Quick Shifts: Why Simon Benoit’s deal is more important than you think

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A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep. Please donate to my GoFundMe. Trying to buy my son a 50-goal season.

1. Is Quick Shifts nothing more than a Simon Benoit booster club?

Perhaps.

Maybe.

Gotta admit, we appreciate the simple, honest, hard manner in which the Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman plies his trade. The way he’s unafraid to drop gloves, work his way out of a healthy scratch or a training camp cut, name his pets after types of booze, or admit that he’s a grown man who enjoys milk regularly. 

Moreover, the story of Benoit’s rise to job security and the richest contract of his life — three years times $1.35 million — wasn’t handed to the 25-year-old on a platter.

Not unlike GM Brad Treliving’s other early extension signing, Bobby McMann, Benoit was never drafted. He had to earn his spot, then earn more ice time. Yeah, we’re suckers for underdog stories, but we also believe in betting on people who don’t take NHL life for granted.

It’s healthy for the culture of the room.

“Me and Bobby both worked really for where we’re at. We didn’t have the easy way. I think that recognition that hard works pay off, it’s heartwarming,” Benoit told reporters Friday, shortly after signing. “I’ll just keep living the way I am.

“Maybe I’ll bring my girlfriend shopping a little bit. Other than that, nothing changes for me.”

Could Benoit — set to be an RFA with arbitration rights — have squeezed Treliving for a little more with a solid postseason?

Who knows? Who cares?

“They’re happy. I’m happy,” Benoit said. “We got it done before playoffs. That’s a good thing. I can just focus on it…. I’ll do my best to live up to the expectations.

“Toronto is a special city, and I’m glad to be here for another three years.”

Equally critical as Benoit’s age (25, still coming into his prime as a D-man) and his complementary attributes (big, competitive, happy to defend first, energetic) is this philosophical shift under Treliving.

The Maple Leafs are becoming a little less mercenary with their approach to filling around the core stars, making role players like Benoit, McMann and David Kämpf feel part of the plan.

Not just rented accessories to help the big guys get over the hump, pump their résumés, and cash their pay raises elsewhere.

“First thing is that the organization believes in him,” coach Sheldon Keefe said.

“I don’t know how many players I’ve coached in my time here, but I’ve coached a lot of players. There’s been a lot of guys who’ve come and gone. Some continuity and having guys that are coming along and growing with the team, I think that’s really important.”

2. Over the past eight seasons, only three Washington Capitals defencemen have been leaned on for more minutes than Rasmus Sandin has been since getting traded out of Toronto: John Carlson, Dmitry Orlov, and Matt Niskanen.

Good company.

“He’s just about to get to that point where he’s a top-three, top-four D-man, where he can really drive play,” says Spencer Carbery. “He has been really good.”

Given every chance to flourish under a coach who knows him well from their Leafs days, Sandin, 24, is getting the full top-pair treatment in D.C., facing the opposition’s best forwards and being depended upon to trigger the breakout.

The most he averaged as a Leaf was 17:59. He’s at 21:21 in red this season.

“He’s been great. Super great. He seems a little more mature than his age. And when he plays with confidence, he makes some very difficult plays look easy out there. And he makes it easy on the forward lines that are out there with him because he’s able to move the pucks up the ice,” says a thoughtful T.J. Oshie.

“One thing I didn’t know about him was his physicality and his ability to not back down from people. He has a little bit of a mean streak in him that I don’t think we’re used to seeing from Swedish players too often — especially a guy of his size.

“So, it’s fun to watch him go out there and battle. When you have a guy that works as hard as he does, it makes you want to work hard for him as well.”

3. Josh Doan, son of Coyotes icon Shane, scored not once but twice in his first game for Arizona Tuesday, setting a franchise record for most goals in a debut. (He followed that up with a two-assist night Thursday.)

Shane was in the building and supplied a priceless reaction:

“He’s been tearing it up,” says good friend Matthew Knies, who got an excited call from Josh upon learning he’d been recalled from Tuscon.

“I grew up playing with him since I was like eight or nine years old. He was always the best player growing up in Arizona, so it was fun to compete and play with him and then play against him in practice. I think we made each other better, and he’s been my best friend. I hang out with him all summer.”

With Shane and Matthew now part of AZ East in Toronto, the two often discussed Josh’s progress throughout the winter. Knies’ pride shines through when he talks about his buddy joining him in the NHL.

“As a kid, you dream of it. Like, you don’t really think it could truly be reality. It stays a dream for a while,” Knies says. “I think after our second year in the USHL [2020-21], both of us kind of understood that we might have a real shot at this.

“We had two pretty good seasons and got drafted pretty high. It kind of just took off from there. Our confidence builds, and we had a pretty good college career. I think it was inevitable after he produced the American League [46 points in 62 games] that he was gonna get a shot.”

Knies, 21, gives us a thorough scouting report on Josh, 22:

“Very similar to his dad. He has an incredible shot; he can beat goalies really easily. And I think his skating has improved a lot — that was kind of what was holding him back. But I think it’s improved and he’s gotten quicker.

“Not afraid to throw the body. Tough kid. He’s honestly a replica of his dad. Especially the leadership, too. He’s a great teammate, a good guy to have in the locker room.

“He watches way more hockey [than me]. If you’d asked him about any player, he could tell you any statistic. He was kind of a hockey nerd growing up. Obviously, we’re both pretty busy, but we talk, and he knows a lot about my games. He’ll bring up plays and moments and goals, whatever about my season, his season, and it’s pretty cool.”

