Matty Beniers knows about great expectations. In 2021, then a college sophomore, he was drafted by the Seattle Kraken in hopes he’d grow into the franchise’s first young star. Last season, he emerged as just that, winning the National Hockey League’s rookie of the year trophy, scoring 24 goals, and serving as linchpin of a squad that charged two rounds into the Stanley Cup playoffs, knocking off the defending champions along the way. No sweat for the Massachusetts-born Beniers, who had already dodged a curveball (or is that a slap shot?) when pandemic cancellations derailed his planned college career at Harvard. In a detour to University
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