Matt Benning inks two-year deal in Nashville

Former Edmonton Oilers defenceman has inked a two-year deal with the Nashville Predators at an AAV of $1-million, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported Friday.

The move officially puts an end to the Benning era in Edmonton.

He’s been nothing short of a rock-solid third-pairing guy for the Oilers for the last number of years. Benning came to the Oilers organization as a free agent in 2016 and in 248 games he scored 15 goals and 61 points.

He ran into concussion problems in the last year that also resulted in whiplash suffered. He was first concussed on November 19th in a game against the San Jose Sharks playing only 2:55 before he left the game.

All in all, he played in 43 games scoring one goal and eight points. He provided offence at an eight percent rate below league average, but defence at a six percent rate higher than league average, according to hockeyviz.com.

Despite not playing lots, he posted solid underlying numbers. At 5v5, he posted a 48.23 CF%, a GF% of 58.97 (!), and an xGF% of 49.62.  He does a great job of limiting high-danger goals with a goal rate of 65% in that area at 5v5. That number ranks 7th amongst all defencemen this season who have played over 530 minutes.

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