Dallas (AFP) – Dallas Stars longtime chief executive Jim Lites levelled his guns at his two stars players on Friday, verbally blasting Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin following the NHL club’s 2-0 win over Nashville.
Lites said he has the backing of team owner Tom Gaglardi when he directed his tirade at the team’s high-priced Canadian stars, the US media reported.
“They are fucking horseshit, I don’t know how else to put it,” Lites told The Dallas Morning News.
Benn and Seguin are under long-term contracts with the Stars. Benn signed an eight-year, $76 million contract in July 2016. Seguin inked an eight-year, $78 million contract in September.
“It’s pissed me off,” said American Lites. “What nobody says is what is completely obvious to me: We are getting terrible play from our top two players.”
Seguin leads the Stars with 32 points on 11 goals and 21 assists this season. Benn, the Stars’ captain since 2013, is close behind with 30 points on a team-leading 15 goals and 15 assists. Seguin’s 21 assists is tops on the team.
Lites’ comments came the day after the Stars beat Nashville on the road on Thursday.
“If 14 and 91 don’t lead, we will not be successful,” said Lites. “I think this is the most talented and deep team we’ve had in years here.”
Lites started his management career in the 1980s with the Detroit Red Wings who were owned by his then wife’s father Mike Ilitch. He left the Red Wings after getting a divorce.
Lites said one of Seguin’s biggest problems is his “weak” play. Seguin won a Stanley Cup with Boston in 2011 and was a member of Canada’s gold medal winning team at the 2015 World Hockey Championships.
“This year, I’ve seen him as a weak forechecker, slow to the action and not getting it done,” he said.
Lites said Benn, who captured a gold medal with Canada at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, should be benched because of youth-hockey-like mistakes.
“He makes plays in the neutral zone that if my kid had done it in squirts, he’d be benched …. He turned the puck over three times yesterday on plays,” Lite said.
Lites said Gaglardi, who became owner seven years ago, expects more from his marquee duo.
“I am tired of getting emails from him saying ‘What the hell is going on with our best players?’” Lites said.
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