“He said we’re going up against a pretty good team now,” Stars captain Jamie Benn said. “I had to ask him who he was cheering for. It felt right. He didn’t answer.”
Ha. Of course not.
“Did he say anything?” DeBoer said. “What if I told you he was hoping that Dallas would win? You think that’d be headlines in Edmonton?”
DeBoer laughed.
“He would never say that, and I would never put him in that spot,” DeBoer said. “But he was very respectful of our group and the job we had done to that point. I think we all understand his allegiance to Edmonton and appreciate that, so he never went beyond that. But it was great to see him.”
Gretzky had been watching the game with Stars owner Tom Gaglardi. Cameras caught a couple of interactions with players in the locker room.
“Don’t worry about scoring goals,” Gretzky told Benn. “You’re playing unreal.”
“I’m just a checker now,” Benn said with a big grin.
“That’s OK,” Gretzky said. “It’s important.”
Benn has one goal in the Stanley Cup Playoffs but brings a lot of other elements.
“It’s doing whatever it takes for your team to win and whatever role that might be,” Benn said. “It’s that time of year to make sacrifices. As long as you’re winning games, that’s the most important thing.”
Gretzky introduced himself to Stars center Wyatt Johnston.
“You’re such a good player,” Gretzky told him. “I always told my brother. He didn’t draft you. They picked another guy over you, and I always give him [a hard time]. You’re a good player.”
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