Dallas Stars Need Jamie Benn To Return To His Natural Self

The Dallas Stars offense just isn’t clicking right now, and it could be because their captain, who usually leads the charge, just can’t seem to find the back of the net.

Leaders. When things are going well, they are usually the first ones to be praised. But when things start to go wrong, they are the first to be called out.

When the Dallas Stars were running the table in the NHL last season, posting a record of 50-23-9 and claiming the championship titles for both the Central Division and the regular season Western Conference, captain Jamie Benn was at the top of the credit due list.

The 27-year-old captain turned in another phenomenal year, which had a major impact on the team’s success. He had just completed his second consecutive 82-game season and posted a career-high 89 points, two more than he did the year before when he won the Art Ross Trophy.

Benn became just the second Dallas Star ever to hit the 40-goal mark and finished the year with 41 goals and 48 assists. He also posted a +7 rating, scored a career-high 17 power play goals, hit the highest shooting percentage of his career at 16.6 percent, and averaged the highest ice time of his career at 20:01.

His unbelievable production carried over into the postseason when he scored five goals and tallied 15 points in 13 playoff games. It was arguably the best season of Benn’s NHL career to date.

And coming into this season, the Dallas Stars fans were expecting much of the same. Benn signed an eight-year extension with the Stars in the middle of the offseason, locking him in Dallas until 2025. An offseason surgery held him out of training camp, but he was back in time for opening night in which he tallied an assist.

But now something is wrong, and of course everyone is looking at Jamie Benn, as well as a few others, for answers. The typical Dallas Stars offense that scores 3+ goals a game seems to have gone missing and that has people on edge.

The Stars have only scored more than three goals on five occasions this season through 27 games. Over the last ten games, Dallas has scored more than two goals on four occasions.

Their goals for average this season is at a humbling 2.48 (19th in the league). That’s an awful long fall from 3.23 last season (first in the league).

There are plenty of people that could be blamed. Jason Spezza has not found the back of the net in 12 straight games and the Stars are not receiving a whole lot of depth scoring from their lower lines, at least on a consistent basis.

But Jamie Benn is stalling slightly as well. Through 27 games this season, the Stars captain has seven goals and 21 total points, along with a -6 rating. At this rate, Benn would end the year with 21 goals and 63 points. The goal total would be the lowest of his career (minus the lockout season) and the point total would be tied for his third lowest.

In the last seven games, Benn has one goal and four assists. While these numbers are not entirely disappointing, he was well over a point-per-game player last season. A few weeks ago, he endured a goal drought that lasted nine games.

The captain isn’t entirely clicking on offense (and is in no way the only one stuck in this problem) right now, and it’s translating to a lack of power in the Stars’ offensive attack.

You can tell that Benn is frustrated through his play on the ice and he is doing everything he can to get back on the score sheet, but the pucks have just not been falling for him recently. And of course everyone is going to look at Benn for the answers.

If the Dallas captain can get back in the goal column and get the Stars on the scoreboard, it might give the team the boost they need to churn up a strong offensive assault and get back into the driver seat of their season.

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This is a minor casualty when compared to some of the other things that Jamie Benn has fought through and bested in his career, and it’s only a matter of time before he disposes of this problem as well.

But the Dallas Stars could definitely use his goal-scoring prowess back in their corner. If not, this holiday home stand might end on a very sour note.