Zach Benson is proof good things can come in small packages. Could he be the next Brayden Point?

West Coast Amusements, a family-owned midway that visits dozens of locations across Western Canada each year from March to September, has a variety of fun rides, from the Scrambler to the Ferris wheel to Choo Choo Charlie. But if you wanted to find Zach Benson, he’d be manning the mini doughnut stand.

“It was the only thing I could handle out there,” Benson joked from the NHL combine in Buffalo, N.Y. “I don’t think my dad trusted me behind the rides.”

The left winger, who played the last three seasons with the Winnipeg Ice of the Western Hockey League, is rated the No. 6 North American skater by NHL Central Scouting, but he didn’t take the most traditional path in his development. While other kids focused on summer hockey leagues and camps, Benson packed into an RV with the rest of his family, including his parents and two younger brothers, and set off on the carnival circuit.

» READ MORE: NHL draft: Could Flyers choose skill over size with the diminutive Zach Benson?

But helping out with the mini doughnuts didn’t take up all his time. His mom, Jaclyn, made sure to find camps within an hour-and-a-half radius of wherever they went. Sometimes, they had to settle for swimming or activities other than hockey, but Benson and his brothers stayed active.

“My biggest thing is kids need to learn from not just one person,” said his former coach, Erin Thornton, coordinator of Yale Hockey Academy. “No one can take credit for one player. It takes a community, and one coach may have skills and another coach another [skill]. And I think that’s what’s kind of made Zach into a bit of a Swiss Army knife.”

Benson, whom Thornton described as a sponge, picked up things from people all over Canada as he traveled. And maybe he learned something about discipline, too, being around mini doughnuts for hours at a time.

In the last few years, Benson hasn’t been traveling with WCA, as playing for the Ice has occupied most of his time. However, he says he “hit the lottery” with his family, and he’s carrying the lessons he learned from them and the business as he prepares for the next step in his hockey career. That comes Wednesday at the NHL draft in Nashville, where he is projected to be a top-20 pick and has been linked as a potential target for the Flyers at No. 7 overall.

Benson is widely believed to have one of the highest hockey IQs in this year’s class. That has helped him maintain his spot near the top of mock draft boards despite measuring just 5-foot-9 and 170 pounds. Benson doesn’t know where his hockey IQ comes from but says it’s always been a strength of his.

While it’s not something one necessarily can teach, some of Benson’s earliest hockey experiences came from watching games with his dad.

“He always told me I was always glued to the TV,” Benson said. “I wouldn’t leave to go play with my toys or video games.”

Paul Nicolls first met Benson when he was about 9 years old. Nicolls coached the junior hockey team in Chilliwack, British Columbia, where Benson grew up, and also ran a gym. He started training Benson’s on-ice skills and eventually added strength and conditioning to their workouts.

In elementary school, Benson would attend Chilliwack’s games and carefully study the Chiefs’ top players, adopting parts of their games. He continued his studies as he got older, taking things from older players, teammates, and opponents to supplement his hockey smarts.

And of course, Benson watched the pros. To this day, he says he watches an NHL game a day. He especially likes to watch Connor McDavid’s Edmonton Oilers and the Toronto Maple Leafs, who boast two of his favorite players in Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews.

Benson doesn’t know how to explain exactly why he’s able to see the ice so well or make the plays he does. He said he thinks it’s because he tracks players and the puck well and can calculate where they’ll be. Whatever the explanation, it certainly results in some jaw-dropping highlights.

Thornton remembers one, in particular, where Benson “froze” the goalie by making him think he was going off the pads before firing short side, bar down instead. All Thornton could do was laugh. There have been countless other examples.

“A lot of his goals, too, they seem simple, but it’s because he’s in the right spot nobody else is,” Thornton said. “And then he shoots quick. You’d be like, ‘Oh I could score that.’ Well, you probably couldn’t because you’d never be in that spot.”

It can be scary to let your kid play up a level, especially when he’s undersized like Benson. And Benson certainly took some big hits, but the things he was doing with the puck made it clear he belonged there. His hockey sense also helped him learn how to protect himself.

That doesn’t mean Benson shied away from contact. He’s a tough kid, Thornton said. In fact, he made it a point to invite contact in his workouts with Nicolls.

“I would body check him or try to check him, and he would fend [me] off and try to shield the ball to simulate him playing against bigger players,” Nicolls said. “And he had the knack to excel even with me being much bigger than him at the time.”

Although his brain helps compensate for other perceived weaknesses, Benson is determined to get stronger. It’s been harder for him than his peers, but he gained 10 pounds last season, he said with pride. He’s particularly been working on his lower body, his “base,” as well as his explosiveness.

He also studies and tries to mimic players like Marner and Brayden Point, who have overcome doubts regarding their size to become game-breaking All-Stars.

A lot has been made of Benson’s size in conversations ahead of the draft. But he’s also on the younger side of the draft, having just turned 18 in May, and could still be developing.

“You know, I’m still in my little kid body,” he said.

Regardless, his age and size haven’t stopped him yet. Last year, he finished second only to Connor Bedard — who is the same height, by the way — in scoring among WHL 17-year-olds with 98 points (36 goals and 62 assists) in 60 games. That was the third-most in a league that featured fully developed 21-year-olds. Plus, given Benson’s compete level and motor, he plays bigger than his listed 5-9 and 170 pounds.

While Benson’s greatest gifts are his vision and playmaking ability, he does a lot beyond scoring and setting up others. He’s shifty, if not the fastest skater, and is a driver offensively. Benson has also developed into a 200-foot player after increasing his focus on his defensive game three years ago and become a force on the penalty kill, highlighted by his six shorthanded goals last season. Where Benson will land remains a mystery, but he shouldn’t have to wait long.

“This is one of the deepest drafts in NHL history,” Nicolls said. “So I think to go anywhere in the first round is going to be an honor.”

There will be teams that balk at taking a player of his size, and Benson does come with some degree of risk in that regard. Benson doesn’t exactly fit the Flyers’ typical draft profile either, as they have prioritized size in recent drafts. But he does check several boxes for what they need — skill, playmaking, hockey sense, and competitiveness — and there are genuine similarities between Benson’s game and that of new Flyers general manager Danny Brière.The 5-9 Brière excelled over 17 NHL seasons during an era that was a lot more physical and focused on size.

“We’re definitely very high on skill,” Brière said. “We want to find some high-end skill to complement [our team]. That’s probably one of the areas that we felt we were lacking a little bit.”

If you can’t get Bedard, why not take a big swing and grab the second-most-skilled player from the WHL at No. 7?

Like at West Coast Amusements, Benson may not be operating the ride, but he’s ready to jump on and enjoy wherever it takes him.