4. Quote of the Week.

“Today is Free Quote F—— Day. Take whatever you think I might say and use it. I won’t b—- about it.” — Paul Maurice, to reporters, after his Panthers clinched a playoff spot but lost their sixth of their past seven games

5. Washington’s Connor McMichael yo-yo’d from 68 NHL games in 2021-22 to just six in 2022-23, when he was asked to develop in Hershey, back to 70 and counting in the show this season, posting career highs across the board. He’s threatening 20 goals.

“His year has been awesome,” Dylan Strome pumps. “Every time we need a big goal or a big moment, or the game’s not going as we want to go, he’s kinda the guy that has found a way.”

McMichael’s production and opportunity leaped since the Evgeny Kuznetsov trade, and he’s been integral to the influx of young players giving the playoff-hunting Caps a bolt of speed and optimism.

“Honestly, it feels like our turning point in the playoff race was the game in Seattle,” Strome says, thinking back to March 14. “We’re tied 1-1, and he got a breakaway in the third when things weren’t going well. He scored, and we won six of seven.”

6. Those win streaks, infrequent as they may have been in the U.S. capital, impact the team’s stretch the next morning.

For as long as the W’s keep stacking, the same player leads the centre-ice stretch — like riding a hot dice-roller at a craps table.

“If you lose a game, then the next the highest number goes in the circle,” explains Strome, No. 17, who led the routine prior to Thursday’s loss in Toronto.

That means it’s No. 21 Aliaksei Protas up next.

Watching Strome lead the stretch, I noticed he removed one glove, slipped it over the blade of his stick and placed his stick butt-end-down inside the face-off dot, loose glove in the air. A few teammates followed suit.

What’s that about?

“I just have my little superstition, I guess,” he smiled. “Plant the flag. Three in a row right now. Try to keep it going.”

There is an expectations-free looseness about a team that sold at the deadline and is still in the mix.

7. New Jersey signed Lindy Ruff to a multi-year extension in the fall, then fired the coach midseason, before the extension could kick in.

Buffalo inked Don Granato to a multi-year extension in October 2022, despite having two more seasons left on his deal. With the Sabres on the brink of a 13th consecutive playoff miss, Granato too is at risk of getting pink-slipped before working a single day on his new deal.

The Maple Leafs also felt compelled to rid Sheldon Keefe of lame-duck status before letting 2023-24 play out.

Hey, good on all these coaches for negotiating financial security. Still, we can’t help but wonder if future management groups will choose patience. (Carolina is doing it now, for a second time, with Rod Brind’Amour — and the Hurricanes keep rolling.)

Especially with the free-agent crop of head coaches so unpredictable.

8. A year ago, Andrew Brunette appeared to be the man in Jersey’s on-deck circle, ready to swing into action if Ruff stumbled. Now he’s entered the Jack Adams debate, helping push the middle-of-the-pack Predators to a piping-hot wild-card threat.

Travis Green, fired from his first head gig, with the Canucks, in December 2021, became next coach up.

Upon leaving Vancouver, Green unplugged for a while before diving into a deep study of the game, prepping for his next opportunity, and staying busy with Team Canada at the 2022 Spengler Cup. Which came courtesy of former teammate Tom Fitzgerald.

Green and the Devils GM played together for both the Islanders and Maple Leafs.

“I wanted to coach. I love coaching,” Green said this week. “The Devils have a real bright future. Coaching with Lindy, to me, was gonna be another way to learn, get better.”

“This is not the way I envisioned being behind the bench as a head coach. But sometimes things happen. It’s been a process from Day 1 to install my thoughts on coaching and how teams should play. I like the way we’re progressing.”

New Jersey has been treading water (6-7-0) since Green took the helm, but the team has won four of its past six, and his charges enjoy the fresh ideas Green is bringing to the table.

(Let’s be honest, having veteran goalie Jake Allen in the fold is a boost, too.)

While Green holds fond memories of coaching the Sedins, a strong finish here could sway Fitzgerald from removing the “interim” prefix from his job description.

“It’s like anything in life — you get better the more you do things,” Green said. “You get to look back at yourself and evaluate yourself in certain areas. I think that’s important. Not just in hockey but in all walks of life.

“I’m a better coach today.”

9. With 78 points through 72 games played, Sidney Crosby appears all but guaranteed to average at least a point per game for a 19th consecutive season.

The man is 36. Just incredible.

10. Stay-at-home defenceman T.J. Brodie owns the NHL’s longest active goal drought: 102 games (113 if you count playoffs, but let’s not).

“Obviously, you want to be able to contribute that way, but that’s not my job here,” Brodie told reporters Friday.

“If it happens, it happens — and it’s a positive. But there’s other things I can do to help the team.”

Brodie has ripped six shots on net over his past two games, the most he’s registered in any two games since the drought began.

The last night Brodie did score, New Year’s Eve 2022, he peppered six pucks on Colorado’s net.

11. Yes, Sam Reinhart has the benefit of playing with Aleksander Barkov.

Yes, Zach Hyman has the benefit of playing with Connor McDavid.

In no way, however, does that diminish the incredible achievement of a 50-goal NHL campaign.

Chris Kunitz never topped more than 35 on Crosby’s wing; Jake Guentzel hit 40 twice but not a single goal more. Jonathan Huberdeau maxed out at 30 alongside Barkov. Prime John Tavares got stuck at 47 with pass-first Mitch Marner feeding him for 82 games.

Fifty is a monster accomplishment, at any age, with any setup man.

Memo to top UFA Reinhart: Don’t mess with happy. Take a little less AAV, a little more term, and enjoy the sundrenched, tax-free spoils of a perfect situation.

12. Rest in peace, Chris Simon.

Capitals legend Peter Bondra shared this brilliant local supermarket commercial he shot with the enforcer, adding a brief message: “Always had room when he was on the ice. Fun memories with Si.”

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