“I knew Jamie Benn before the world did”

Only four other ex-Rockets have played in more than 1,000 NHL games.

Duncan Keith dressed in 1,256 games. Scott Hannan saw action in 1,055 with five different teams. Shea Weber played in 1,038 games with Nashville and Montreal and Alex Edler has 1,009 games under his belt with time spent in Vancouver and LA.

Dallas Stars scout, Dennis Holland, who first saw the Victoria, BC resident play, persuaded the NHL team to draft the lanky teenager in the fifth round of the 2007 NHL Draft.

“I knew Jamie Benn before the rest of the world knew Jamie Benn”, Holland told RocketFAN. “He has past my expectations tenfold. I thought he would be a good bottom-six-forward, not a top-six player.”

Holland started scouting with the Stars in 2002, so just five years into it, the now 53-year-old, was trying to prove himself while based in nearby Vernon.

“I first saw him when he was playing with the Victoria Grizzlies,” Holland recalls. “They were playing in Salmon Arm. He was a young guy that wasn’t a great skater, but he shot the puck really well. That is the first thing that drew me to him was his release.”

Holland admits, Benn wasn’t a highly coveted player at the time, with many scouts focusing more on another prospect that was catching their interest.

“Kyle Turris went third overall to Phoenix that year, and he was the talk of the town and talk of the west, so for whatever reason, Jamie didn’t have any hoopla around him.”

While excited about Benn’s potential, he was second-guessing himself before eventually going with his gut instinct.

“I reported back to the Dallas Stars and told Les Jackson [Stars Director of Scouting at the time] that I had a player I really like, but I go to games and there are no other scouts in the building”, Holland said with a chuckle. “I am trying to figure out if I am wrong or what is going on here.”

Benn would score 40 goals in his 17-year-old season in the BCHL before eventually moving to the WHL, going to the Rockets, who had his playing rights after listing the soft-spoken forward.

“Once we drafted him, we talked about his options” Holland continued. “One was to play in Kelowna. At the time they were playing well. They had really good players and a really good team. They were such a good organization, so it was a great opportunity to step in and learn to take the next step in his pro career.”

Benn, who just got engaged at Christmas, won a WHL championship with the Kelowna Rockets in 2009, won a gold medal for Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championships that same season and captured another gold medal playing for Canada at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

Making an average salary of $9.5 million dollars after signing an 8-year, $76 million dollars contract with the Stars through the 2024-2025 season, Benn won the NHL scoring title in 2015 with 87 points.

“When the Stars come out west to Seattle or Vancouver, I try to see him after the game”, Holland said glowingly. “He comes right over, and it seems like an old home week, as it feels like we are back in the early 90s.

“He is a special person, and the success he has had is incredible. His family is such a tight-knit unit, and he has earned and appreciates everything he has got”.

by Regan Bartel

“I knew Jamie Benn before the world did”

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