Jamie Benn has signed on with the Hamburg Freezers of the German League. Benn is currently a restricted free agent and will sign as soon as the new CBA is reached. Benn had 26 goals and 63 points in 71 games last season and is considered the Stars top young player.

Jamie Benn probably won't be re-signed before the current CBA expires on Saturday. Dallas Stars GM Joe Nieuwendyk said the negotiations are going slowly. Benn had 26 goals and 63 points in 71 games last season. He should still agree to terms before the the Stars' season opener.

Jamie Benn may not want to sign a new contract with the Dallas Stars until a new CBA is reached. If the owners get their way in negotiations then a system could be put into place that won't honor the full value of previously signed deals. If he were to sign before a new CBA is agreed upon then it would have to have a high annual average value to protect him from escrow hits. Loui Eriksson and James Neal signed "bridge contracts" after their entry-level deals prior to getting their big contracts and the Stars were hoping to give Benn a similar pact. However, they may be forced to pony up more if they want to avoid the problem of entering the 2012-13 campaign without their top center.

Restricted free agent Jamie Benn is another key player without a contract for the upcoming season. Columnist Mike Heika wrote an interesting piece on the parallels between contract negotiations of a single player and the NHL's present labor dispute. The Stars and the league want a deal that is best suited for the future, while the NHLPA and Benn's agent look for a comparable in the market and to try to maximize their share of the pie as well. Both sides have to be willing to compromise to get a deal done. Benn doesn't want to be without a contract when the year begins and the Stars need to have him in the lineup.

While there has been recent discussion between Stars assistant GM Frank Provenzano and Rich Evans (the agent for Jamie Benn), GM Joe Nieuwendyk said there is nothing imminent, and both sides appear to be very patient. In an e-mail with Evans, he said that Benn would like to keep negotiations out of the media "for the time-being." And that's probably a good sign. Both sides seem to be treating this very professionally, and both sides seem to be very respectful of the other. "Jamie Benn is going to be a Dallas Star, and this is just part of the process," Nieuwendyk said. "He's an important player to us, and it's not like he's going anywhere." The Stars have sent Benn a qualifying offer and he will clearly turn that down. As a fifth round draft pick on an entry level contract, he had a cap hit of $821,667 for the past three seasons, so it's time for him to get a big raise. But the qualifying offer is part of the process.

Jamie Benn has been given a qualifying offer by the Dallas Stars. That's just part of the process. By giving Benn a qualifying offer, the Stars have prevented him from becoming an unrestricted free agent. Benn had 26 goals and 63 points in 71 games in 2011-12.

Jamie Benn has eight goals and 12 points in 14 games this month. Benn has been great all season, scoring 26 goals and 62 points in 66 games. Those are career-highs for Benn, but we wouldn't be surprised if he sets new ones in 2012-13.

Jamie Benn has 13 goals and 19 points in 22 contests since the All-Star break. Benn has set new career-highs with 26 goals and 61 points in 65 games this season. As good as he's been in 2011-12, he still hasn't reached his potential.

Jamie Benn tallied two goals in Dallas' 5-4 loss to Calgary on Monday night. He has recorded four markers in his past two games to give him a personal best of 26 on the year. Steve Ott contributed two assists in the contest and he added two more penalty minutes to bring him to a total of 144.

Jamie Benn netted two goals in Dallas' 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames on Saturday. Michael Ryder and Brenden Morrow accounted for the Stars other two goals. Adam Burish, Adam Pardy, Mike Ribeiro, Steve Ott, and Trevor Daley each registered an assist for Dallas.