Benn signed a short extension to remain with the Dallas Stars.

• Player Overview
• Comparables
• Final Analysis

The Dallas Stars signed Jamie Benn to a one-year contract extension, ahead of free agency. The deal will carry a $1 million cap hit, with up to an additional $3 million in performance bonuses, for a $4 million AAV.

Below, we examine how the deal looks for the Stars.

Player Overview

Across 16 seasons, Jamie Benn has spent his entire NHL career with the Dallas Stars. Originally a fifth round pick in 2007, Benn made the jump to the NHL for the 2009-10 season, and his role and production grew from there.

By 2013, Benn was named the team’s captain, and the forward captured an Art Ross Trophy in 2015, after scoring 87 points in 82 games.

While Benn’s production has slipped overall since then, he’s still able to be an effective contributor, registering 49 points in 80 games this past season.

With Dallas being one of the Western Conference’s top contenders, Benn still has a real chance of capturing his first Stanley Cup before he ultimately retires. He’s been able to stay healthy despite his age, and while he shouldn’t be counted on for elite-level offense, he can be a tough-to-play-against secondary contributor.

Comparables

Below, we examine how Benn’s deal compares to recent contracts for other forwards. For more information on the stats/tables used below, including how the payment rate in projections is determined, visit the About the Site page. With Benn turning 36 years old this month, the comparables used will generally be forwards who were near his age in the first year of their contract. Note: ages listed in the table are based on a player’s age by Dec. 31 in the first year of their contract.

1 YEAR

A one-year deal with performance bonuses is fairly common for players around Benn’s age age production.

Below is a list of recent 35+ contracts for forwards which included performance bonuses. Each contract within the table has the cap hit and AAV associated with it adjusted to a $95.5M salary cap. These contracts can then be used to project what a one-year deal with bonuses should have looked like for Benn, using the same cost-per-points basis.

Based on the comps, they’d project a cap hit for Benn anywhere from $1.1M to $3.8M, and an AAV factoring in bonuses anywhere from $3.25M to $6M.

That said, the two lowest comps on the table were from David Krejci and Max Pacioretty – but Krejci hadn’t played in an NHL for a year before signing, while Pacioretty played just five games in his signing year due to injury. As a result, it points towards why their cap hits and AAVs would’ve been on the lower end of the table. Meanwhile, Claude Giroux was the third-lowest comp on the table, but signed his deal after Benn did, so it’s not necessarily a great comp either.

Between the six remaining comps on the table, they’d all project an AAV between $4.8M and $6M for Benn, with a cap hit ranging between $1.68M and $3.83M.

So not only did Benn’s $1M cap hit come in lower than expected, his potential bonuses at a $4M AAV were also lower than expected. The majority of comps would’ve projected a cap hit for Benn to land somewhere around a $3M cap hit, with bonuses reaching a $5M AAV or higher.

Final Analysis

A one-year deal with bonuses makes sense for Benn, given several forwards around the same age and production have taken a deal with similar structure.

That said, both his cap hit and AAV come in lower than expected, and Dallas should get very good value from the contract for the 2025-26 season.