Benn, Seguin profess pride in playing for Stars

Jamie Benn said he is "proud to be a Dallas Star" on Saturday, one day after he and teammate Tyler Seguin were publicly criticized by Stars CEO Jim Lites.

"I don't play for him," Benn, a 29-year-old forward, said of Lites. "I play for every player in this room, the coaching staff. … I come to the rink and, like I said, I'm 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.
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"When there is a situation within the organization, I try to keep it within the organization and deal with it face to face, but that being said, I come to the rink every day and wear the Dallas Stars jersey proudly and play hard for the fans, my teammates."
Seguin, a 26-year-old center, said he is determined to improve his game and help the Stars improve their standing; Dallas is 20-16-3, fourth in the Central Division standings and holding the a wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference after a
5-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings
.
"I hear the message, I think Jamie and I hear the message. I think the whole team hears it," Seguin said. "We know that we've got to play better, and we understand that. So, we're going to continue to work every day and keep getting better.
"I come to the rink every day … with the Stars in my heart. They're my team. They're where I've wanted to be and why I signed here, so I'm going to continue to work."
With the Stars 3-6-0 heading into their game against the Red Wings, Benn and Seguin were pointedly criticized by Lites in comments to the Dallas Morning News and The Athletic.

"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