The Dallas Stars’ longtime captain is staying a little while longer.
The Stars’ busy off-season continued Thursday by re-signing Jamie Benn to a one-year extension with a $1-million base salary.
On top of the base salary, Benn can earn up to $4 million if he executes the $3-million performance bonuses on the 35-plus deal.
“Jamie embodies everything it means to be a Dallas Star, and has since he was drafted 18 years ago,” Stars GM Jim Nill said in a news release. “There was never a doubt that Jamie would return next season, and we are thrilled for both our organization and our fans that he will continue to lead our team in our pursuit of winning a championship.”
This contract will take Benn, 35, into his 17th NHL season with the Stars and 13th as captain. He’s played 1,192 games and has scored 399 goals and 557 assists for 956 points. While he hasn't won the Cup yet, he did win the Art Ross Trophy in 2014-15 after leading the league with 87 points.
"He's a guy I think a lot of people around the league want to win so bad just because the way he's played the game," former NHLer Drew Shore said about Benn in May. "He's a guy who's played the game so hard for so long that like, he's kind of been their typical role model hockey player."
This past regular season, the Victoria, B.C., native scored 16 goals and 49 points in 80 games. It was the first time Benn hadn’t played every game of the season since 2020-21.
In the playoffs, Benn’s Stars advanced to the Western Conference final but were eliminated in five games by the Edmonton Oilers. Benn recorded one goal, three points and a minus-11 rating in 18 post-season appearances.
Benn is another pending UFA Dallas locked up ahead of free agency on July 1. On June 19, center Matt Duchene signed a four-year contract extension worth $4.5 million annually.
Stars GM Jim Nill also re-signed two pending RFAs in defenseman Nils Lundkvist and right winger Mavrik Bourque to one-year contracts on Friday, worth $1.25 million and $950,000, respectively.
The Stars have just over $980,000 in cap space, according to PuckPedia. They still have five pending UFAs, including center Mikael Granlund, who had 21 points in 31 games after the Stars acquired him from the San Jose Sharks on Feb. 1. He had a combined 66 points in 83 games between the two teams, and he added another 10 points in the playoffs.
Nill already traded left winger Mason Marchment to the Seattle Kraken to free cap space – that helped them re-sign Duchene and Benn. If they want to keep Granlund or at least two other pending UFAs, he will have to make another move or two to stay under the $95.5-million salary cap.
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