In the modern world of sports management and media, very rarely do upper executives of a team express anything but mild frustration if their team isn’t doing well. They may issue marching orders, or make sweeping changes in the front office, but almost never pick out individual players and air their grievances. Perhaps it’s something about the Texas heat that leads Dallas sports to act differently, but that market may be used to unusual outbursts given the bombastic personalities of Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA, and Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys of the NFL. The Dallas Stars, who play arguably the least personality-driven of the four major sports, were getting by relatively unscathed when compared to their Texas counterparts. Until today.
In an incredible piece by Sean Shapiro of The Athletic (subscription required), Stars CEO Jim Lites goes into an on-the-record, expletive-filled rant about his best players, Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn. The entire piece is an absolute must-read for hockey fans thirsting for this kind of drama, but one (expletive-free) paragraph explains his thoughts on the situation:
These guys are not good enough. They’re not good enough for me, they’re not good enough for the owner, and they’re certainly not good enough for the general manager, who I can’t speak for, but it’s not good enough for the job he’s done. But we’ve had meeting after meeting after meeting. The accountability on the ice is not there. These guys were signed to big contracts because they were the third- and sixth-leading scorers in the National Hockey League over the past five years. They get their money, we expect them to not be outplayed every game we play in. And if they were as good as they’ve been in the past we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
Amazingly, this tirade comes at a time in the season when the Stars are actually sitting in a playoff spot. Because of the struggles of many of the other top teams, Dallas sits in the second wild card spot with a 19-16-3 record, and are actually just three points behind the Colorado Avalanche for a divisional playoff spot. They sit just nine points behind the Winnipeg Jets for first place in the Central Division, and are by no means out of the race entirely. In fact, they beat the Nashville Predators 2-0 yesterday (a game in which Seguin and Benn were both held scoreless).
Still, Lites—and apparently owner Tom Gaglardi—are not happy. The Stars signed Seguin to an eight-year, $78.8MM extension just a few months ago after the star forward publicly expressed his disappointment that they hadn’t worked out a deal yet, and are already paying Benn an average of $9.5MM per season to captain the Stars for majority of the next decade. That kind of money puts both among the very highest paid players in the league, but Lites apparently doesn’t think they’ve played up to their capacity. Seguin is on pace for just 69 points this season, which would break his streak of five consecutive seasons of at least 72 points. The 26-year old forward set a career high with 40 goals last year, but is on pace for just 23 this year thanks to a career-low shooting percentage and league leading number of posts hit. Lites clearly doesn’t buy the post excuse:
He’s hitting posts, ‘wah-wah.’ That’s what I say about hitting posts. Get a little bit closer to the action, actually go to the spot where you score goals. He doesn’t do that, he never does that anymore. He used to be a pest to play against, people hated playing against Tyler Seguin, they don’t anymore.
Benn meanwhile has 30 points in 38 games, which is also a pace that would give him his lowest total since the 2012-13 shortened season. The captain surprisingly has just one powerplay assist this year which drastically hurts his totals, but is still leading the club with 15 goals.
The fact that Benn and Seguin are still at the top of the Dallas scoring list may lead some fans to point out how weak the rest of the roster has performed this season, but Lites clearly isn’t buying it. He’s put the onus on his best players to step up their game, an done so in such a public way that they will not be able to escape questions about it for the rest of the year. The Stars are back at home tomorrow night against the Detroit Red Wings.
This guy is on something. Benn and Seguin arent at an elite level they can play at, but they are still producing very well. How about you point at Hanzal for his production vs what he makes
The GM hurt the feelings of these players and they may never recover. The tears, regret and sadness have prompted depression, anxiety and angst. What can be done? Counseling?
The frustration is completely understandable. The arguement that they are playing well (compared to league average) and other lower tier players should step up is misleading. Given their contracts (Benn – 9.5MM and Seguin – 9.85MM) and age (Benn – 29 and Seguin 26) they are full expected to be performing at a ppg rate. Lites publicity stunt is their attempt to light a fire under Benn and Seguin’s behinds. Not sure if it’s the best move but time to see how they respond.
I would never want to play for that GM under any circumstances
In fairness to Hanzal, he’s only played in 7 games this season and has dealt with multiple injuries since signing with the Stars.
Well, I’m dumber for having read that.
Snowflake
Seguin is still on a bargain of a contract for this season (5.75 MM cap hit) and I believe that, in the case of Benn, ownership and management should also be held accountable for signing imprudent deals, after all a contract is an agreement reached by two sides. You would be a fool to expect anybody in their age 29 season and signed for 6 more seasons beyond this one to continue to produce at a rate that would justify a 9.5 MM cap hit over the course of the contract. Seguin and Benn are world-class players with a rather lackluster supporting cast of forwards. The Stars have an exceptional defensive group and goaltending tandem. It’s undisciplined and embarrassing to publicly blame the struggling offense on two of its top contributors rather than on the management and coaching that has failed to coax more out of the rest of the forward group. To me, this seems like Stars ownership realizing they signed contracts that they can’t afford and scapegoating the players now, so that when they trade them down the road the fan base directs their frustration away from ownership and management.
Haha,I watch them play,I’ll take them?
Lites is the CEO, Jim Nill is the GM he doesn’t share the same opinion.
Haha. You’re such a tool..
Someone’s getting fired or traded real soon
damn this is a dumb comment
Hanzal has had major back injuries. It sucks that the money is being wasted, but back injuries versus lack of hustle is a very different thing.
Players stats do fluctuate but if their stats are down & they still are occupying the top scoring spots then maybe the rest of the roster is weak which falls to this so called “hardest working GM”.
Good for him….There has to be accountability for every employee on a team. You sign a monster contract, there are expectations that need to be met. If you’re being paid 9 Million dollars a year, you better be in the top 10 scoring, or be able to say you brought a cup to the city…like Toews and Kane.
You’re probably a fan of handing out participation awards to kids as well.