Jamie Benn Re-signs With Dallas Stars: Here’s Everything You Need To Know About The New Contract

And just like that, the playoffs are over and the world of the NHL is undergoing a complete makeover, with big trades coming in, salary caps being figured out and free agents running wild and free. With talk about players like Brad Marchand moving on from the Panthers and Evander Kane already out of the Oilers, there is little firm ground to stand on in the world of hockey right now, except maybe when it comes to the Dallas Stars and Jamie Benn.

Despite the Dallas Stars Captain causing a bit of a ruckus for the team early on in the playoffs by sucker-punching the Jets’ Mark Schiefele and getting a ten-minute misconduct as a result, along with a $5000 fine, it looks like Jim Nill and the Stars are keen on keeping the captain on for another one-year extension, though it looks like Benn’s salary will be severely compromised as a result.

According to a recent tweet by Frank Seravalli, it looks like Jamie Benn will be getting a baseline of $1 million for his one-year contract extension, with the addition of bonuses as a player aged over 35. All in all, if he meets all his targets, he could make an additional $3 million, which is alright but less than his 8-year, $76 million contract. However, it allows the Stars some space within their salary cap.

How do Jamie Benn and the Dallas Stars look heading into the new season?

The Dallas Stars captain, who will turn 36 next month, scored 49 points in 80 games, and his next goal in the new season will mark the 400th of his career. However, things could certainly be better, but at the same time, Benn has been the team’s longest-tenured captain, having served the Stars by 2013. When asked about his plans for the next year, Benn recently said that he planned to, “Prepare like I do every summer, like I’m going to play. I don’t see myself going anywhere else. This is all I know. Hopefully we can figure something out.”

The Stars additionally are presumably using the money they are saving with Benn’s deal to keep Matt Duchene on for another 4 years. On June 19th, Duchene signed a 4-year, $18 million contract to stay on with the Stars, for whom he managed to score an average of a point per game this past season (82 points in 82 regular season games).

Who knows, maybe Jim Nill is onto something; the Stars made it pretty far this year, only losing to the Oilers in game 5 of the Western Conference final but making a solid play of it. And in Nill’s words, Jamie Benn is a crucial part of the Stars making it to next year’s championship: “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,” and paycuts hold little weight against such steadfast loyalty…well, at least in Benn’s case.