FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn again goes into the offseason with a decision to make about whether to come back for another NHL season.
His coach wants him to keep playing, and so does longtime teammate Tyler Seguin. Benn, who will turn 37 on July 18, sounds as though he will take some time to ponder an 18th season — all in Dallas — and another shot at a Stanley Cup title.
“Right now I’m just hanging out, being a dad, and figure it out later,” Benn said.
During the Stars' season-ending availability Monday, after they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, Benn was asked if he knew exactly when or how he would make the decision.
“Probably just wake up one day (and know), to be honest,” he said.
After fielding the same questions about his future last summer, Benn played this season on a one-year, $1 million contract and earned an additional $2 million in bonuses. General manager Jim Nill said last offseason, after the expiration of a $76 million, eight-year deal, that Benn had earned the right to continue to be part of the Stars as long as he wants. There have been no indications since of any changes to that thought.
“For me, it’s a slam dunk. He needs to come back,” coach Glen Gulutzan said of the only Stars player he also coached during his first tenure behind the Dallas bench (2011-13).
Seguin, who is 34 and has one year left on his contract after being limited to 47 games the past two seasons because of hip and knee injuries, said he certainly hopes they get another season together. Seguin and Benn have been teammates since 2013-14, after Seguin was traded from Boston and the same season Benn became the Stars captain.
“I don’t think anyone knows what Jaime is going to do until Jamie does it,” Seguin said. “I’ll stay out of his way, let him come to his own decisions, but I’d obviously love to have him for one more shot.”
Only Modano better than Benn in many key categories
Hall of Fame center Mike Modano is the only player in franchise history with more than Benn’s 1,252 regular-season games, 414 goals and 992 points. Benn has played in 126 postseason games, but the only time he has been to the Stanley Cup Final was when the Stars lost in six games to Tampa Bay during the 2020 postseason played in a bubble in Canada because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Stars had made the Western Conference finals three seasons in a row before falling in six games to Minnesota in the first round of the playoffs this year.
“The goal is to win the Stanley Cup, and when you don’t do that, there’s an empty space, a little pit in your stomach where you have some fire to change things up for next year,” Benn said.
After missing this season's first 19 games because of a punctured lung, Benn was out another three games in January with a broken nose. While 60 games were his fewest in a full 82-game regular season, he finished with 15 goals and 21 assists while playing just more than 13 minutes a game, a career low.
Robo will get a new contract
Leading scorer Jason Robertson can become a restricted free agent this offseason after the completion of the $31 million, four-year contract he got following a training camp holdout in 2022. The Stars and the forward who turns 27 on July 22 had said they would play out this season before negotiations on a new deal.
“I understand it's a business on both sides, right? I'm optimistic, I hope,” Robertson said. “It's not like what it was when I was 10 years old, getting to the NHL, anymore. It's a business. I learned that four years ago.”
The Stars will retain negotiation rights for Robertson, and could match any offer he gets from another team, if they make a $9.3 million qualifying offer by June 29. He could become an unrestricted free agent next summer.
Robertson was coming off a 41-goal season when he got his last contract. He has since played all 328 regular-season games, with 365 points in that span (155 goals and 210 assists). He and Wyatt Johnston each had 45 goals this season, and Robertson had a goal in each of the first five playoff games.
