Stars captain Benn intends to play out contract season
Published
Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn intends to play out his contract season after declining to open extension talks.
Stars general manager Jim Nill told the Dallas Morning News he approached Benn about an extension, but the veteran forward is exclusively focused on this season.
“I asked him, ‘Do you want to start talking about two years down the road yet?’ He was very clear: ‘Jim, I just want to win this year and make decisions from there.’” Nill said. “He’s all in with the team. It’s a little bit of Joe Pavelski’s theory of wait and see what are the needs of the team and how can I help out.”
The 35-year-old winger is entering the last of an eight-year, $76 million contract signed with the Stars in 2016. He carries a cap hit of $9.5 million under the deal, which includes a full no-move clause.
He scored 21 goals and posted 60 points in 82 games last season, adding four goals and 15 points in 19 playoff games as the Stars reached the Western Conference Final for the second straight year.
Benn has spent his entire 15-year career with the Stars and Nill stated he plans to see that stay extend beyond this season once he's willing to open to talks.
“My plan, as long as I’m the GM here, he’s going to be a Dallas Star,” Nill said. “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.”
Selected in the fifth round of the 2007 draft, Benn has 383 goals and 907 points in 1,112 career games.
Oettinger talks also on hold
Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger also appears set to play out this season on an expiring contract as he heads toward restricted free agency next summer.
Nill noted that the goaltender market is still waiting to be set with restricted free agent Jeremy Swayman yet to sign with the Boston Bruins and pending UFA Igor Shesterkin negotiating an extension with the New York Rangers.
“We’re going to talk to Jake. There’s still some contracts out there to be signed, which are going to affect that. So really, no rush for that to happen,” Nill said. “Really any of our RFAs, we’re going to talk to them and just say, ‘Are you interested in signing or do you want to wait and see what the market is?’”
The 25-year-old Oettinger is signed at a cap hit of $4 million this season in the last of a three-year deal. He went 35-14-4 last season with a .905 save percentage and a 2.72 goals-against average. In the postseason, the Lakeville, Minn. native went 10-9 with a .915 save percentage and a 2.24 GAA.
Selected 26th overall in the 2017 draft, Oettinger has a career record of 113-48-23 with 2.51 GAA and a .913 save percentage.