvik next week. The club is aiming to have all of his legal paperwork done in time for him to play in the Nov. 21 home game against Örebro.