Dallas Stars Future: Jamie Benn Contract Talks

With each passing day, the sad reality becomes more and more relevant: the NHL is a business. Sooner or later, the childhood belief that professional sports are simply about skill and playing the game and nothing more.

In the next two years, there are set to be more changes that increase revenue, including creating two new teams in new cities and changing jersey sponsors with the possibility of introducing advertisements on them.

But the main chunk of business in every sport is the contracts. How much is a certain franchise willing to fork over in order to add a valued player to their team?

Among the four sports, the NHL is the least compensated in regards to per player. The highest paid player in the NFL is Jay Cutler at an average of $18.1 million a year. In the NBA, Kobe Bryant makes an average of $25 million a year. In the MLB, pitcher Clayton Kershaw earns $32.57 million on average.

The highest NHL player salary you ask? Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, who both make $10.5 million a year on average. Both of these contracts were signed last offseason by the two Chicago forwards, officially making them the highest paid duo in the NHL. So, as you can see there is a bit of a gap as you pass through different sports contracts.

But lately, the average NHL superstar’s contract has seen a bit of an upgrade. A few examples include:

Ryan Kesler who signed a six-year extension worth an average of $6.875 million per year.

Jason Spezza who signed a four-year extension worth an average of $7.5 million per year.

Ryan O’Reilly who signed a seven-year extension worth an average of $7.5 million per year.

Mark Giordano who signed a six-year extension worth an average of $6.75 million per year.

Jakub Voracek who signed an eight-year extension worth an average of $8.25 million per year.

These contracts follow up two of the biggest contracts in NHL history last offseason with Toews and Kane. Teams are beginning to allot more cap for their big time players, and that can only mean some big dollar signs for Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn.

Benn signed his last contract with the Dallas Stars in the early midst of the 2013 lockout season. His five year extension promised him $5.25 million AAV, making him one of the highest paid Dallas Stars.

Now that the extension is headed downhill, the time for a new extension is nearing for the Stars captain. At the rate the NHL is moving in regards to paying superstars, this could be a big one.

Jamie Benn could be lining up to be the highest paid Dallas Star in history in terms of AAV. Jakub Voracek is now making $8.25 million per year, a surprisingly high number for a nonetheless superstar player. Both Voracek and Benn have similar careers as well. While Voracek has played 95 more games than Benn and split them between two teams, Benn has remained with the Stars his entire career and only sits 13 points behind him. An Art Ross Trophy after a complete 82-game season on two broken hips doesn’t hurt either. The two are all-stars and deemed the most important pieces of their overall clubs, meaning that Benn could be looking at something in the $8 million range per year.

Currently, Benn is the fifth highest paid player on the team with the AAV standings. That being said, it looks like a big deal could be headed his way.

But all of this will be thoughtfully processed by GM Jim Nill. In accordance with the time Nill decides for extension talks to happen and aligns it with the cap, the Dallas Stars captain is well on his way to a big deal. At the young age of 26, the Canadian winger is looking more threatening and promising by the day.

Next: Is Brett Ritchie Ready To Be A Full Time NHL Player?

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