In the wake of the Dallas Stars’ third straight season being eliminated in the Western Conference final, attention is turning to the changes Stars GM Jim Nill will make to his team’s lineup next year. And while some are focusing on the relationship between goalie Jake Oettinger and coach Peter DeBoer, the more pressing question might well be what the Stars intend to do with captain and looming UFA left winger Jamie Benn.
The 35-year-old Benn has been a fixture in Dallas since his NHL career began in 2009-10, and although his offense dropped off this season – going from 21 goals and 60 points in 2023-24 to 16 goals and 49 points this year – Benn is the heart-and-soul of the team – and Nill and Stars players know it.
“My plan, as long as I’m the GM here, he’s going to be a Dallas Star,” Nill told The Dallas Morning News back in September. “He’s earned that right. I think the first thing is are they still performing at the level they should be? And Jamie’s done that.”
On Saturday, Benn's teammate Matt Duchene spoke to media and commented on his team's captain, speaking extremely highly of him.
“You want to talk about immortal statue-out-front-of-the-rink type of person, player and leader? That’s Jamie Benn,” Duchene said.
To be sure, Benn has the respect of his teammates, coaches and management members. But bringing him back isn’t nearly as easy as it sounds. And that’s because the Stars are facing a salary cap crunch, with only $4.95 million in cap space, and other free agents, including UFAs Duchene and center Mikael Granlund and RFA center Mavrik Bourque to attend to.
Thus, there’s no question Benn is going to take a significant pay cut from the $9.5-milion per season that he’s been making for the past eight years. But the questions are, (a) how much of a pay cut he’s willing to take, and (b) whether another team comes in and blows Dallas’ best offer to Benn out of the water.
Moreover, the Stars’ offense wasn’t their biggest issue in the post-season, so is using their space to bring Benn back really a slam-dunk decision given the way the Stars were overwhelmed by the Edmonton Oilers in this year’s Western final? Is it really the best thing for the team to spend its relatively small amount of cap space on its forwards when Dallas’ defense corps were the key problem that brought them down against Edmonton?
No matter how you answer those questions, it’s obvious that the Stars can’t just bring in anyone unless Nill makes some trades of note. Dallas almost assuredly is going to be a top team in the Central Division once again next year, but it will be intriguing to see how the Stars deal with Benn in particular. It’s difficult to imagine him in any jersey other than Dallas’, but after repeated disappointing performances from the team late in the playoffs, going with the status quo doesn’t seem especially wise.
And if that means Nill changes his mind about Benn’s tenure with the Stars, that’s something Dallas fans need to prepare themselves for. The best choice for the Stars and for Benn could well be a change of scenery for him, and unless Nill can work some cap magic – something he has done many times over the years – the end of the Benn Era in Dallas could be at hand.
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