Stars captain Jamie Benn drops string of 1-word answers about his future in Dallas with $76,000,000 contract expiring

The future of Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn is up in the air as his eight-year, $76 million contract expires after this season.

Following the Stars' season-ending 6-3 loss to the Edmonton Oilers in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals, Benn gave a series of one-word answers when asked about his plans beyond this year.

When asked if he had any thoughts about his future, Benn replied,

"No."

He was equally terse when asked if he felt good about his chances of remaining with the Stars:

"Yep."

Benn did expand briefly when asked if he wanted to stay in Dallas, echoing GM Jim Nill's comments that he hoped Benn would remain a Star.

"Yeah," was all the 35-year-old would offer.

While quiet about his own plans, Benn lamented his team's inability to come back after falling behind early in the elimination game. The Oilers jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in eight minutes in, leading to goalie Jake Oettinger being pulled after allowing first two goals.

Benn noted that Edmonton took advantage of their power play chances, while Dallas struggled to mount a comeback each time they scored.

"Obviously we didn't want to do that, they had a good PP, they took advantage, you know, our team to come back from, you know, we had some good pushes there but seemed like they responded every time we scored," Benn said.

"It's a lot easier playing with the lead. It just didn't happen tonight."

Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson (two goals) scored for the Stars, while Connor McDavid, Evander Kane, Corey Perry, Mattias Janmark, Kasperi Kapanen and Jeff Skinner did so for the Oilers. Stuart Skinner had 14 saves. In relief, Casey DeSmith made 17 saves.

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Game 5 recap: Dallas Stars 6-3 win against Oilers

Corey Perry put Edmonton first early with a power-play goal at 2:31 of the first. Mattias Janmark extended the lead with a breakaway finish at 7:09, followed shortly by Jeff Skinner capitalizing on a scramble in front to make it 3-0.

Dallas got the first at 11:40 with a goal from Jason Robertson before Roope Hintz closed the gap further with a power-play marker midway through the second.

Connor McDavid scored for Edmonton with a solo breakaway effort at 14:28, but Robertson struck again early in the third to keep Dallas within one. But Evander Kane responded at 3:21 to widen the gap before Kasperi Kapanen sealed the game with an empty-net goal.