Quick Shifts: Simon Benoit 'would love to re-sign' with Maple Leafs

A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep. Get well, Lanny!

1. The home of Simon Benoit and his girlfriend, Alice, is busy with animals.

They keep Alice company and feeling safe when her shot-blocking, fist-throwing, heart-on-sleeve-wearing partner is off on a road trip, and they keep the couple busy with walks and playtime on Toronto Maple Leafs off-days.

Alice, who's from Shawinigan, Que., used to work at a village bar, so she named her 100-pound mixed black Labrador retriever Molson.

The couple rescued a second, smaller dog in California with rough fur when Benoit was playing for the Ducks. They named him Bourbon.

And when one of Alice's friends was prepared to get rid of a bright orange and brown cat, Benoit's empathy got the best of him.

"We're not really cat people. But we didn't want her to go to the shelter, so we just took her in," Benoit explains. "The cat is weird. She's like a dog. Like, she lays on the floor. She tries to play with our smaller dog. He doesn't want to play with her, but she wants to play with him, so she always tries to jump on him and stuff."

They named the cat Brandy.

"There's a theme," Benoit smiles. "But we don't have any alcohol problems."

As the Maple Leafs look to augment their blue line ahead of the trade deadline, Benoit has fast endeared himself to the team, its fan base, and, as a guy willing to share stories from his life, the folks who cover the room.

Despite being the only francophone on the roster, and signing only a one-year deal, Benoit is starting to feel at home, too.

He can converse in French with assistant coaches Guy Boucher, Mike Van Ryn, and Manny Malhotra, and a few teammates make the effort as well.

"A couple guys know a couple sentences," Benoit says. "Some guys know just the bad words."

He's increasingly earned head coach Sheldon Keefe's trust, found a groove with the equally rugged Jake McCabe ("He makes my life easier," Benoit says), and enjoys living in Toronto.

He can see a future in the city for Alice and himself — and Molson and Bourbon and Brandy.

"It's been great so far. I really appreciate my time here," says Benoit, a pending RFA.

"I would love to re-sign. But I don't like to think about it. I just think about my game tonight."

The undrafted 25-year-old is determined to keep improving. He pores over every one of his shifts on an iPad the day after a game. He doesn't dwell on the highlights, like his thunderous hits, fearless shot blocks, or desperate goal-line saves. ("In the moment, you don't even have time to think," he says. "You really just react and hope it works.")

And while he may be a third-pair guy asked to eat top-four minutes, Benoit is inspired by the toughest matchups possible.

"It's always fun, right? Like, for me like the most fun games against the best players. When you get to play against McDavid, Crosby, Ovie, all those big names, and you get to stop them? That's where I get my pride," Benoit says.

"Because I'm not the guy who's gonna deke everyone and go score a goal. But if I can take them away, that's my pride, right?"

2. Sam Reinhart is the most productive pending UFA standing, and it's not particularly close.

The Florida Panthers star is already up to 38 goals and averaging 1.24 points per game. The man could stir quite a bidding war were he to touch the open market, but Reinhart says he "absolutely" wants to stay put.

"That's obviously the goal — that's from both sides. We both made that clear. So, time will tell, but that's Option A for sure," says Reinhart, whose extension negotiations remain ongoing.

If things get settled in-season, great. If the hard talks don't pick up until after what the forward hopes is another long playoff run, that's fine too.

"We're both comfortable with where we're at. We're both trying to ultimately win a Stanley Cup this year, and that's where our focus is mainly," Reinhart says.

"We both know where each other stands. We both know we want to get something done. And we're both comfortable with how it's going, so it's not distracting me by any means. And I think when you're trying to build something we're trying to in Florida, some things take time."

Ironically, Reinhart believes the shortest NHL summer of his life contributed to his being ready to roll right from puck drop. His confidence is at an all-time high.

Reinhart attributes his early jump on piling up goals contributing to his comfort playing out an expiring contract. He knows it could have gone the other way, too.

"Makes it that much easier when you've got some stats to fall back on. The earlier, the better. And the easier it's made on myself. I think being in Florida, I have a great home-work balance that makes it easy to stay in the moment. Some really good teammates," says Reinhart, who wants more term on his next deal.

Like former teammate Joe Thornton, Reinhart has never signed a contract longer than three seasons.

