Benoit will join other offseason signings, Max Lajoie and William Lagesson, as well as incumbent Conor Timmins in a group battling for playing time in the NHL behind the team’s established top-six group of Morgan Rielly, TJ Brodie, Jake McCabe, John Klingberg, Timothy Liljegren, and Mark Giordano.
Turning 25 in a few weeks, Benoit is coming off his first full season in the NHL, playing 78 games for the Anaheim Ducks logging 19:21 per game, which ranked fourth among all Ducks defensemen. He was miscast in that role, and it was a bit unfair to shoehorn him into it on such a bad team — he was outscored 40-71 at five-on-five largely while playing with Kevin Shattenkirk.