Benoit was at his best when he was playing within the flow of his linemates and keeping his feet moving in all three zones. He was spotting his passing options quickly in the neutral zone, allowing him to spring teammates up the ice quickly and create odd man advantages. I thought he also did a good job of back tracking hard on pucks and using stick lifts to nullify any potential odd man rushes for the other side. Benoit had some flashes of skill as a puck carrier off the rush, using toe drags and pull throughs to cut to the inside and get a shot off.

The majority of Gatineau’s offensive opportunities in this one came off the stick of Benoit, as he was able to garner plenty of puck touches for himself and flash his high-end offensive toolkit. I was actually a fan of how hard he was working off-puck, getting himself in on the forecheck to strip defenders of the puck or getting back on the backcheck to stick lift a puck-carrier and initiate the counterattack. The stickhandling is what really helped set him apart in this game however, as he was able to dangle through defenders with relative ease and gain access to the middle of the ice. This also made him quite difficult to knock off the puck as he navigated the offensive zone by using his puck skills to weave around stick check attempts and extend his puck touches. The decision making with the puck is still a work in progress, as there were a few times where he would attack into defenders, often choosing to take them head on rather than utilize his teammates or diversify his approach as a rush attacker. Despite this, the skill base looks quite promising and I look forward to seeing how he develops throughout the year.