"We are getting terrible play from our top two players," Lites told the Dallas Morning News, referencing Benn, the captain, and Seguin, who scored 40 goals last season.
"If 14 (Benn) and 91 (Seguin) don't lead, we will not be successful. 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?'"
Seguin leads the Stars with 33 points (11 goals, 22 assists) in 39 games this season after scoring 78 points last season. Benn, a left wing, has 30 points (15 goals, 15 assists) in 39 games. He had a Dallas-high 79 points last season and led the NHL with 87 points (35 goals, 52 assists) in 2014-15.
Dallas missed the playoffs in eight of the past 10 seasons and has not advanced past the second round since 2008.
"For sure," Benn said when asked if he thinks he can play better. "I think everyone probably looks at the numbers, and that's the easiest thing to look at. The point production isn't where it could be or should be or was. So it's easy to point to that."
Center Jason Spezza said Benn and Seguin should not shoulder all the blame for the Stars' recent failures.
"To me, it's a shot at our whole team that mediocrity isn't good enough and we've missed the playoffs here," Spezza said. "Those top guys are the guys being mentioned, but there's lots of us that should be mentioned … We all feel we need to be better as an organization and be more consistent and make the playoffs every year."
Coach Jim Montgomery, in his first season with the Stars, said he hopes Benn and Seguin each can raise his game and help Dallas move forward.
"No one gets in sports to be mediocre," Montgomery said. "And the facts are we've been mediocre. And we all need to be better, and we've got to do it together. I [told Benn and Seguin] we can't change what's done but we can change tomorrow. That's the message we've been saying internally for months. We're not happy with where we're at. Everybody knows it. Everybody's discontent, right? But it's about us doing it together.
"Usually top players, when they face adversity like this, usually have a really good response. That's what I expect from them."
NHL.com correspondent Jeff Miller contributed to this report