Everything Benoit touched seemed to turn to gold in this tournament, as a lot of his puck touches turned into dangerous chances for himself or his linemates. His puck-handling ability stood out even among the best this draft class has to offer, which allowed him to pull off some high-end moves around defenders in 1v1 situations to get himself to the inside and generate scoring chances. He also earned himself plenty of looks from the middle thanks to his intelligent off-puck game, slowly gliding into space and getting lost in defensive zone coverages and pouncing on loose pucks as they appeared before firing a quick shot on goal. His shooting acumen was impressive as well, demonstrating the ability to beat goaltenders cleanly from mid-range with a hard and accurate snapshot.

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.

Benoit had a few strong moments in this game such as stripping the puck off a defender on the breakout and setting up a wide open look for himself as well as getting to the front of the net to bury a centering feed from Joseph in the dying of the minutes of the third period. He was often around the puck, offering close support to teammates or being a nuisance on opposing puck carriers while also flashing the skill to execute on the quick counterattacking opportunities that presented themselves afterwards.

Benoit was one of the more efficient players in this entire game, generating a ton of scoring chances for himself through individual skill and smart off-puck movement. He scored the game’s first goal by poumcing on a loose puck in the slot and snapping a quick shot over the goaltender’s glove from mid-range. He earned himself a primary assist not too long after by winning a battle for a puck in the slot, spinning and firing on net which was scooped up and buried by a linemate. Throughout the rest of the game he flashed high-level hands that allowed him to beat defenders 1v1 before sending passes to the middle of the ice looking to create in the slot. He also made a couple of nice one touch feeds from below the goal line which helped create chances in tight, although they weren’t capitalized on.

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.