A committed captain: Jamie Benn’s leadership on full display during point streak

It has been a season of challenges for Jamie Benn.

Maybe the biggest in his career.

That’s why it seems appropriate that he’s the captain of the 2025-26 Dallas Stars.

Benn, who has hardly faced injury in his 17-year career, started training camp with a collapsed lung. He missed the first 19 games of the season and then had to find a way to jump into a lineup that was already gelling. Just two weeks later, his good buddy and longtime teammate Tyler Seguin suffered a season-ending torn ACL. And right after Christmas, Dallas endured a 2-6-4 slump that had everybody questioning where this thing was actually headed.

Somewhere in there, Benn had a 12-game run with no points – one of the longest droughts of his NHL career.

So, yeah, challenging seems like a good word.

But when the lads in Victory Green ran their current point streak to 13 games (12-0-1) with a 2-1 win over Vegas on Tuesday, the chatter came back to the captain. Yes, he had the game-winning goal on a power play redirect. Yes, he played 15:12 and had a couple of hits. Yes, he was a noticeable presence on a team that is currently missing Mikko Rantanen, Roope Hintz and Radek Faksa.

But, even more than that, Benn was a catalyst.

“He’s a bruiser out there,” said veteran Colin Blackwell.

This has been an interesting year for Dallas. The Stars started with a coaching change, and while Glen Gulutzan definitely brings a different personality than Pete DeBoer, the former bench boss got this team to three consecutive conference finals and had the best regular season record in the NHL during his three-year stint with the Stars.

So, there was plenty of pressure on the restructured coaching staff. The fact that Benn is here eases that pressure. Benn has had seven different coaches, and this is his second run with Gulutzan. That could have been another challenge, but Benn makes sure it’s not. As the team has moved through different veterans and different voices, Benn’s remains the loudest and most clear – even if he is often soft-spoken.

Gulutzan was asked what Benn did on Tuesday to help secure a 2-1 win, and he ticked off a few moments where his captain was helping guide a team that welcomed two new players at the trade deadline and brought up Arttu Hyry from the minors.

“There’s a couple of things – Jamie came and was banging the bench to say `Stay with it;’ he was saying the right things, defensively reloading, changes…just echoing our sentiments,” Gulutzan said. “And then when Arty won a draw out there late against a good draw man, he comes to the bench and tells him good draw. All of that adds to the younger guys feeling value.”

Gulutzan has been pushing a philosophy of “one percent more.” It seemed to be originally aimed at increasing physicality, but it has taken on the meaning of one degree of everything. That means better battle in winning pucks, better details in closing down games, better focus in getting pucks out. It is in its most simple form – you can do a little more.

“I really think we’re taking some steps this year compared to last with getting better and being better and giving that one extra percent,” Benn said. “It might sound funny to other people – what is one percent? – but we know what it is and we believe that when we give that it gives us a great chance to win that hockey game.”

On Tuesday, against a very big and physical Vegas team, Benn was a great example of that “one percent.” He was barking at the Golden Knights, he was barking at the refs, he was barking at his teammates. It was a beautiful example of what he means to this group.

“He’s got all of the guys’ backs,” Blackwell said.” He’s a beast on the ice, he loves to get in on the forecheck and lay some hits. When he’s playing like that, he brings everybody else into the fight, and that’s big for us moving forward.”

In a lot of different ways.

Yes, it’s huge for players like Mavrik Bourque and Justin Hryckowian and Hyry, but it’s also big for guys like Tyler Myers and Michael Bunting. And, quite honestly, it’s huge for Gulutzan and his entire coaching staff.

“If it comes from your captain,” Gulutzan said, “it’s a lot better than when it comes from your coach.”

That’s something Benn seems to know pretty well.