One player from each NHL team who should be on the NHL 18 cover
By David Rouben
Dallas Stars: Jamie Benn
Jamie Benn is yet another example of a late-blooming star. He was drafted 129th overall after playing local hockey in British Columbia, then spent two seasons with the Kelowna Rockets before making the transition to the NHL.
Once there, he looked like a good, but not great, goalscorer. He scored 41 points in his rookie year, then steadily improved that mark to 63 by his third season. That’s a respectable tally, but it was hardly indicative of the player he would later become.
After Brad Richards was out and Tyler Seguin came in, Benn blossomed into an elite scorer. The moment Seguin arrived, he and Benn put up 84 and 79 points, respectively, while he made the playoffs for the first time in his career. But Benn has proven that he can succeed in spite of Seguin, and is capable of individual brilliance. Few will forget when he scored four points on the last day of the 2014-15 season to win the Art Ross trophy by one point.
Despite his heroics that year, the Stars didn’t make the playoffs as their atrocious goaltending held them back. They were able to trim the dead weight of Jhonas Enroth and Anders Lindback while adding Antti Niemi, and while their goaltending improved, Benn knew that he had to keep putting up big tallies to keep his team afloat. He scored a career high 89 points last year as the Stars won the Central Division, but lost in the second round.
Benn was recently anointed with an eight-year extension with an AAV of $9.5 million. He has proven to be one of the best even-strength goalscorers in the NHL, and as long as he’s producing at a high level, the Stars should win a Cup sooner rather than later. But even if they don’t, at least Benn can boast an Olympic Gold medal.