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Dallas Stars Interviews: Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin Media Day

By Josh Clark

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With the regular season just 20 days away from starting, the pressure is starting to build for the Dallas Stars. After a disappointing season followed by a triumphant offseason, there is reason to believe the Stars are in store for a special season ahead. But nothing is for sure yet.

The Dallas Stars hosted their annual media day Thursday morning before departing for training camp in Cedar Park. This was a time for the Stars media team to film shots of players that they can use during the season whether it be for commercials, advertisements during the game, or in-game announcements. It was also a chance for the media to speak with players and staff from the Stars.

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Here is coverage from interviews with forwards Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin:

Jamie Benn:

Update on his injury:

I’m feeling pretty good. I had probably my best skate yesterday out there with [Ales] Hemsky. We’re still going to take it slow here throughout camp, probably day-by-day. But I’m definitely going to take part in the first day tomorrow.

Will he be ready for season opener:

Yeah, I don’t think that’s a question. I’ll be out there for the first game. I’m definitely looking forward to it.

What the injury and recovery has been like:

It’s been different, obviously. A long and tough summer, but I think I did everything I had to do to get myself prepared for this year. I was challenged at some times, but that’s definitely what you want. You don’t want it to be too easy and I’m feeling pretty healthy now.

How they change the goals against from last year:

I just think you play better defense, it’s pretty simple. That’s a big part of this year: taking the next step as a group. We’ve improved once again. Jim [Nill] has done a great job bringing in the players that he has and now it’s on us. We need to make that next step and raise our game as a group. Play as a group and play as a whole. When we’re in the defensive zone and the neutral zone we need to be on the right side of the puck at all times. We need to focus on team defense this year.

What the mentality is for getting a fast start:

Not only in our division, but just in the first month and a half here we have to get off to a good start. We haven’t had a good start here the last couple of years and we just get behind the eight ball and start chasing right away. That’s definitely something we’re going to focus on this year is getting off to a good start. Playing good team defense and trying to get out to a bit of a lead in our division.

Do the players have the mentality that they could compete for a Stanley Cup:

Yeah. I know it in here that this group is pretty good. I believe in these guys and I know what we can do. It gives me a lot of excitement for training camp this year and to get the year started. We want to get the season going and bond as a team. It’s going to be good to go down to Austin for a few days and get together with the guys on the road and do some stuff. But we’ll definitely be focused at training camp and get down to business.

Looking back at Stars bankruptcy and the playoff drought and if he has a different feeling now:

It’s come a long way since I first got here. We made some big changes and there’s not a guy left here from my first year. So a lot has happened in the last six or seven years. I’m definitely excited to see what we can do here.

Tyler Seguin:

Do players talk about the goals against and keeping it down like the coaches?:

I think the players have talked and we are very aware of our start last season. Besides a great 4-1-1 start or whatever, we were pretty bad. We were trying to score goals and beat teams by outscoring them every night and that’s not today’s game. Starting training camp this weekend in Austin that’s our focus: good defense and helping out our goalie, especially using our forwards.

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How much can the forwards help improve those numbers:

I think a lot of it is going to be on our forwards. If our forwards can improve, and I speak for myself as well, by going back to our own net and playing good defensively. We’re going to be a good team this year and I’m looking forward to that.

How important the World Championships in June were in understanding that message:

Anytime you’re on a national stage and representing your country, the big message there was getting used to the fact that your minutes are going down from 18-20 a night to 12-15 a night. So over there you really have to fix your game and get into that team game, play good defense, and check hard. That stuff I’m expecting for [Cody] Eakin, [Jason] Spezza, and I to bring back with us.

How he feels physically:

I feel great. I got out of the brace this summer which was nice. My knee is pretty much 100 percent and I’m really excited for this year.

If he did anything differently to try strengthening his speed:

I did extra work on the muscles around it because those are the ones that need to be activated. My knee is 100 percent, but it’s not the way it was and it never will be. That was taken into consideration with my training this year and in the offseason. I worked harder in those areas than I usually do.

On if he sees the team as a Stanley Cup contender:

We have a good team on paper, but so do a lot of teams. It’s all about how physically and mentally we are going to be ready for the year. Last year, we weren’t mentally prepared yet but along the way we figured it out. As it came along we were playing great hockey and won nine or ten games in the end.

If he can pinpoint where they weren’t ready last year:

It wasn’t really planned, but I think it was how everybody handled it and talked about it. We had just gotten [Jason] Spezza and [Ales] Hemsky, so we were good on forwards. We thought that we were going to outscore everybody and kill the other teams. I think we all said it out loud but that’s not how we went about our business. When we were losing 6-5 in San Jose or when we lost to Philly after giving up a lot of goals, those are the games that are unacceptable.

I’m sitting here getting ready for this year and I can still remember those games back October and November of last season. Those haunt you. The message for this year is that we did add [Patrick] Sharp and he can score goals, but he’s won three Cups. He knows what it takes and winning is contagious and he can bring that into our locker room. Along with him and the addition of [Johnny] Oduya and another goalie, we’re definitely looking stronger on paper. I’m looking forward to it.

The train of thought for Cedar Park:

Putting it all together. I’m looking forward to camp. Obviously we’ll need to come together with the new guys and focus more on defensive play and competing instead of scoring goals because we know we can do that.

About the quick start needed as a team:

That’s all starting with how we do in Austin. Quick start this year is going to be huge. With how strong our division and the West is, we’ll need to come out firing.

The Dallas Stars officially opened training camp today in Cedar Park and will continue until Tuesday. Let’s hope they come out a better team.

Next: Jim Nill, Patrick Sharp Interviews On Media Day

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