It was a big night on a personal level for Dallas Stars’ captain Jamie Benn on Wednesday night. While his team suffered a 5-3 loss at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Benn suited up in his 1,143rd game for the Stars, officially passing Mike Modano as the all-time leader in franchise history for games played.
Now, this is a complicated list in a way as it doesn’t include Modano’s 317 games played for the Minnesota North Stars prior to the move to Dallas. That said, since the move to Dallas, Benn’s 1,143rd game tops the 1,142 played by Modano for that particular franchise.
There's only one Jamie Benn.
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) December 19, 2024
The Captain now holds the record for most games played in Dallas Stars history. 🫡@JackDaniels_US | #TexasHockey pic.twitter.com/xEyGAdWOko
The 35-year-old Benn was drafted in the fifth round, 129th overall, in 2007 and debuted for the Stars as a 20-year-old in 2009-10, scoring 22 goals and 41 points in 82 games in his rookie season. He finished seventh in Calder Trophy voting that season and went on to become a perennial 20-goal scorer for the franchise.
Just twice in his career he’s played under 65 games in a season, including 2012-13 and 2020-21.
Over his career, he’s racked up 389 goals and 927 points in 1,143 career regular season games — adding 27 goals and 77 points in 102 playoff games.
As for his draft year, the only player who has played more career games than Benn is Patrick Kane who went first overall to the Chicago Blackhawks and is quickly approaching 1,300 career games. He also ranks second in his draft class in goals and points and third in assists behind Kane and Jakub Voracek who was taken seventh overall in 2007.
Benn hasn’t shown any signs of really slowing down in recent seasons as he’s played all 82 games over the past three seasons with his lowest point total being 46 in 2021-22. Since then he’s hit 78 points and 60 points over the past two years with six goals and 20 points already this season for the Stars.
At this rate, Benn could match Modano’s mark with both the North Stars and the Stars organizations combined at 1,459 games played. That said, it’s another three seasons of all 82 games, so it will be interesting to see where Benn ends up.
