hf101 Posted July 16, 2016 Share Posted July 16, 2016 Jamie Benn got a max deal and will be with the Dallas Stars for a long time. The $76M 8 year contract is now the 5th largest in the NHL. Only Patrick Kane ($10.5), Jonathan Toews ($10.5), Anze Kopitar ($10M) and Alex Ovechkin ($9.583M) have greater cap hits. Jim Nill - “Jamie has evolved into one of the most complete players in the NHL and his ability to lead our team is second-to-none. He impacts the game in so many ways and this signing was extremely important for the direction of the franchise. He’s shown in the playoffs, and at international events like the Olympics and the World Championship, that he is up to any challenge and that his fingerprints will be left on every game. He’s our leader and does things the right way, every day.” Only Sidney Crosby has scored more points over the last 3 years, and over the past two seasons, no duo has scored more points than Benn and Seguin. This is surely an exciting time to be a Stars fan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropicalFruitGirl26 Posted July 16, 2016 Share Posted July 16, 2016 Well, big deals like this are always with risk, but there is no doubt Jamie Benn has proven he is indeed, the centerpiece that the Stars can build around. I would not have faulted the Lightning for wanting to do something similar to keep Steven Stamkos, but given what actually happened with Stammer, and seeing this deal now, it makes Yzerman look even more like a genius, and Stamkos look even more like a true team guy and leader for taking the 'discount' to stay with his team and giving his organization at least some wiggle room to be able to sign and keep other players to help him in his Cup quest. Which brings us back to Jamie Benn and HIS Cup quest: Does this deal leave enough for Dallas to sign and keep quality players around Benn long term to give the franchise multiple shots at a Stanley Cup? The Stars will need a Cup caliber goalie as well at some point as it is clear Lehtonen and Niemi are not up to that task. Fortunately for the Stars, some big money contracts will be coming off the books in a season or two.....whether the Stars want to hang on to them or look elsewhere for players to compliment Benn will remain to be seen, however. According to GeneralFanager, Patrick Sharp (5.9M), Ales Hemsky (4M), Patrick Eaves (1M), and Johnny Oduya (3.75M) have expiring contracts after this season. And Dallas will have about a half dozen RFA's to sift through as well. The goalie situation? This season and next left for Lehtonen (5.9M) and Niemi (4.5M). Some careful and hard decisions will nee to be made to keep this team competitive. Still though, I can't blame the Stars for wanting to keep the likes of a Jamie Benn in their organization for the long term. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpikeDDS Posted July 16, 2016 Share Posted July 16, 2016 1 hour ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said: Well, big deals like this are always with risk, but there is no doubt Jamie Benn has proven he is indeed, the centerpiece that the Stars can build around. I would not have faulted the Lightning for wanting to do something similar to keep Steven Stamkos, but given what actually happened with Stammer, and seeing this deal now, it makes Yzerman look even more like a genius, and Stamkos look even more like a true team guy and leader for taking the 'discount' to stay with his team and giving his organization at least some wiggle room to be able to sign and keep other players to help him in his Cup quest. Which brings us back to Jamie Benn and HIS Cup quest: Does this deal leave enough for Dallas to sign and keep quality players around Benn long term to give the franchise multiple shots at a Stanley Cup? The Stars will need a Cup caliber goalie as well at some point as it is clear Lehtonen and Niemi are not up to that task. Fortunately for the Stars, some big money contracts will be coming off the books in a season or two.....whether the Stars want to hang on to them or look elsewhere for players to compliment Benn will remain to be seen, however. According to GeneralFanager, Patrick Sharp (5.9M), Ales Hemsky (4M), Patrick Eaves (1M), and Johnny Oduya (3.75M) have expiring contracts after this season. There are more ways than one to build a Cup contender. I have already elaborated on the Yzerman effect which essentially is the big stars taking a little less to allow the front office to build around them in order to compete for Cups. This is a winning strategy, but it is not the ONLY winning strategy. Looking at the 4 players that are higher-paid than Benn, all have won Cups except Ovie. Notable is that TWO of them, Kane and Thaves, are on the same team, and yet they have won multiple Cups and have competed into the playoffs in the years in between those Cups. CLEARLY there is ALSO a strategy that if you can get enough talent in your two big players that you have to pay to keep, AND you have an elite goaltender (Quick & Crawford, etc.) that you can also get it done that way. Moreover, it seems to me that certain players are better suited for playoff hockey. Ovie is not one of those. I think Benn has the all-around game that works in the playoffs, and it is simply a matter of finding/developing/acquiring the second-tier players who are built for a playoff run plus getting a more reliable goaltender that will enable them to seriously compete for a Cup. I agree that Lehtonen and Niemi are probably just not at the level Dallas needs to approach it this way. In the case of the Wings, for example, we had Osgood. I would not put him in the same company as Quick, but we had both Datsyuk/Zetterberg up front and Lidstrom on the back end, all paid at that less than elite level to stay under the cap, and Ozzie was good enough with Lidstrom and the D he had in front of him to win the 2008 Cup. I really think it takes 3 elite or quasi-elite players to get you there, depending on how you approach it. Pittsburgh has Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, and Murray was good enough. (Who knows, maybe the Pens have a gem? Time will tell.) what I will say is that Nill has a VERY good nose for talent, and it wouldn't surprise me if Dallas is raising the Cup in the not-too-distant future under his leadership. They just need that one more piece... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilldoc Posted July 16, 2016 Share Posted July 16, 2016 So when does the NHL go on another lock-out because of "huge" deals like this. NOTE: I'm not arguing he deserves it. Benn is an elite player in this league, but it just seems like a lot of big deals have been handed out this off season and this is one of the reasons we had the lockout almost 10 years ago. However, like @TropicalFruitGirl26 mentioned, the Stars now need to get creative to build a solid team around Benn and it start with goaltending. I simply do not trust Niemi or Lehtonen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J0e Th0rnton Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 On 7/16/2016 at 3:41 PM, pilldoc said: So when does the NHL go on another lock-out because of "huge" deals like this. NOTE: I'm not arguing he deserves it. Benn is an elite player in this league, but it just seems like a lot of big deals have been handed out this off season and this is one of the reasons we had the lockout almost 10 years ago. However, like @TropicalFruitGirl26 mentioned, the Stars now need to get creative to build a solid team around Benn and it start with goaltending. I simply do not trust Niemi or Lehtonen. only 2 more years @ 11 million of Niemi + Lehtonen to go! both have NTC's too. lol. However, with Klingberg they have the undisputed BEST contract in the NHL for 6 more years. That contract will be the gift that keeps on giving. 4.25 million dollars a year for a 60+ point Defenseman who has an upside of 75+ points? And who is good defensively? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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