Dallas Stars: Jamie Benn’s 27th Birthday Comparisons
The Dallas Stars captain is 27 today! Here is a quick look at where he is at in his career compared to other NHL stars when they hit the big 2-7.
Grab the balloons and the confetti, and your victory green if you get the chance. Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn is 27 today! From all of us at Blackout Dallas, we would like to wish the big, bad captain a very happy day.
The Dallas Stars saw this coming and made sure to get him an early birthday present. Earlier this week, Benn signed an eight-year extension with the club that will keep him at the center of the Stars until the end of the 2024-25 season.
That means Benn will help run the Stars offense until he hits the age of 36, in which case he will be a free agent on July 19, at least for now.
At age 27, it’s clear that he has quite the career already trailing him. But where does he stand among the other current NHL stars when they hit the big 2-7?
Initially, I thought about comparing Benn to some of the NHL greats throughout history, the greatest ones to ever play the game. That seemed a little unfair though, considering players like Wayne Gretzky were putting up 150 or so points a season when they were 27. To put things into perspective, Benn scored 87 in 2014-15 when he won the Art Ross Trophy for most points in the league. He put up 89 this past year.
Even if we were to take things down a notch and focus on someone less great than “The Great One,” it would still be an unfair comparison. Even players like Jaromir Jagr averaged between 96-127 in the prime of their careers.
Why is this? Well, it can largely be blamed on the fact that the game has changed. Back in the 1980’s and even 1990’s, the offensive and defensive game were played much differently. Instead of constantly harping on the forwards, the defenders of the opposing teams would defer from the shutdown game and instead play a fragmented zone defensive game.
This did not have a huge effect on the overall game itself, but instead one rather sizable change made all the difference: the goaltending. Thirty years ago, goalies did not approach protecting the net the way they do now. Back then, it was completely normal for a goaltender to play the entire game standing up straight.
Goaltenders in the current time play in the butterfly stance, taking up as much open space as possible. The goals against has been cut down severely as a result, leaving players less opportunities to score and ring up the points.
That being said, it would be unfair to compare Wayne Gretzky’s 1,520 points up until he turned 27 to Benn’s 448. See what I mean?
So let’s just compare it to some current NHL stars who have been forced to deal with the new advantage goaltenders have. The comparisons will be made based on what the player did up until he turned 27.
Jamie Benn (first game at age 20): 508 GP 192 G 256 A 448 PTS +26 18:28 ATOI
Rick Nash (first game at age 18): 592 GP 259 G 229 A 488 PTS -52 18:49 ATOI
Alex Ovechkin (first game at age 20): 553 GP 339 G 340 A 679 PTS +80 21:43 ATOI
Sidney Crosby (first game at age 18): 550 GP 274 G 495 A 769 PTS +124 21:00 ATOI
Steven Stamkos (first game at age 18): 569 GP 312 G 250 A 562 PTS +5 19:45 ATOI
James Neal (first game at age 21): 413 GP 161 G 154 A 315 PTS +17 17:47 ATOI
Pavel Datsyuk (first game age 23): 209 GP 53 G 101 A 154 PTS +22 15:47 ATOI
Brad Richards (first game at age 20): 490 GP 132 G 306 A 438 PTS -31 20:39 ATOI
Before you get all bent out of shape regarding some of the comparisons, just remember there are a lot of different factors that play into this. When the players came into the league (including if they played any seasons before the big goalie change), how many seasons they played, if they were a one-man band (or if they had a player like Tyler Seguin next to them), etc.
must read: Jamie Benn Quickly Etching His Name Into Dallas History Books
There are plenty of underlying factors that need to be observed before assuming Jamie Benn is simply not better than any of these other players. And let’s not forget that points are not everything.
Also, I tried to find a fair comparison to one of the other forwards drafted in the fifth round with Benn back in 2007, but it seems that none of them are even near NHL relevance. So there’s that.
Next: Benn's New Extension Will Be Worth Every Penny
In the end, Jamie Benn is quickly turning out to be one of the most talented and skilled Dallas Stars ever. It’s his day to celebrate, even if he is still recovering from Wednesday’s surgery. Happy 27th, Mr. Captain. Cannot wait to see where this eight-year extension takes the franchise.