Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin were regularly among the NHL鈥檚 top scorers when they first started playing together in Dallas a decade ago.
Now 30-something forwards, captain Benn and six-time All-Star Seguin are far removed from skating together on the top line, or even leading the Stars in scoring while having the two biggest contracts on the roster. Their roles have changed and they have played a little less this season on different lines, but that plan has certainly worked out well for the players 鈥� and the team that is in the .
鈥淵ou鈥檝e seen the effect of it with the season we鈥檝e had, directly on our standings, directly on our scoring, directly on the consistency of their seasons,鈥� first-year Stars coach Pete DeBoer said Wednesday. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not a passive stand-around team, so you鈥檙e expending a lot of energy to play the way we want to play. And I think that鈥檚 benefited our team game too, because they have that energy to do that.鈥�
Benn again played all 82 regular-season games, with 33 goals and 78 points for his best totals since 2017-18, even with an average ice time of 15:47 that was his lowest since his 2009-10 rookie season. He had 18 goals and 28 assists playing the same number a games and nearly a minute more per game last season.
鈥淲e sat down at the start of the year when he got hired, and I got to talk about individual players, myself and then obviously our group as a whole,鈥� Benn said. 鈥淵ou know what he wanted to bring here and change a little bit, and he鈥檚 done a great job so far.鈥�
Seguin played more than a minute less a game than last season, also his fewest since being a rookie, and had 50 points (21 goals) in 76 games. He is the only player on the Stars鈥� roster to win a Stanley Cup, but that was as a 19-year-old with Boston in 2011, only a year after he was the second overall draft pick. The Bruins traded him to Dallas on July 4, 2013.
Game 1 of the West final against the Golden Knights is Friday night in Las Vegas. It is the second time in four seasons for these teams to meet in a conference final, though DeBoer was on the other bench in 2020 when the Stars won in five games in the NHL鈥檚 bubble in Canada. Tampa Bay then took the Stanley Cup in six games.
Seguin was playing with a torn labrum in his hip when the Stars made that Stanley Cup Final, their first in 20 years. After hip surgery and an arthroscopic procedure on his knee, there was a grueling rehab that kept him out for all but three games at the end of the 2020-21 season and made him change how he played.
But when Joe Pavelski went into concussion protocol and missed five games in the first round last month, it was Seguin who moved up to the top line with Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz 鈥� a pair of high-scoring young stars like Seguin and Benn in the past. Seguin had four power-play goals against Minnesota and initially stayed on the top line after Pavelski returned for the second round against Seattle that the .
鈥淵ou get slotted where you鈥檙e slotted and you just want to contribute as much as you can, whether it鈥檚 first PP (power play), no PP, first line, fourth line,鈥� Seguin said. 鈥淲hen you have a team like this, it鈥檚 exciting. It鈥檚 always a lot easier because you鈥檙e so deep and you can kind of play anywhere. I鈥檝e been trying to have as much fun with it as I can.鈥�
DeBoer said he never looked at salary, ego or what they did in the past, and instead coached every player like he鈥檇 want to be coached. .
鈥淭he teams you have a chance to win with, those guys accept that coaching, they want that coaching, they鈥檙e willing to to buy into to that,鈥� DeBoer said. 鈥淚n the places I鈥檝e been where where those key guys have pushed back, you know you鈥檙e usually not winning.鈥�
Seguin has four seasons left on a $78.8 million, eight-year contract. Benn鈥檚 $76 million, eight-year deal goes two more seasons, and he wants to take full advantage of an opportunity to finally win a Stanley Cup.
鈥淓very player goes through this, you come in the league, you鈥檙e a young guy, you want to prove yourself,鈥� general manager Jim Nill said. 鈥淚n the end, you get to a point in your career, you want to win the Stanley Cup or you want to win consistently, and I think that鈥檚 where they鈥檙e at now in their careers.鈥�
鈥擲tephen Hawkins, The Associated Press
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