What the mix of old and new means for the Stars

The core of the Stars for years going forward will be a group of 20-somethings who will provide the legs, the hands, and the lungs of a push to win the Stanley Cup.

But the heart? That will have to come from a more seasoned element of the team.

While the torch is being handed to players like Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz, Miro Heiskanen and Jake Oettinger, the Stars might still derive their biggest push from the likes of Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and Joe Pavelski. With Benn and Pavelski hungry to win their first Stanley Cup, the mix of old and new seems perfect right now for the Stars.

"What I like about our group of guys, the Seguins and Benns, they're getting to the point where it's more about the wins and less about the points," Stars GM Jim Nill said. "Every young player, they want points, they've got contracts coming up. But [the older players] are to the point in their careers where it's about winning. That's where Joe Pavelski is at, that's where Ryan Suter is at, that's where Seguin and Benn are at. When you get to that point where you've got a bunch of players where all that matters is winning, you're in a good place. That's where we are at with a bunch of these guys, and that's real important."

Many of the veterans had great seasons under a new coaching staff. Head coach Pete DeBoer believes in balancing minutes, so most forwards played at least a minute less per game. At 15:47 per game, Benn was playing the fewest minutes since his rookie season. Yet he tallied his best scoring season in five years at 78 points (33 goals, 45 assists), a 32-point improvement over 2021-22.

"It was good," Benn said. "I thought I could play better and that was the goal coming into this year."

Benn dropped some weight over the summer and worked hard to improve his performance, getting in better shape. He then benefitted from DeBoer's offensively aggressive system, a power play that ranked fifth in the league, and a 19-year-old linemate in Wyatt Johnston.

"You have to compliment Jamie Benn," Nill said. "He changed his training, he got lighter. He understands the game has gotten a lot quicker, and so he took it upon himself. I think Wyatt Johnston was a big part of that. He liked playing with a younger player. I think we managed his minutes better."

DeBoer said he liked what he saw from Benn, and said there is no reason the team captain, who turns 34 in July, can't do it again.

"I think it's sustainable," DeBoer said. "Everyone asks the same question about Joe Pavelski every summer, and he keeps coming back and doing it again. I think Jamie is in a position now with himself and his training, with his ice time, with his spot on a really good power play, with Wyatt Johnston on that line, there's no reason he shouldn't be able to do the same things again."

Pavelski will turn 39 in July, yet he had another stellar season. Pavelski tallied 77 points (28 goals, 49 assists) and was an astounding plus-47. His past three seasons have been among the top five in points per game in his 17-year career and he is the perfect fit on a line with Hintz and Robertson, who help make playing at that age a lot of fun.

When asked at his exit interview if he had thought about retirement, Pavelski said he pondered the idea before this season. However, after a fast start, he signed a one-year contract extension, and said he has no real idea when his career might end.

"We'll see. Who knows?" Pavelski said when asked about playing into his 40s.

Pavelski was on concussion protocol during the First Round of the playoffs, which kept him out of five games, and he said returning from that was challenging. But, he also added how much he loved the push to get to the Western Conference Final.

"There were stretches in this playoff where it got a little bit tough," he said. "But it was always awesome to feel when game time came and I stepped into that rink, any aches or pains kind of just melted away. It was very fun to be around the rink and playing in these games in that atmosphere with the crowds. I really enjoyed it."

Pavelski was captain of the San Jose Sharks when DeBoer was head coach there, and DeBoer said the veteran was invaluable in helping him deliver his message in the first season in Dallas. The Stars went from 98 points to 108, from a minus-8 goal differential to plus-67 and finished in the top seven in both scoring and goals against. Pavelski gives DeBoer a ton of credit for his coaching style and said the players can help the coaches out even more in season two.

"There's not a lot that will really change," Pavelski said. "In year two and year three, it kind of turns to even more on the players with the message of, 'This is how we're going to do it.' The message can't get old to us. It's not going to just happen either. You've got to work. You've got to put the effort in. If the effort is there and the belief is there, you'll find results. If you want to cut corners and think it's just going to happen because we had success this year, it'll humble you in a hurry."

The fact the veterans have already been humbled in their respective careers is a big plus. One of the iconic pictures in Stars history is of Benn sitting alone in the dressing room after Dallas lost to Tampa Bay in the 2020 Stanley Cup Final. Seguin, meanwhile, has had to battle through a series of injuries. He had 50 points (21 goals, 29 assists) in 76 games this year, and looked like he regained the speed that was his trademark earlier in his career. Seguin is the team's highest paid player, so he has been criticized for lack of production in recent seasons, but Nill said he likes what he has seen from the 31-year-old.

"This is his first summer where he hasn't been dealing with something [injury-related] for the last two or three years," Nill said. "So, I told him, `This is your summer to take the next step.' I thought he took a step this year."

Nill said when Seguin missed a few games with injuries that the team missed him a great deal.

"It was interesting when he got hurt there for about two weeks, and it's interesting how when you lose somebody to go into the coaches' room after a game and they're saying, 'Boy, we kind of missed Tyler tonight.'" Nill said. "You look at everybody's faults sometimes and wished they'd do more, but all of the sudden you lose that something and you realize they do quite a bit. I think that's where Tyler is at."

Seguin worked hard last season to improve his battle along the boards and in front of the net, and then mixed that with his open ice play this season.

"I felt great," Seguin said. "I was able to skate again and feel good about myself. It was a good foundation to build off of, things to work on in the summer, continue to get that pop back."

And that's intriguing about these veterans . . . all of them could get even better next season. Plus, they can take their individual hunger and help focus it to the group, who seems to be on the road to even better play.

"We have a group where you could argue that the window is not closed, but it's closing," DeBoer said of the veterans. "But there's a whole other group of guys that is in the middle and coming, that [the window] is just starting to open up. And a lot of times the teams that win have that combination. I think we're fortunate here that we have that, and there's a lot more coming."

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.