Benn fires back at Stars CEO “I don't play for him.”

The Dallas Stars upper management and ownership made headlines recently when they completely blasted their own players, specifically star forwards Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin through the media. These were not comments that were merely made off the record that were reported by an irresponsible member of the media, but instead it appeared to be a calculated effort on the part of the Stars' top brass to use the media to send a message to their own team.

For those of you who missed the original comments from CEO Jim Lites here's a brief look at what he said:

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

“We are a stars-driven league, and our stars aren’t getting it done,” Lites said. “It’s embarrassing, and no one writes it. Write it!

The worse part for Seguin and Benn was the fact that the comments appeared to be entirely supported by ownership. It makes sense given that no hockey CEO would ever come out and make such scathing and humiliating comments without approval from high above.

“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,” Lites added. “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.”

“He’s pissed,” Lites said of the owner's mood. “And you know what it’s about.”

Well now the players themselves are responding and given the nature of the comments that were made it should come as no surprise that they are pulling no punches. Benn was asked if he could continue to give his all for a team who's CEO had publicly called him out, and his answer was not only what fans would want to hear in this situation, but it was a clear clap back at Jim Lites.

"Yeah. I don't play for him," said Benn. "I play for every player in this room, the coaching staff. I come to the rink and, like i said, I am proud to be a Dallas Star and I am proud to go out every night and battle with these guys in games. I really put my teammates first."

This is obviously the sign of a dysfunctional relationship and it gets worse for the Stars. Benn says many of his fellow teammates and players from around the league reached out to him following the comments going public. Benn would not disclose the content of those conversations but you have to imagine that could potentially be bad news for the Stars.

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