At 35 years old, Jamie Benn isn’t the player he once was. However, in Dallas, he’s every bit as important as he’s ever been.
So while the Stars have all sorts of salary-cap concerns that forced them to trade Mason Marchment to Seattle and even have them considering Jason Robertson’s future, Benn’s return to the team was never in doubt.
Benn, the Stars’ captain and longest-tenured player, will return for his 17th season on a one-year, incentive-laden contract, per league sources. His base salary will be just $1 million, but the deal could be worth as much as $4 million if he hits all of his bonuses. He’ll get $500,000 each for hitting 20 games, 30 games, 50 games and 60 games in the regular season, plus $500,000 if the Stars make the Stanley Cup Final and another $500,000 if they win it, per The Athletic’s Chris Johnston.
“You want to talk about immortal, statue-out-in-front-of-the-rink-type person and player and leader, that’s Jamie Benn,” said Matt Duchene, who last week signed a four-year, $18 million deal to stay in Dallas. “That’s probably the best way to put it. … I think it’d be a crime if he’s not a Dallas Star for life, and I’d be shocked if it went (differently). He bleeds green and he’s going to go down as one of the greatest Dallas Stars to ever play for a long time.
Hopefully, he’s able to continue his career, and he’s still a great player, and he brings so much to the table for us. More than people would know. More than I knew before I got here. When I got here, you see it from a different lens. I’ve been extremely impressed and blown away by what he brings.”
Benn had 16 goals and 33 assists in 80 games this past season, his lowest career goal total in a full season. He struggled mightily in the postseason, posting just one goal and two assists in 18 games as the Stars fell short in the Western Conference final for the third straight season.
He won the scoring title a decade earlier with 87 points, has 399 goals and 956 points in his career, and just two years ago had a renaissance season with 33 goals and 45 assists in 82 games. Despite his age and heavy style of play, he’s missed just two games in the past four seasons.
After Dallas’ season ended in Game 5, Benn was short and to the point about his future.
Had he thought about his future? “No.”
Did he want to be a Dallas Star? “Yep.”
Did he feel good about the chances of that happening? “Yep.”
A couple of days later, on locker-cleanout day, Benn was a little more loquacious about his future.
“I don’t see myself going anywhere else,” he told the media in Dallas. “This is all I know, so hopefully we can get something figured out.”
Stars general manager Jim Nill never sweated Benn’s future, either, thanks mainly to the incentive-laden structure of over-35 contracts.
“He wants to be here,” Nill said in May. “And with him turning 35, we have different ways to attack it.”
Dallas has virtually no cap space left, even after jettisoning Marchment. But Nill still could be a major player in free agency if he gets aggressive, as he tries to shake up a perennial contender that seems to have hit its ceiling in the conference final.
(Photo: Tom Pennington / Getty Images)
