Dallas Stars: Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin Respond To Jim Lites’ Comments
On Friday afternoon, Dallas Stars CEO Jim Lites publicly voiced his frustration and disappointment regarding the play of Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin this season. And on Saturday morning, the team’s top duo responded to those comments.
It seemed as though the Dallas Stars were in for a normal practice on Friday afternoon. They had defeated the Nashville Predators on the road the previous night, propelled themselves back into a playoff spot as a result, and looked to be on pace for a strong finish to the 2018 calendar year.
But Dallas Stars CEO Jim Lites had other plans.
Lites called a handful of media members into his office before practice began and went on a tirade. But, the tirade was not about the team’s recent losses or inconsistent play throughout the year; instead, it was about their two biggest superstars, Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin.
“They are f-ing horse-s-, I don’t know how else to put it,” Lites told Sean Shapiro of The Athletic during the media scrum. “The team was ok. But (Tyler) Seguin and (Jamie) Benn were terrible,” he added about their performances against the Nashville Predators on Thursday night.
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Lites delivered verbal blow after verbal blow, constantly bashing the two players for their lack of production through the first 38 games of the 2018-19 season. Through 38 games skated, Seguin has 11 goals and 32 points, while Benn posts 15 goals and 30 points. Those point totals are good enough for 57th and 67th in the league standings, respectively. That’s not the best look for two players who sat in third place (Benn) and sixth place (Seguin) in scoring throughout the span of 2013-14 to 2017-18.
“If 14 and 91 don’t lead, we will not be successful,” Lites told Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News. “I think this is the most talented and deep team we’ve had in years here. Certainly, this is the best team that we’ve put together from a talent perspective since Tom Gaglardi’s owned the franchise. Tom has allowed us to do everything we needed to do to be successful. Whatever it’s taken, he’s done. And I am tired of getting emails from him saying ‘What the hell is going on with our best players?’”
And yet, the two still sit at the top of the Dallas Stars scoring ranks. It’s been an unfamiliarly stale year for the Dallas offense, which currently sits 27th in league scoring with an average of 2.66 goals per game. Benn and Seguin certainly have not been playing to their usual standard, but the other 10 forwards have been pretty lackluster as well.
With the captain being signed through the 2024-25 season at an AAV of $9.5 million and an eight-year extension for Seguin with an AAV of $9.85 million kicking in next season, the two seem to be the future cornerstones of Dallas hockey.
But, it happened. It was a heavy and unexpected blow delivered by a top executive onto the heads of two of his top players.
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Puck Prose
And, on Saturday morning, those two top players got their first chance to respond.
“Interested,” said Jamie Benn. “I read the article and it is what it is. People have their opinions on the outside and all it really is is noise. When there is a situation within the organization I try to keep it within the organization and deal with it face to face. I come to the rink every day and wear the Dallas Stars jersey proudly and play hard for the fans, my teammates. ”
“No, no response,” Seguin added. “Jamie and I hear the message. I think the whole team hears it. We know that we have to play better and we understand that. So, we’re going to continue to work every day and keep getting better. I come to the rink every day, you know, the Stars are my heart and they’re my team. They’re where I’ve wanted to be and why I signed here, so I’m going to continue to work.”
The two were interviewed separately following an optional morning skate before the team’s matchup against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night. Both were aware of the comments Lites had made, but did not know that they were coming. That could stem from the fact that Lites had not personally addressed either player in a while.
In response to a question about whether Lites had spoken to him at all, Benn quickly fired back, “No.” He also added that he would have rather had a personal conversation with Lites about the dilemma.
“No, not since the end of the season,” Seguin said of his communication with Lites. “So, a little bit of a surprise there, I guess, in one aspect because I obviously didn’t know how he felt. So, it came as a bit of a surprise. But, I said it yesterday in practice that I understand I need to be better, Jamie understands that he needs to be better, and we need to lead this team to be better. I think our organization needs to be better. I think everyone is frustrated the last couple of years and it kind of came on us.”
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Blackhawk Up
Not even Dallas Stars head coach Jim Montgomery knew about Lites’s plan to make the comments. It was a surprise that not only shocked the players in question, but also the organization, the fans, and the entire hockey world. Jamie Benn said he received a load of phone messages shortly after the news broke.
