2025 Report Card: Jamie Benn's last hurrah is upon us.

What does the captain have left?

One sentence summary

More brawn than swan, Jamie Benn’s parting song is Cup or Bust.

A few good stats

• Cap: $1 million (Year 1 of 1)

• GP: 73

• Goals: 16

• Assists: 33

• Points: 49

• Postseason: 18 GP — 1 goals, 2 assists — 3 points

• xSPAR: -0.2 less points in the standings (Rank on the team: 20th of 26)

Whatever your thoughts are of Jamie Benn at this point in his career, there’s no denying — Wyatt Johnston effect or no — that he’s still got plenty of juice when it comes to creating offense. While this year’s chart makes clear that he belonged nowhere near the top power play unit (as we discussed in detail), he still managed to conjure up what remains of his skills into a potent offensive broth. In some ways, Benn is quite reliable.

Granted, reliability takes on a different connotation when you consider his significant weaknesses. But this year, Dallas will finally get what they pay for.

Thematically appropriate highlight

I know. Sometimes metaphors aren’t metaphors at all. Benn’s pugilism skills have declined over the years. Just this season he got murked by Nikita Zadorov. Winnipeg’s captain, Adam Lowry, is a very capable scrapper. That Benn did so well encapsulates who he is at this point in his career — his game is a five-sided fistagon. Though a shell of his former self, sound and fury don’t always have to amount to nothing.

Grade: A (modest) C

Benn would get an easy B+ if we were just talking about the regular season. As I’ve said before, I don’t think we give enough credit to how Benn has been able to stay relevant despite being a player who should look like Milan Lucic and Josh Anderson instead of Gustav Nyquist. In the regular season, 38 of his points were at even-strength. That was good for fourth on the team, tied with Roope Hintz. Again, more credit goes to Johnston for carrying him along, but Benn still has to deliver what Johnston tees him up for, and Benn did.

However, then the playoffs happened. It really was worst parts of the Bible stuff. Ilya Lyubushkin and Cody Ceci had the same amount of points. He was a -8 on faceoffs, which was the worst mark on the team. To top it off, he took a whopping eight penalties. While it wasn’t a team-worst (Mason Marchment and Lian Bichsel took more), because he didn’t draw many penalties, his penalty differential came close to being the team-worst (Marchment ended up taking that “crown”). His playoff performance was, in many ways, a rejoinder to the lazy toughness talking point. Benn was second on the team in hits thrown. By all means, show me what it amounted to.

None of this is to question Benn’s effort, or for that matter — condemn him. He was a mad man in 2024, when he scored 15 points in 19 playoff games. But for all of his strengths, he’s grown more erratic with age.

The good news is that the offense is scheduled to show up once more.

The bad news is the same that has been true for years: not only the lack of defense, but also the fact that he’s pulling Johnston down. Even his shot outcomes have declined — a regression he has mostly avoided.

In a talking point we keep returning to, Benn’s swan song resides in Glen Gulutzan’s hands.

Will he split up Benn and Johnston? If so, what does that mean for Benn? If not, what does that mean for Johnston? As much as I would personally like to see Johnston separate from Benn permanently, it’s not like Dallas is flush with left wingers. Even Sam Steel, the most qualified candidate to play up the lineup, is anything but a guarantee. Not to mention, he projects to give you a lot less offense (although a case can be made that the defense he provides higher in the lineup is more valuable). Is there a world where Benn’s defense improves this year? Could he end up on the fourth line? Could his role be elevated?

If there’s any hope for a good year, its held within that old cliché in prizefighting…how every great fighter still has one great fight left in them.