Building on Benn’s knowledge and ‘feeling good’

Jamie Benn has had some challenges this year.

The Stars captain has seen his time on ice drop significantly, and has seen his role in the offense change as well. But he is actually seeing marked improvement on the scoresheet.

Benn ranks 14th on the Stars in time on ice at 14:07 this season. That’s down from 16:45 last season and 17:47 the year before. Yet, the 33-year-old ranks third on the team in shots on goal at 27 and has seen his points per game rise form 0.56 last season to 0.73 through 11 games this year.

That’s picked up even more in the past two games where he has five points, including his first goal of the season.

“He was maybe our best player last game,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said after a 7-2 win in Arizona. “Tonight, probably is the same conversation. I think he’s feeling good. I think he’s enjoying playing with those two young guys. He’s doing a good job.”

Benn has five of his eight points on the power play, so he’s definitely more of a specialty player this season, but he’s also doing a great job of helping younger players like Wyatt Johnston and Ty Dellandrea. That trio has been a big part of DeBoer’s push to keep balanced minutes among the forward group, and the veteran hand of Benn is a key element in letting Johnston adjust to the NHL at age 19.

“We’re asking him to do a lot,” DeBoer said.

But Benn said he’s enjoyed playing with the kids. “It’s a lot of fun. We’re just trying to build the chemistry and compete every night, do the little things right and try to pitch in when we can.”

One of DeBoer’s biggest tasks when he took over was getting Benn and Tyler Seguin going. He has split up the two former linemates and has seen a lot of success so far.

“We want to keep building on that,” DeBoer said of Benn’s performance against the Kings. “That looked like vintage Jamie Benn. He was fast and physical and all over the ice, winning pucks, creating stuff. I thought he was excellent.”

Key Numbers

24

Connor McDavid leads the NHL in scoring with 24 points (12 goals, 12 assists) in 11 games. He has 24 points (9 goals, 15 assists) in 15 career games against the Stars.

34.2 percent

The Oilers are second in the NHL in power play success at 34.2 percent. Dallas ranks fifth in penalty kill success at 84.8 percent.

14

The Stars rank second in the NHL in first period goals for with 14. The Oilers rank fourth in first period goals allowed at 14.

He said it

“The thing I’ve been most proud of is our response to the nights and the moments when we’ve gotten away from what we want to do. We’ve had an immediate response to correcting things that we want to correct. We haven’t played two bad games in a row. As a coach, that’s what you want to see.”

-Stars coach Pete DeBoer on what he has liked most in the early season with his new team.

Expected lineup

Robertson-Hintz-PavelskiMarchment-Seguin-GurianovBenn-Johnston-DellandreaFaksa-Glendening-Kiviranta

Heiskanen-MillerSuter-LundkvistLindell-Hakanpaa

WedgewoodMurray

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.