Kraken center Matty Beniers wins NHL rookie of the year award
On Monday, Kraken center Matty Beniers won the 2023 Calder Memorial Trophy, the NHL’s rookie of the year award, following a standout debut at hockey’s highest level. First a hug from dad Bob, then a big squeeze from mom Christine Maglione, before he headed for the stage.
What perspective can a former Broadway actress offer her son, an NHL star on the rise? Both know the spotlight and the scrutiny, the discipline and upheaval, weighing what you want in life and what you’re willing to give up to get it.
Both careers have a shelf life as well.
“The gift was ours to borrow,” Christine said, quoting “What I Did For Love” from “A Chorus Line,” the show she appeared in.
“That’s the way I felt and the way I feel. I liken it to how I’ll bet Matty feels. It’s just a moment in time. It feels like forever right now, but it is a moment in time.”
Stability isn’t assured in theater or sports. It could be Broadway today, subletting your apartment for a six-week run at a dinner theater in Ohio tomorrow and a cruise ship gig next spring. Similarly, an NHL season could be bookended by stints in the East Coast Hockey League and the Swiss League.
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But Matty was in, and so was his family. Both mother and son got a chance to chase an unlikely dream.
Christine is now a lawyer but spent years performing in touring and regional productions, in Paris and on Broadway. She loves the theater and encouraged all three of her children, plus many others, to give it a try.
“That shared experience, it’s really magical,” she said. “And I think it teaches us things about ourselves and about the world, about communities. I feel like it’s a very important part of a society’s culture, and I am deeply committed to it. I always have been.”
Christine grew up in New Jersey, singing, dancing and performing. She was an extra in “The King and I” at a dinner theater, 125 shows per summer, while her friends were enjoying the pool.
She majored in engineering at Cornell, which was important to her parents, who didn’t attend college. But she still longed for the stage. During her senior year of college, she told her father she wanted to go to New York to work in theater for two years.
“He said, in the best dad way: ‘If you decide that you want to do theater, then I expect you to be a star,’” she recalled, a memory she treasures. “So that also informs my decisions as I go forward and become a parent.
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“My decisions were with that history in mind — that someone allowed me to take a chance. And when you get that chance to try it, then the world sort of leads you to the right decision.”
She met future husband Bob at Cornell, where he played football and intramural hockey. He “met an engineer but ended up with an actress,” Christine laughed.
Bob worked a normal job in Boston after they graduated and supported his partner from afar while she toured the country as an understudy for “A Chorus Line” character Diana Morales, went to Paris, then returned to play Bebe on Broadway.
Christine studied for the LSAT in the dressing room between shows. The night before she started law school at Boston College, the tears during a performance of “Man of La Mancha” were real.
She and Bob settled in Hingham, Massachusetts, and welcomed kids Gianna, Bobby and Matty. Her younger son “never stopped moving.” Skating, at the rink and on a neighborhood pond maintained by Bob, helped tire Matty out.
During the summers, Christine taught musical theater workshops and turned them into family affairs. When there was a vacant male role, Bobby, Matty and cousins were sometimes pressed into action. The Kraken center has a good voice, she said.
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His hockey schedule wouldn’t allow for a star turn, but Matty was an ensemble member in “The Sound of Music.” He tried several instruments and sang at his desk over his homework.
Meanwhile his hockey talents grew and developed. As anyone in the family will tell you, there wasn’t a plan for him to turn pro. Or even earn a scholarship. Christine was excited to see him find his passion.
“For me, it wasn’t a vehicle. It’s like, ‘Well, what do you love to do? What do you enjoy doing?’” Christine said. “Then go do it and be great at it. I don’t care what it is.”
Even if it was very different from her own passion.
“Nobody’s searching for the limelight,” she said of all three kids. “They didn’t get the gene from me, that’s for sure. They’re pretty understated.”
Her older two children had gone off to college and started careers when Matty was invited to USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program in Michigan. Christine decided to quit her teaching job and head back out on the road again, accompanying her 15-year-old as he chased his own goals.
The next part is the familiar refrain. Matty was drafted second overall in the 2021 NHL draft. He enrolled in premed classes at Michigan and spent two years growing into a hyped prospect, then stepped right into a starring role with the Kraken.
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Dozing off in one time zone and waking up in another — a different kind of touring production. It’s a long and steady grind, but mom hasn’t heard many complaints.
“It’s a lot of pressure, I think. A lot of attention, good or bad. I think he handles that well,” Christine said. “He’s a person that goes with the flow — things roll off his back. He’s very amicable and has a nice disposition and he’s able to just not take things too seriously. And I think that helps, when you’re under a lot of scrutiny.”
His parents hit all the Kraken’s East Coast games they could and visited him in Seattle. His siblings, who both work in finance, are often around as well.
“I want to start out by thanking the people that have gotten me to this point,” Matty said after accepting Monday’s award. “Obviously my awesome family that’s been here every step of the way, since I was a little kid.”
Matty, 20, was nobody’s understudy this season. He jumped directly into a top-line center role, logging major minutes in most situations. The role of Kraken captain remained conspicuously vacant, perhaps for him.
He won the Calder, as voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association, by edging out former Michigan teammate and Buffalo Sabres defenseman Owen Power and Edmonton Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner.
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Kraken coach Dave Hakstol was on hand in Nashville as well. He was nominated for the Jack Adams Award for coach of the year, which went to the Boston Bruins’ Jim Montgomery.
“Matty’s a good player,” Hakstol said recently. “There’s not a lot hidden in this league. People know he’s a good two-way player for us. He’s going to get a little extra attention, but he handles it well.”
It might be overwhelming right now, but Christine expects Matty will look back fondly one day.
“I mean, just really surreal. I’m so proud of him, that he was able to even be in that conversation,” Christine said. “And grateful that he had the opportunities that he had with the Kraken. Both from the players and the coaching staff.
“I mean, they put him in a situation where he was able to have opportunity. Without that, you know, you don’t really have a chance to even perform.”
Source: The Seattle Times
