[News] Stars ownership calls out Benn and Seguin

[devo22]

quite bluntly, actually. Wow.

“WTF”. That’s the text that Dallas Stars CEO Jim Lites says he gets five times per game from team owner Tom Gaglardi. It happened again on Thursday night when he was watching the Stars’ 2-0 win against the Nashville Predators.

“He’s pissed,” Lites said on Friday afternoon. “And you know what it’s about.”

“They are ####ing horse-sh#t, I don’t know how else to put it,” Lites said. “The team was ok. But (Tyler) Seguin and (Jamie) Benn were terrible.”

The public frustration began during Thursday’s morning skate, when Stars coach Jim Montgomery told the team he was “####ing embarrassed” with the team’s practice and where they were in the standings.

https://theathletic.com/738047/2018/...ing-team-back/

[Geeoff]

Benn for Neal but it has to happen now to make sense!

[neo45]

They both have quite a party boy reputation. Don’t really sound like lead by example type guys to me

[Toonage]

Why can't they be horse#### against the Flames?

[transplant99]

So the owner is pissed off during a game on the road in Nashville where his team shuts out the Preds?

Weird timing for a rant on text, regardless of how those two were or weren't playing.

Something much deeper at play here.

[Harry Lime]

Originally Posted by Geeoff

Benn for Neal but it has to happen now to make sense!

The funny part is, that this is the kind situation where you could see a previously unavailable player change teams at a pretty reasonable rate. Not Neal reasonable, but still.

[868904]

Originally Posted by Toonage

Why can't they be horse#### against the Flames?

No kidding. If they played the Flames 82 games, Grtezkys records would be in jeopardy.

Shocking that the GM would put this out there but they must have tried everything.

I’d take Benn but not Seguin.

[SeanCharles]

Well Radulov has been their best player. He is amazingly talented in his own right but prob should be their 3rd best player.

Both aren't far behind a pt/g pace but it seems they have multi point games here and there and then disappear for long stretches.

Still seems odd to come out with this after a win, after a shutout, and after beating arguably the best team in the division.

[devo22]

Originally Posted by transplant99

So the owner is pissed off during a game on the road in Nashville where his team shuts out the Preds?

"The team was ok"

lol

[DeluxeMoustache]

Are some of the newer coaches, the players’ coaches or the ones coming in from college having issues commanding the respect of NHLers?

[Gaskal]

Originally Posted by 868904

I’d take Benn but not Seguin.

Nah you take Seguin because they wanted Johnny and 2013 1st(Mony) for him and we scoffed at it. So then we'd have all 3 and can give Dallas two middle fingers.

[djsFlames]

Great owners. That's how you keep your stars happy and attract more big fish in the future!

Sure am grateful the flames are both classy and now actually good.

[Zoller]

"The public frustration began during Thursday’s morning skate, when Stars coach Jim Montgomery told the team he was “####ing embarrassed” with the team’s practice and where they were in the standings."

[getbak]

Ha ha.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1078766240942952448

[transplant99]

"But for me, it's pissed me off, what nobody says is what is completely obvious to me: We are getting terrible play from our top two players," Lites said.


"If 14 and 91 don't lead, we will not be successful," Lites said. "I think this is the most talented and deep team we've had in years here. Certainly, this is the best team that we've put together from a talent perspective since Tom Gaglardi's owned the franchise. Tom has allowed us to do everything we needed to do to be successful. Whatever it's taken, he's done. And I am tired of getting emails from him saying 'What the hell is going on with our best players?'"

"The owner and I see this the same way," Lites said. "We expect our best players to perform like other team's best players, to be accountable, to have attention to detail, to have responsibility on the ice and off and get the job done for us. And it's not getting done. Game in, game out, the best players on other teams are outplaying the best players on our team."

"He's playing on the periphery," Lites said. "I've been in the business forever. I've been with Steve Yzerman in bad seasons, and what you'll find is goal-scoring is a dirty business. You've got to go to hard places. And Tyler, last year, I saw him really perform and get into the difficult spots. This year, I've seen him as a weak forechecker, slow to the action and not getting it done. And he's hit a lot of posts. He's had some bad puck luck. But he's not getting dirty. I don't know what it is. I'm not accusing him of being without character, but we're not getting it done."

"Jamie Benn hasn't scored a goal from longer than five feet all year," Lites said. "He makes plays in the neutral zone that if my kid had done it in squirts, he'd be benched. Am I wrong? He turned the puck over three times yesterday on plays if Denis Gurianov had done that, he wouldn't have seen the light of day. We pay these players to be the best players on our team, and they are consistently out-efforted and outperformed by everybody else's best players."

Subtle. LOL

https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/dal...t-players-team

[GullFoss]

They're in a playoff spot though!

[Buff]

Oh, you want to publically embarrass me?

Trade me right fricken now!

[curves2000]

I don't think there is anything in the article that is wrong. When players, especially players who get the massive contracts, don't live up to that expectation or don't deliver the elite level performance, it's understandable the person signing the chq's is upset.

It's not that Benn and Seguin's numbers are incredibly low or anything, it's that the level of contract and the performance and what your PAID to do isn't there. The New England Patriots have a slogan, "Do YOUR Job". I don't know if this is applying to them and I think the owners pissed, they wouldn't be unique but it's just public here.

If this was a regular person's career and your job was to get sales (goals, points) and when you made the pitch to your boss (GM, owner) this wouldn't cut it. Your being paid to be a top sales guy in your area, region, industry etc but in this case your the highest paid guy in the company and your delivery decent sales across the industry but getting beat out by a LOT of people. It is what it is and I think its right for the owners in sports to call out BS sometimes.

[Locke]

I dont necessarily disagree with him, the Stars should likely be far better than they are and you cant complain that the owner wont spend money.

That being said, this is pretty obviously not the most productive way to go about voicing your displeasure, so one of two things is at play here:

1. Hes tried the subtle and professional way and gotten nowhere.

2. Hes a crazy person.

I dont know which.

[Buff]

I knew they weren't doing so hot but each of them are on pace for some of their worst seasons in their careers. Definitely not since they both became top players their pace is for their worst seasons. What is up with them?