Dallas Stars are treating Jamie Benn better than they did Mike Modano
Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill is determined to re-create forward Jamie Benn into his own version of Steve Yzerman, and in doing so the Stars are doing for Benn what they would not for their most celebrated player, Mike Modano.
These are different eras, and the respective managements are no longer the same, but something about this feels off. There is a statue of Mike Modano near the American Airlines Center, but in the late stages of his career he was shown the door, whereas the Stars are taking the hinges off to keep it open for Benn.
On Thursday at Nill’s end-of-the-season press conference, he addressed Benn’s future, and he made sure that there is no confusion about his feelings on this subject.
“Jamie and I have talked shortly, and I’ll give him a couple of weeks, but I want him back,” Nill said. “I think he wants to come back, but I want to give him that time. We need to figure this out, but the organization wants him back.”
Benn’s one-year contract expires this summer, and expect him to agree to another team-friendly one-year deal to come back.
Why the Stars want Jamie Benn back
In an era where loyalty is for losers and a relic from a bygone era, the Stars and Benn’s feelings for the other are old school. Benn will be 37 next season, and coming off a year that was his least productive, as he is now, at best, a fourth-line forward.
Nill, as well as every player in the Stars’ locker room, holds Benn’s professionalism in the highest regard; management has placed a premium on Benn’s behavior, and wants it around for as long as possible even if the production continues to slide.
There’s a lesson in this: If you can’t be the best player, being a good person, employee and teammate can extend your career.
For much of his career, Benn played a hard, physical, heavy game that was not going to age well. It hasn’t. He paid a price for the hits he delivered, and absorbed.
He played in 60 games this season and scored 36 points, including 15 goals. Other than drawing a penalty with a stupid cross-check in the third period of Game 5, he was a non-factor in the Stars’ opening-round playoff loss to the Minnesota Wild.
On this matter, Nill addressed the “C” in the room as well. Nill admitted he has already thought about who will be this team’s captain, but he will not force Benn to give up the title to a player like a Wyatt Johnston, or a Miro Heiskanen. As long as Benn is on this team, he’s the captain.
Why Jamie Benn is receiving different treatment than Mike Modano
After the 2010 season ended, Stars GM Joe Nieuwendyk asked to meet with his old teammate, Modano, face-to-face. Modano was 39, and coming off his 20th season in the NHL, all with the Stars.
Nieuwendyk wanted Modano to retire, but the player wasn’t ready. And he was hurt by the gesture. He instead signed a one-year contract with the Detroit Red Wings. Modano did not want to leave, but the team was ready to move on.
At the time, Benn was in his second season with the Stars, and Nill was still in his assistant GM role in Detroit.
The relationship between Modano and the Stars took some bumps, but the feelings were resolved over time.
Nill is not taking any of those chances with Benn, and instead is creating a situation similar to that of Steve Yzerman. From 1983 to 2006, the Red Wings belonged to Yzerman, the often foul-tempered captain of one of his era’s most dominant teams that won three Stanley Cup championships. Yzerman is currently the GM of the Red Wings.
If Benn returns, it would put him close to Dirk Nowitzki territory.
Eighteen years with the same team would push Benn among the longest-tenured players among the four major sports franchises in North Texas, trailing Nowitzki’s NBA-record 21-year career with the Mavericks.
It doesn’t matter if that’s what is best for the future of the Stars; this is what they will do. Because GM Jim Nill loves Jamie Benn.
This story was originally published May 8, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