“The phone was blowing up like it was my birthday yesterday,” Benn stated. “I got some messages from teammates, talked to ex-players and even other players around the league. What was communicated between me and those players and ex-players obviously you guys won’t find out about.”
The mood between Seguin and Benn was a bit of uneasiness but also disappointment. The two have been known as good friends and one of the league’s top duos since being paired together before the 2013-14 season. Their desire to talk with Lites personally showed in their responses, but the message was clear to them: they need to be better.
“For sure,” Benn said when asked if he thinks his production should be better. “I think everyone looks at the numbers and that’s the easiest thing to look at. The point production isn’t where it could be or should be or was, so it’s easy to point to that.”
Seguin, on the other hand, is on pace for his lowest goal total since joining the Stars in 2013-14. Part of that has to do with the fact that he has hit more goalposts than any player in the NHL this season. When asked about that yesterday, Lites replied to Shapiro by saying, “He’s hitting posts, ‘wah-wah.’ That’s what I say about hitting posts.”
But Seguin doesn’t feel that way. Instead, he’s simply focused on continuing to improve and find more consistency in his game.
“I mean, my phone is out there, my number is out there,” Seguin said when asked if he wants to talk to Lites about his bad luck. “I’m not complaining about posts, I’m not ‘wah-wah.’ I’m not whining about it. If anyone asks how many posts I’ve hit, I say, ‘Yes, of course I do. I’m a hockey player. I’m a goal scorer.’ But I’m going to continue to grind, continue to shoot, and continue to get to those areas and try to score goals.”
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Causeway Crowd
Jim Montgomery, who is halfway through his first year as an NHL head coach, responded to the comments with a serious but redemptive tone.
“No one in sports gets to be mediocre, and the facts are we’ve been mediocre,” Montgomery said following morning skate. “And we all need to be better and we’ve all got to get it together.”
When asked about whether he had spoken to the two players, Montgomery added that he had texted them yesterday and advised them on how to respond.
“Not directly face-to-face, I texted them yesterday and we can’t change what’s done but we can change tomorrow,” said Montgomery. “That’s the message we’ve been saying internally for two months, that we’re not happy with where we are at. Now it’s everybody knows that everybody is discontent. It’s about us doing it together.”
This unexpected occurrence has many Dallas Stars fans wondering which side to take and who they should back. Both sides have their reasonings for saying what they have, but it’s the future that is the main concern. What will this do to a team currently fighting for its life in the playoff hunt? How will this affect Benn and Seguin mentally? For Montgomery, he expects nothing but the best from his star forwards.
“Yeah, I don’t play for him. I play for every player in this room, the coaching staff. I come to the rink and, like I said, I am proud to be a Dallas Star and I am proud to go out every night and battle with these guys in games. I really put my teammates first.” – Jamie Benn
“Usually, top players when they face adversity like this have a really good response,” said Montgomery. “That’s what I expect from them, too.”
And what do Benn and Seguin have to say about how to move ahead from something like this?
“Yeah, I don’t play for him,” said Benn. “I play for every player in this room, the coaching staff. I come to the rink and, like I said, I am proud to be a Dallas Star and I am proud to go out every night and battle with these guys in games. I really put my teammates first.”
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“By coming to the rink like we have been and trying to figure out ways to keep improving this team,” Seguin responded when asked about how to improve moving forward. “We just had a good break and then went into Nashville on the road, a hard place to play, and played a good hockey game. We need to continue to build off of that.”
This situation offers a unique pivot point in the Dallas Stars’ 2018-19 campaign. It could be what sparks Benn, Seguin, and the rest of the team to life as they charge towards the postseason. Or, it could cause an unravelling internally and leave the team with more problems.
A shot was fired on Friday afternoon. And though responses were sent back on Saturday morning, the real response will come against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night as well as in other contests moving forward. What kind of team will the Dallas Stars be over the next 43 games? That’s anyone’s guess.
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But you can be assured that whatever team they are, it will be determined by their top players, with no. 14 and no. 91 leading the pack. That’s what sports are all about.