Former Canucks Defenseman Retires After 12 NHL Seasons

Former Vancouver Canucks defenseman Jordie Benn has retired from the NHL after 12 seasons, the longtime Dallas Stars rearguard announced on Monday.

An undrafted player, Benn played 12 NHL seasons with the Canucks, Stars, Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets, and Minnesota Wild, impressively carving out a 607-game career for himself in the world's best hockey league.

Benn joined the Canucks in 2019 when he signed a two-year, $4 million contract on July 1, 2019. The Victoria, B.C., native played parts of two seasons in Vancouver before he was traded to Winnipeg for a 2021 sixth-round pick on April 12, 2021.

All in all, Benn played 75 regular season games with the Canucks, scoring two goals, 14 assists, and 16 points while averaging 15:37 of ice time as a bottom-pair defenseman.

The 37-year-old retires from hockey after being out of the NHL in the 2023-24 season, instead playing for Brynas IF in Allsvenskan, Sweden's second division of hockey behind the SHL. Benn played 39 regular season games and 13 postseason games with Brynas, picking up four goals, 25 assists, and 29 points in total.

“A lot of people thought I never should have made it, and maybe I shouldn’t have, but I just worked as hard as I could every night and tried to be the best teammate possible,” Benn said to CHEK News of his career and retirement. “It’s a weird feeling that training camp is not around the corner, but it’s been a really fun ride.”

Benn finishes his NHL career with 26 goals, 111 assists, and 137 points in 607 games; 302 of those games were spent playing in Dallas with his younger brother, Stars captain Jamie Benn.