Matty Beniers didn’t waste any time making his stance clear as Kraken camp opened Thursday morning at Kraken Community Iceplex.
The 23-year-old alternate captain was the first player to speak after the opening workout of his fifth Seattle season, and the message matched the role he’s been given. With Jordan Eberle wearing the captain’s “C” and Beniers now part of the Kraken’s five-man leadership group alongside Brandon Montour and Vince Dunn, the center was in the spotlight whether he asked for it or not.
That spotlight got brighter after his comments in a recent interview with Mark Lazarus of The Athletic about Jason Robertson. Robertson turned down a proposed trade to Seattle in June and stayed in Dallas on a one-year deal, after reportedly also passing on offers from St.
Louis and possibly others. When asked about the situation, Beniers didn’t soften his view.
“It obviously doesn’t feel good when you’re on a team and you try to get someone else and they don’t want to come,” Beniers told the publication. “But at the same time, if you don’t want to be here, we don’t want you, anyway.”
On Thursday, Beniers stood by it.
He said the line was “just the honest truth,” not a shot at Robertson, and framed it as a defense of Seattle from people who had spent the previous stretch taking aim at the city. Beniers, who is committed to the Kraken for another five years beyond the four he’s already played, made it plain where he stands.
“We want guys that want to be here,” Beniers said. “And that love this city and want to be here and want to win here.”
He also said he had seen plenty of the reaction online and in the media after the Robertson situation, including what he described as “a big fun day” for North American outlets and some Seattle criticism that went too far. That, he said, is part of why he felt compelled to speak up.
“I think it was kind of our duty, to be like, ‘Hey, no. We love it.
It’s great here. We want to win here.
We have great fans here,’ ” he said Thursday.
The Kraken enter camp with bigger questions hanging over them after a 2025-26 season that had them in playoff position in early March before a 7-17-2 finish sent them tumbling down the stretch. But Beniers’ own trajectory is a separate storyline, and one Seattle supporters are watching closely.
He’s now moved well past the highs of his Calder Trophy rookie year, the dip that followed, and the steady climb back that has turned him into a reliable two-way center on the top line. Beniers, drafted No. 2 overall out of the University of Michigan in July 2021, says the growth has been real - and the way he spoke Thursday sounded like a player who knows exactly what he wants to represent in Seattle.
In Other News...
Jagger Firkus Has Put Real Pressure On The Kraken This Camp
Jagger Firkus has spent the start of camp doing what young forwards are supposed to do when they finally get a real look: make the decision harder. The 22-year-old has already put together two AHL seasons, and the leap in his scoring and all-around game last year was enough to get him into Seattles full training camp, where the Kraken are getting a closer read on a player who has clearly moved beyond prospect status.
For a team that is still sorting out its forward group, Firkus offers a different kind of pressure than a veteran tryout or a depth option fighting to survive. Coaches and analysts have pointed to his offensive touch and his growth away from the puck as reasons he could belong in the lineup this season, and the organizations internal conversations have only sharpened that feeling. The question now is less about whether he has earned attention and more about how long Seattle can keep him waiting for a real opportunity. [Read more 🡒]
Kraken Just Made A Surprise Change That Could Affect Their Young Core
Jessica Campbells departure is a notable one for Seattle because it comes out of a year in which she had already become one of the organizations more visible voices behind the bench. The former Kraken assistant coach has now moved into player development with the New Jersey Devils, a switch that keeps her in a role focused on helping young players grow even as it shifts her away from the day-to-day NHL bench environment in Seattle.
Chuck Fletcher is the name now attached to that same job in Seattle, arriving after a front-office shakeup in New Jersey that followed the firing of general manager Tom Fitzgerald in April. For the Kraken, the change matters because player development sits close to the heart of what the franchise is trying to build with its young core, and this kind of behind-the-scenes move can quietly shape how prospects are handled, taught and prepared over time. [Read more 🡒]