"You want that comfort — and that's not going to change my drive as a player, as a person," Reinhart says. "But, yeah, the short-term deals haven't been that easy. It was something that I joked with Joe Thornton a couple of years ago in Florida.... Three was his longest, and you see the type of career he's had. I think it's something you want to take advantage of every opportunity you can get."

3. Oilers captain Connor McDavid was informed on All-Star weekend that the last season an NHL sniper scored 70 goals was also the last season a Canadian-based NHL team hoisted the Stanley Cup. That would be Teemu Selanne (76) and the Montreal Canadiens in 1993.

"Go, Matts, go. I hope he gets that 70 if that means a Canadian team has a shot," McDavid responded, rooting for the Leafs' Auston Matthews' mission.

"A lot of Canadian teams have a shot this year. There's some really strong teams. I think about Vancouver. Obviously, here in Toronto. Winnipeg is a great team. The list kind of goes on and on. Canadian teams in the NHL are all in a good place."

4. Kyle Connor recalls playing against two-way centre Sean Monahan in a heated playoff series and running into him repeatedly in the Canadian Division.

Naturally, the Jets sniper was "thrilled" upon learning GM Kevin Cheveldayoff spent a valuable future to invest in the present.

"I was really excited that we were able to make this happen early too, rather than waiting 'till deadline. Get him in and get familiar with everybody," Connor says.

Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness is wasting no time placing Monahan on his second line, imagining him as the conscience between young Cole Perfetti and speedster Nikolaj Ehlers.

"He's a very intelligent hockey player. He's got really good hockey sense. And he knows how to play a 200-foot game. He's had a good year offensively, and he's just a very reliable player," Bowness says of the trade.

"Just as important to us is bringing the right character into our locker room. Now, we got a wonderful locker room, great chemistry, and we know he's gonna fit right in with us."

Bowness is a fan of jumping the pack at trade deadline. Because the Jets have 16 games crammed into March, there would barely be any practice time for a late addition.

The early acquisition gives the coach time to see if Monahan is a fit with Perfetti and Ehlers, or if he needs to strike chemistry elsewhere.

"When you come to Winnipeg, we want you to be a winner. Be proud to be a Winnipeg Jet. We've got a great organization there. This season has been going good so far. It's a wonderful place to play. We've got great ownership, great management, a great fan base and real passionate following," Bowness goes on. "We're thrilled to get him now."

Ask Connor if such an expensive add acts as an endorsement from management, and he'll aim higher. He says it speaks to ownership's commitment to build a winner.

"Right from day one this season, you could see it, in the way they went about their business. Really asking players' feedback in a lot of scenarios. Obviously, signing those two pending UFAs [Connor Hellebuyck and Mark Scheifele] coming into the season," Connor raves. "I mean, it comes from top all the way down."

"It tells us they got belief in this group."

5. Connor marvels at the footwork of Cale Makar: "He seems like he just floats when he gets going. That type of speed you can't be taught."

6. Nikita Kucherov has been working with tutor-to-the-stars Adam Oates since the summer of 2016, and one of the greatest impacts Oates has made is on the Hart Trophy contender's wall play. They drill down on the details of battles, retrievals and where the next touch should go.

The teacher texts the student often and fires him clips after every Lightning game, pointing out Kucherov's good and bad plays.

"Stay on top of the game and not be happy," Kucherov says is the philosophy. It's all about reps. Some drills the Russian will commit to repeating 500 to 1,000 times over.

"If you're willing to do that, you stay on the ice," Kucherov says.

The best advice Oates has given Kucherov for playing the half-wall?

"There's always a guy open."

7. A popular sentiment among coaches and a few players surveyed over All-Star: Let's bump the trade deadline up to an earlier date.

Force the managers to make their "do-I-buy-or-sell?" decision earlier. Take away some of the players' anxiety over potentially getting moved. Allow coaches the peace of mind knowing what roster they’re working with down the stretch. And give teammates more time to get in sync with their new linemates and partners.

The counterpoint would be that a later deadline should theoretically allow for more separation in the standings and, thus, more action. Plus, from a fan-interest perspective, nothing stirs the conversation (and page views) around the game like trade speculation.

Pushing the deadline up by, say, a month robs grist from the rumour mill.

