Stars ink captain Jamie Benn to big 8-year extension

Dallas forward Jamie Benn has signed an eight-year extension with the team, the Stars announced Friday.

The contract is worth $76 million and has an average annual value of $9.5 million, making Benn among the game's highest-earning stars.

The Stars' captain has been one of the best players in the NHL the past two seasons, finishing in the top two in scoring each year. He claimed the Art Ross Trophy with 87 points in 2014-15 and was behind only Patrick Kane this past season. Benn was a Hart Trophy finalist for league MVP in 2015-16, too.

The new deal keeps the 26-year-old Benn in Dallas through the 2024-25 season.

Drafted by the Stars in the fifth round in 2007, Benn has put up 448 points in 508 games.

Last season was his best yet, as he cracked the 40-goal plateau for the first time and posted a career-high 89 points as the Stars won the top seed in the Western Conference with 109 points.

While in a limited sample size, Benn has had good postseason success in putting up 20 points in 19 games. He was a driving force for the Stars last postseason as they advanced out of the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2008, falling to the St. Louis Blues in Game 7 of their second-round series.

"Jamie has evolved into one of the most complete players in the NHL and his ability to lead our team is second-to-none," Dallas general manager Jim Nill said in a statement. "He impacts the game in so many ways and this signing was extremely important for the direction of the franchise."

Earlier in the day, the Stars announced that Benn is recovering from surgery to repair an abdominal muscle injury.

Nill said Friday that the full recovery time is six weeks, and that the surgery performed Thursday went as planned. It wasn't clear when or how Benn got injured.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.