Dallas Stars: Last Year’s Grade, Next Year’s Guess: Jamie Benn

As the Dallas Stars player grade series moves into its last week, the focus shifts next to the captain, Jamie Benn.

Benn had a fantastic last few weeks of the 2017-18 season, but it was too late to save the Dallas Stars from elimination.

Last Season

Jamie Benn’s 2017-18 Grade: A-

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After having two hat tricks in the last three games of the year, Benn earned himself a boost in last-minute appreciation, but the Stars were already out of playoff contention by that point. However, that was enough to push him to the top of the leaderboard on team points, one point ahead of Tyler Seguin, who only assisted on two of the six goals.

It was a nice ending to the season, though obviously not as great as the end to his 2014-15 season, but he wasn’t playing at that level all year. He played well, but not quite at the level that has come to be expected from the man who won an Art Ross.

Despite not being quite at the level fans wanted to see, he was at least putting up decent numbers, which is more than a lot of the team can say.

His point share was second only to John Klingberg. The only person out-shooting him was Seguin, but Benn had a 14.9% shooting average. That’s high, but not unsustainable. For comparison, he’s at a 13.4% over his career.

Unfortunately for Benn, Hitchcock tried some different things that weren’t the best for him, including moving him back to center for a while. He usually shares face-off duties with Seguin, but he plays better on the wing and that’s where he should stay. Moves like that certainly had a negative impact on his season, but Benn still came out with a season that was relatively successful compared to the rest of the team.

Next Season

Last year may not have been the best for Benn, but there’s a reason he’s well-respected around the league. He’s a talented player and he should be just fine next year under Jim Montgomery, who will hopefully avoid trying to split up the dynamic duo of Benn and Seguin or putting Benn back at center.

While Benn and Seguin found success last year with Alexander Radulov on the right wing, Montgomery may choose to put Radulov on the second line and have Valeri Nichushkin up top instead. Nichushkin previously played with Benn and Seguin during his earlier stint with the Stars, so if that happens, they’ll have history to work with. If Radulov is down on the second line, it’ll probably have a negative impact on Benn and Seguin’s production, but they’ll hopefully find a way to turn whichever player is on the right side into a productive linemate.

There was a big jump from Shore’s D+ to Benn’s A-, but check back tomorrow to see if the other three all earned an A or if there’s another A- to be handed out.