8. Rookie NHLPA chief Marty Walsh has only been on the job 10 months and didn't know a ton about the league before his hiring, but already his impact has been tangible.

Early impressions from the players themselves and those around the league: Walsh gets stuff done — and tells it like it is.

With help from Ron Hainsey, Walsh addressed the Mike Babcock pre-training-camp incident immediately and saw a quick result.

He has been forthright and outspoken on the ridiculousness of the Arizona Coyotes continuing to play pro games at a small university rink, a situation which limits hockey-related revenue for all.

And last weekend, Walsh quietly came to terms with Gary Bettman and the IIHF on establishing a long-awaited calendar of international competition.

That's something the PA failed to do under years of former chief Donald Fehr.

Upon announcing the NHL's participation in both the 2026 Italy Games and 2030 (expected) France Games, Bettman essentially conceded the return to the The Rings as a win for the PA.

"There is a recognition of how important this is to the players. And in the spirit of collaboration, particularly the work that we did together during COVID, everybody felt on our side that it was the right thing to do," Bettman said.

"This really came down to doing something because the players really wanted it."

While the owners have never been thrilled about stopping club play — and risking injury to star players — for the sake of international best-on-best, Bettman did guarantee his 32 bosses that the IIHF will be footing the bill for all big-ticket Olympic items: insurance, travel, and family hospitality for the players.

The 2026 Milano tournament will be waged on an NHL-sized sheet, and all the figure skating, speedskating and ice hockey events for 2030 are planned to be held in Nice.

All parties are hopeful the NHLers' Olympic participation extends to Salt Lake City, the likely host in 2034.

9. While outlets scramble to predict Team Canada's 2025 roster for the Four Nations Face-Off, a name on the rise is the Islanders' Noah Dobson. (He should have been invited to the All-Star Game, but defencemen get little love in 3-on-3 contests.)

"It's been actually great just to see him develop into the d-man that everyone knew and thought he was going to be," Leafs winger Mitch Marner says. "Because, if I recall correctly, there were a lot of doubters on him. He's turned into a hell of a player."

Dobson has already crushed a career-high in points (53 in 51 games) with months to go.

"I'm my biggest critic, especially after last year," the 24-year-old says. "I knew there was areas where I needed to take strides and continue to grow, so that was motivation for me.

"Looking in the mirror at the end of last year, (I tried) finding areas where I needed to be better and just really tried to hone in on those things."

He wanted to get thrown over the boards in all situations and tighten up his play without the puck in the D-zone. His plus-22 rating — another career high by a mile — is a testament to his dedication and maturity.

Dobson says he keeps a close eye on his peers, the league's other young, playmaking blue liners, not just in the scoring race but for inspiration.

Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes, in particular.

"I feel like the offence always just comes from making solid plays defensively, being good on the breakouts and just going from there," Dobson says.

Dobson's gaudy stat line can be credited, in part, to his increased usage. He averages 25:51 of ice time per night, trailing only Kings workhorse Drew Doughty (25:59) for tops in the NHL.

Dobson's ice time will decline slightly with the healthy return of top-four stalwarts Ryan Pulock and Adam Pelech to the New York lineup this week.

Both guys have made a positive impression on their new coach, Patrick Roy, and the Isles are 2-0 since their return.

10. Islanders veteran Matt Martin is one of the more thoughtful quotes in the league, and he's seen how a coaching change can affect a dressing room on more than one occasion.

Perhaps more important than a new voice barking during intermission or tweaks to the forecheck or D-zone coverage, coaching changes present a clean slate for individual players.

A second chance to make a first impression.

"For players, it's a whole new situation. You're not familiar with the coach. It's a whole new opportunity for everybody in the room, really. You get a new lease on life, in a way. Guys can go and make that new impression on him," Martin explains.

"If you're with [one coach] for X amount of years, once they've decided what they think of you as a player or whatever, it's kinda ingrained in them. So I think for a lot of guys in this room, guys that have been in and out [of the lineup], it's a new opportunity to impress the coach and a new lease on life."

11. "The old times, y'know?"

Nice moment between old pals Sidney Crosby and Marc-André Fleury Friday in Minnesota, ahead of Fleury's potential final game against the Penguins...

...and a fun tribute by Fleury's tandem mate, Filip Gustavsson, who showed up to the rink in a blooming wreath to honour Flower.