Stars Re-Sign Captain to One-Year Deal

Benn, 35, was set to become an unrestricted free agent on Tuesday after completing an eight-year, $76 million contract ($9.5 million average annual value) this season. However, the Stars keep him around on a team-friendly deal just before he could hit the open market.

Benn, 35, scored 16 goals and 49 points in 80 games for Dallas this season. However, he only had one goal and three points in 18 games during the Stars' run to the Western Conference Final, where they lost to the Edmonton Oilers in five games.

The Victoria, British Columbia, native was a fifth-round pick by the Stars in the fifth round of the 2007 NHL Draft. In 1,192 games with the Stars across 16 seasons, he's scored 399 goals and 956 points to go along with a plus-81 rating and 879 penalty minutes.

The Stars were in a major bind with their salary this offseason, having less than $50,000 in cap space before trading Mason Marchment to the Seattle Kraken last week. Since then, though, they've made the most of their newfound flexibility. Not only did they re-sign their captain, but they re-signed two of their key restricted free agents in defenseman Nils Lundkvist and forward Mavrik Bourque. They also re-signed forward Matt Duchene, who led the team with 82 points this season, to a four-year extension just before the Marchment trade.

Dallas has lost in the Western Conference Final in each of the past three seasons, the past two losses coming against Edmonton. Still looking for a new head coach, the Stars are doing everything they can to get over the hump.