Seattle's Rookie Center On The Mental & Physical Grind Of His First Full NHL Season
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Matty Beniers
- Center
- 6'2", 178 lbs., Age 20, 2 NHL Seasons
- 2022-23: 80 Games, 24 Goals, 33 Assists, +14
Seattle Kraken center Matty BeniersDid it feel like 90-some games? "Yes, towards the end there. Yeah, after regular season, we were feeling pretty good. And then playoffs is tough, because it's just like every other day you're just going."
Which was a tougher grind, the physical or the mental? "It's definitely tough and different for every guy. Both were tough. Physically, probably earlier on, just getting used to it.
"You just got to stay mentally tough and not get too worried about it. Remind yourself, 'I'm a good player, I got this.'"
"But mentally, throughout the season, there's always times where things aren't going your way, you're not getting the bounces, you're not playing your best hockey, things like that.
"Everyone has it. So you just got to stay mentally tough and not get too worried about it. Remind yourself, 'I'm a good player, I got this.' And you can always lean on your teammates, which, we got a great group of guys here.
"I don't think it was too tough, because I was still kind of just having fun in my first year."
"On Opponents Targeting Him: "I would say I probably flew under the radar a little bit more earlier in the season. But it's pretty cool when you see that or hear that (teams game-planning for him). It's not good to get targeted, but it's also pretty cool."