Jamie Benn is arriving at Dallas Stars camp with a different look, at least according to Jim Nill.
The Stars general manager said Wednesday that Benn spent the summer training harder than he ever has and appears lighter heading into camp, which opens Thursday at Comerica Center. Nill also said the captain’s role could shift depending on how the roster settles, with Benn capable of handling either wing.
“We know how important he is on and off the ice, but I expect he’s had a great summer,” Nill said. “He’s trained as hard as he’s ever trained.
He looks lighter. He’s a big part of our team, and he’s going to fit in.
He can play a lot of different roles, play different positions, left and right wing. In the end, we’ll see where everybody slots, but he’s a big part of our team.”
Nill pointed to Benn’s 2024-25 production as a reminder of what he can still provide when healthy. Benn missed 20 games last season, but in the games he played, Nill said the results were among his best in the past few years.
“You go back to last year, he had a pretty good year,” Nill continued. “You take away the time he missed, his production, it was one of his better years over the last two, three years, so we’re expecting the same thing again.”
Benn finished with 15 goals, 21 assists and 36 points in 60 games, while averaging 13:17 of ice time. He was held off the scoresheet in six playoff games against the Minnesota Wild in the first round.
Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said earlier Wednesday that Benn trained like crazy this summer, and Gulutzan told him it was probably the skinniest he had seen him.
Benn turned 37 on July 18 and signed a one-year deal on July 3 worth an $850,000 base salary with up to $1.15 million in performance bonuses.
The upcoming season will be Benn’s 18th in the NHL, and all of them have come in Dallas. The Stars selected him in the fifth round, 129th overall, in 2007. He enters camp with 414 goals and 992 points in 1,252 regular-season games, leaving him eight points shy of 1,000.
Dallas opens the preseason Saturday, Sept. 19, at the St. Louis Blues, with puck drop set for 6 p.m.
CT. The regular season starts Oct. 2 against St.
Louis at American Airlines Center at 8 p.m. CT on TNT.
In Other News...
Stars Are Giving A Familiar Defenseman One More Chance To Matter
The late-summer PTO market keeps giving veteran players one more doorway into training camp, and Luke Glendening is the latest familiar name to step through it. Tampa Bay brought in the 37-year-old forward on a tryout contract, giving him a chance to earn a roster spot in camp and preseason after his most recent NHL stop with the Philadelphia Flyers. With 934 games behind him, Glendening fits the profile of the experienced depth players teams lean on when they want reliability and a known floor.
For Dallas fans, the bigger picture is how common this kind of move has become across the league, with the Stars among several clubs making PTO signings of their own this time of year. It is the sort of transaction that rarely dominates headlines, but can still matter once the games start and injuries, roster battles, and camp performances begin sorting out who sticks. There is always a layer of intrigue with these deals, especially when a team gives a veteran a familiar kind of opportunity and leaves open the question of whether he can turn it into something more. [Read more 🡒]
Stars Give A Familiar Defenseman Another Shot To Stick
The Stars have brought back a familiar name on a professional tryout, signing defenseman Ben Gleason as training camp churns toward its next cut-down point. It is the kind of low-risk move teams make when they want another look at a player who already knows the organization, and in Gleasons case the connection goes back to his first taste of the NHL in Dallas several years ago.
Gleason has spent most of his career in the AHL, moving through different stops while trying to carve out a longer look at the top level. He most recently signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Minnesota Wild in July, so this latest PTO gives him another chance to show he can still earn a place in a crowded defense mix, even if the final call will depend on how much he can separate himself over the next stretch. [Read more 🡒]
Jim Nill Tries To Calm Two Growing Stars Concerns
The Stars have spent the fall trying to keep the focus on hockey, even as questions around a pair of core pieces have started to build. General manager Jim Nill said there have been no extension discussions with Jason Robertsons camp yet, and the reason is straightforward: league rules keep those talks off-limits until Jan. 1. Robertson already went through a tense contract stretch, filing for salary arbitration before settling on a one-year deal, which only sharpened the sense that his next long-term step will become a major storyline for Dallas.
Thomas Harley has become part of that conversation, too, after Dallas failed pursuit of Zach Werenski briefly put the young defenseman in the spotlight. Nill made it clear Harley remains important to the club, a reminder that the Stars are trying to balance present contention with the need to protect their emerging talent. For a team built to win now, keeping both Robertson and Harley on the same page may end up mattering just as much as anything that happens on the ice. [Read more 🡒]