Who's Really More Valuable? Benn or Richards?

I would obviously pick Benn, no brainer, but to say Benn’s better than Richards is a little bit of a stretch still for me

Richards is pulling in around $8 million per season and Benn less than $1 million. We know Richards is up for a new contract after this season, so I think Joe N. is weighing that into the equation down the road when Benn’s contract comes up. With the current ownership situation, I don’t see where Dallas can keep it’s current roster. If Richards and Benn stay on, then who must go?
Ribeiro – $5 million
Morrow – $4 million
Lehtonen, Robidas, Eriksson, langenbrunner, ott all make over $2 million per season

Jamie Benn.

I’m not giving this up as an excuse that Dallas ownership can use, like “well we were okay letting Richards go because we have Benn,” because that’s unacceptable. You need a top line center to win in the NHL. If they let Richards go, they will not find another one, and the Stars will be like Columbus just looking for a top line center for years and years and never finding one. So it’s not excuse, but I personally think Benn is already better than Loui Eriksson, and that he’ll be better than Richards soon too. He is one of the best 21 year olds I have ever seen (and I am in some ways a neutral, not even solely a Dallas Stars fan), and I mean, most players have weaknesses. If Brayden Schenn turns out exactly like L.A hopes in his prime, he’ll be like Jamie Benn is now at age 21, except Jamie Benn is faster, bigger, better with the puck, a better passer, and 100x more explosive. I think he has the potential to be one of the best 2way players of all-time. He just amazes me. People started comparing Dallas’ top 6 group to Anaheim’s earlier this season, and I’m not sure I would trade Benn for any of Anaheim’s forwards. You think to yourself, maybe Perry with the season he’s having, maybe Getzlaf given that he’s one of the most dominant combinations of size, balance, puck-handling, and passing in the NHL, but I don’t think I’d trade him for any of them. He is certainly the most underrated player in the NHL right now, not Eriksson. It sucks he was available in my fantasy hockey league, and I picked him up, had him for a couple weeks (his worst off weeks of the entire season), so although I always loved the player, I was just like, he hasn’t been producing, there are people producing at a better pace than him, and I dropped him… Now he’s like a top 10 pick. Anyway fantasy hockey aside, this is the key player on the team. I think you have to keep Richards if you ever want to win anything, but he is the most important player for this team, for this franchise. He is the #1 guy you keep above everyone else. You never lose him. Like I touched in when I mentioned Brayden Schenn, there are so few players that just have everything. I mean even Ovechkin, with the size, speed, skill, (everything, right?), there are some holes, some weaknesses, some game sense stuff… He’s not as good on the cycle, or when the game-pace is slower and he can’t create as much on the rush, etc. Benn can do some things and create in some situations he can’t. Benn just has the whole package. It’s very rare to find a player like that. Obviously Crosby is the #1 example. Benn is just amazing. I love watching him. I love this team’s forwards.

I mean, comparing to San Jose, can you imagine if thsi team could just spend to the cap? With Benn, Richards, Eriksson, Morrow, Ribeiro, Langenbrunner, then Robidas, Goligoski, Daley, Grossman, if Niewendyk could just fill out the roster, you know. All the big pieces are there. The hard part is over. It’s a similar situation to Anaheim. Between Ryan, Getzlaf, Perry, Selanne, even Koivu, Blake, and then Visnovsky, Lydman, Fowler, and Sbisa, if Bob Murray had just built even half-decent bottom lines and a half-decent bottom DPair, that team would be one of the best teams in the league, and if he actually did a good job with the bottom lines and bottom dpair, it would be a dynasty. I mean you have Ryan, Getzlaf, Perry all on cap hits under 6 million, Lydman, a +/- leader at 3 mil, Fowler on an entry level deal, Koivu at 2.5 mil, Selanne at under 4, and most of these guys are locked in. You have all the hard-to-get pieces. There are so many teams with all these good role players who can never find a top line center or top line player, period, or top offensive defenseman. Anaheim has done all the hard stuff. They are set. All Murray has to do is the easy stuff, and they are set. It’s actually kind of sad to see like, how anyone could easily make that team into a dynasty now that all the hard work has been done (getting the elite players and locking them up to fantastic team-friendly contrasts).

Anyway, Dallas is the same. Mark Fistric? Karlis Skrastins? Who?? Sutherby, Barch, Jason Williams…

If you just replaced the spare parts with even just good-not-great value players, this is the best team in the league. I mean just look at like the waiver pickups and people who were traded for picks, or mid-money free agents.

Benn – Richards – Eriksson
Langenbrunner – Ribeiro – Morrow
Vincour – Adam Burish – Tom Wandell
Ben Eager – Chris Kelly – Kyle Wellwood

Alex Goligoski – Stephane Robidas
Trevor Daley – Nicklas Grossman
Chris Campoli – I don’t know…

It’s hard to do it just with the deadline and waiver pickups I remember. But from free agency last year, if you could just spend another 3+ million, you can have Tony Lydman too. Goligoski, Robidas, Daley, Grossman, Campoli (or Ian White or whoever at the deadline), Lydman (not necessarily in that order), that’s just night and day vs having Fistric and Skrastins. Those two are like the gaping hole in this team, the weakest link. I wish Nieuwendyk did something about that because I think it’s going to be the team’s undoing, along with not having a very good bottom forward lines identity or scoring.

Anyway, I think the hard part for this team is done. Maybe another top 6 forward, like a Matt Cullen would have been fantastic just as somewhere who could play and contribute anywhere, but mostly it’s just the bottom 6 forwards and the bottom 2 dmen that need to be fixed, and that’s the easiest part, and this team could be the best team in the league. Unfortunately it just seems like these GMs dont understand these simple things. I mean Bob Murray should have the best team in the league right now. Ryan, Getzlaf, Perry, for 16~ mil or so? Are you kidding me? But Selanne’s production is so important to that team too, and by the time Murray figures it out, he won’t be as good, neither will Koivu. They obviously need an upgrade on their 2nd line too. I mean Koivu and Blake would be a hell of a 3rd line, but they should be a hell of a third line, not a decent 2nd one. But still. I could turn that team into a dynasty in one offseason. Anyone could. I mean I mentioned Matt Cullen, for 3 mil he’s another steal. Replace Lilja (and maybe Sutton) with just about anyone… They need a Manny Malhotra type on their 3rd or 4th line especially for faceoffs. I don’t know. They should be way better but Bob Murray is sleeping on the job. Nieuwendyk at least has the ownership excuse, although he still should have been able to do way, way better than Fistric, Skrastins, Williams, Barch, etc. It’s just disappointing when it feels like potential squandered. The league is wide open right now and the Stars could easily win a Cup if it weren’t for the laziness or whatever on Nieuwendyk’s part. This team was not just one depth move away from the Cup when he traded for Langenbrunner, or one Neal/Goligoski swap-out. He could have won the Cup this year but he didn’t do enough. Now like SJ or someone will win it because they’re just overrun with two-way guys. They could have stuck with Jamie Mcginn, who was perfectly acceptable on that 4th line, but they added Eager anyway. They have like 50 centers, but they added Wellwood anyway. There is no shyness there like there is with Nieuwendyk. And Eager and Wellwood especially would have been fantastic, cheap additions for the Stars. Who can’t use a 52% faceoff man who can also play wing, can skate, is agile, is a great passer, reads the game very well, and is defensively responsible? He would have been perfect for the Stars, minus the lack of grit. But everything else is there for a 3rd or 4th line center. Eager brings some more grit, can back up Ott, and he can also move very well. It’s the little things like sitting on your hands while you’re biggest rival adds these important depth guys that decides who wins and who goes home ultimately.