Jamie Benn is six points from 1,000 career NHL points, and the Dallas Stars get their first crack at helping him get there Tuesday night against the Boston Bruins at American Airlines Center in Dallas. The 37-year-old captain has 994 points in 1,260 games, a mark built on 415 goals and 579 assists across an 18th NHL season that has stayed tied to one franchise.
Benn has spent his entire NHL career with the Dallas Stars since they picked him in the fifth round, No. 129, of the 2007 NHL Draft, and he has worn the captain’s role since the start of the 2013-14 season. Tyler Seguin, who has been teammates with Benn in Dallas since 2013, said it will be pretty sweet to see him reach the milestone and noted how many of those points they have shared together.
The milestone lands at a useful time for Dallas, which has tried to keep its core together while staying among the Central Division’s best. Benn has been on one-year contracts in each of the past two seasons, signing for $850,000 this season and $1 million for 2025-26, a setup that underscores how much the team values his place in the room as well as on the ice.
Jim Nill said he has spoken with Benn at the end of the past two seasons about his mental and physical condition, and the answer has been the same: Benn comes back wanting another year. Nill also said Benn understands the salary-cap math and has been willing to sacrifice on pay so Dallas can keep more options open, calling him a leader and one of the few power forward types left in the NHL.
Benn said he changed parts of his summer workout routine after a season that did not end to the club’s standards, and he said that work mattered more than any personal number. Dallas reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2019-20 and lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games, then was eliminated by the Minnesota Wild in the Western Conference First Round last season in six games, which keeps the larger goal in view even as Benn closes in on 1,000 points. Tuesday offers the next chance to hit the number, but for Benn the bigger target remains the Stanley Cup.
